The San Diego Fashion Scene
San Diego is home to the world’s only Bi-National Fashion Week, which features designers from the U.S. and Mexico. A number of fashion award events, such as Mesa College’s Golden Scissors Awards, occur regularly here, and the city is also packed with vintage stores, glossy boutiques, and indie fashion designers of all kinds. The hottest places to shop and work include the Gaslamp Quarter, where you’ll find dozens of specialty shops and name brands, and malls such as Fashion Valley Center, where you’ll find shops from H&M to Gucci.
In addition to unique fashion events and a variety of shopping venues, San Diego is also home to several schools that offer fashion training programs. The Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising (FIDM) and San Diego Mesa College are two popular options.
Career Opportunities & Employers in Schools & Colleges:
San Diego has a large apparel production and retail industry. Aspiring San Diego fashion designers can find work in technical production, textile design for product development, apparel design, pattern making, sample making, grading, handweaving, embroidery design, retail, and sales. Many fashion designers also teach, so San Diego’s academic institutions and design centers are excellent sources of jobs for aspiring instructors.
Fashion merchandisers can find work at any of the thousands of shops, design studios, department stores, and popular retailers across the city. They work in product development, production, marketing, sales, visual merchandising, and more. The Gaslamp District offers plenty of opportunities in retail, but positions can be found all over the city, and even on the outskirts of town.
Schools & Colleges Fashion Schools & Programs:
California is home to 436 colleges and universities. This is nearly five times the national average of 88. Art and design schools are plentiful, as well as traditional colleges, universities, and technical schools that offer fashion programs. Some of San Diego’s best fashion programs are offered at:
- The Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising (FIDM)
- San Diego Mesa College
- The Art Institutes of California - San Diego
The Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising offers more fashion programs than any other school. Students may major in fashion design, advanced fashion design, apparel industry management, fashion knitwear design, film & TV costume design, footwear design, international manufacturing & product development, jewelry design, merchandise marketing, merchandise product development, textile design, and theater costume design. In addition to San Diego, FIDM has campuses in nearby Orange County, Los Angeles, and San Francisco.
San Diego Mesa College offers certificate and associate degrees. Certificate and associate programs include computer fashion technology: design, computer fashion technology: merchandising, fashion design, and fashion merchandising. Computer fashion technology students learn about marketing on the Internet, and they take courses such as computer flat pattern design, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, Computer Publishing, Microsoft Excel, and Microsoft Office.
The Art Institute of California offers a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Fashion Design, a Bachelor of Science in Fashion Marketing & Management, and a diploma in fashion retailing.
Employment and Salary Trends for Schools & Colleges:
The state of California is home to nearly 4,000 fashion designers. Around 160 live in San Diego. Employment of fashion designers across the nation is expected to grow by 1 percent between 2008 and 2018. Salaried San Diego fashion designers earn an average of $66,740 per year. Self-employed designers can earn six to seven figures per year. Nationwide, fashion designers average around $61,160. The lowest paid fashion designers average $32,150, and the highest paid salaried designers average $124,780 per year.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics does not report employment or salary figures for fashion merchandisers. However, a significant part of the job involves creating window displays and managing the overall look and feel of stores. There are 8,900 merchandise displayers in the state of California. More than 400 live in San Diego.
For more information about the fashion design and fashion merchandising industry, visit the Bureau of Labor Statistics at bls.gov.
| Number of jobs | Mean hourly pay | Mean annual pay | Job Outlook | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fashion Job |