5. Final Reflection and Summary 

The objective of this study is to explore ways in which fashion graduates can acquire transferable skills and enhance their individual competency to improve their employability and career prospects. The primary research question of this study is “how do fashion graduates effectively reap transferable skills?” and “how these learned transferable skills help them future job seeking?” The study aims to identify the most efficient approaches for fashion graduates to develop transferable skills and examine the impact of these skills on their employability and career growth. By addressing these questions, the project seeks to offer valuable insights into how fashion graduates can increase their employability and advance their careers in the competitive job market.

To deal with the research question, this study conducts 3 interventions. The first intervention creates an online platform for independent fashion designers and fashion graduates to present their designs based on second-hand clothes and accessories. The website allows designers to learn from each other and gain inspiration, while also providing online customers with access to their fashion items. Following-up interviews were conducted to allow the participants share their experiences and opinions of the platform’s impact on their transferable skills. I learned the basic website design skills and performed a needs analysis to create a website that would meet the needs of fashion designers. I also drew inspiration from the fashion website Farfetch and researched its business model and legal issues related to domain name copyright. I assume that the website can facilitate the exchange of transferrable skills among fashion designers. Furthermore, I think there should be a standardized assessment and operational model to measure the effectiveness of such exchanges.

The second intervention refers to an offline skills exchange experiment. In the second intervention, I exchanged transferable skills with two fashion graduates. I taught Nai how to create a CV and in exchange, Nai taught me photography skills and retouching techniques. I also learned how to create new outfit styles from Maggie and uploaded resulting photos on their social media. After conducting a skills exchange with Nai and Maggie, I interviewed each of them to gather their feedback within a 25-minute interview. Nai was grateful for the technical support I provided in creating a CV and helping her apply for an internship, and felt that the offline skills exchange was a better way to learn in detail compared to the online exchange. She would love to continue teaching me more techniques to retouch and embellish my images in the future. As for me, I believed that offline skills exchange was an excellent way to improve my photography, editing, and styling skills. However, there are safety concerns when meeting strangers, which must be taken into account. I think online fashion websites can be used to connect participants for offline skills exchange, which would be beneficial for career hunting. Maggie found the offline skills exchange beneficial in improving her communication and styling skills and believed that a combination of online and offline exchange could better consolidate transferable skills among participants. She thought the skills she acquired would be useful in her future career.

The third intervention is used to evaluate the effectiveness of the first two interventions. In the third intervention, I conducted a role-playing simulation for a fashion job interview with four participants from the previous interventions (Xiaoyao, Adrianm Maggie, and Hichen) and Nai, who helped design the questions. The participants acted as interviewers and job applicants in one-on-one sessions, then switched roles. And a focus-on group discussion was followed. They all agreed that the simulation helped them acquire important interview skills for pursuing fashion industry jobs. Xiaoyao reflected on her previous interview mistakes and appreciated the opportunity to prepare more specifically for future interviews, but suggested the questions could be more straightforward.  Adrian found the simulation helpful in improving his interview skills, but thought some questions should be more specific to each position.  Maggie appreciated the chance to practice her on-the-spot response skills but felt she needed more preparation.  Hichen found the simulation useful for identifying his skill deficiencies and potential areas for growth.  Overall, participants agreed that the simulation improved their interview skills, but suggested more specific questions for each position. During the role-playing mock interview, I learned various foundational transferable skills that will be beneficial to me in my future career, including listening, writing, communication, public speaking, time management, and interpersonal skills. We also recognized the importance of research and planning skills, as well as computer and technological skills, for future employment. I believe that these skills can be applied to various work areas in the future. However, I doubt that all transferable skills learned can be utilized in a role-playing interview simulation.

From this study, I found out that the fashion industry as a creative industry that is highly competitive and dynamic, it requires transferable skills to distinguish myself from the peers. Transferable skills are general abilities that can be utilized in various industries, roles, and environments (Díaz-García et al., 2021). I as well as the participants of the study believe that transferable skills is important that could be applied in different contexts and would enhance the personal competitive advantages For example, in the second intervention, I found that the CV writing skills I obtained from business experience, could also be applied in fashion industry and help others to introduce themselves in a better way to gain more opportunities. Also, I learned photography skills and retouching skills from others gained from other area which also contributed to my styling skills in the fashion industry. The result could show that possessing transferable skills can enhance graduates’ employability and competitiveness, allowing them to navigate different contexts, industries, and roles (Liu & Ko, 2021). Díaz-García et al. (2004) also support that transferable skills could provide the graduates with limited industry-specific experience more opportunities. 

An important contribution of this study is that I conducted three interventions for fashion industry graduates, which is an innovation as previous interventions were focused on management fields. The creative industry field has not been explored well enough. I find it is useful to learn transferable skills from online and offline ways. The online learning platform such as the website project, and the offline transferable skills exchange activity would be useful while role-play employment interviews would be a good way to practice the transferable skills. This is supported by Eby et al. (2003) that developing transferable skills is important to reduce “boundaryless careers” and the role-playing job interviews is an effective way for individuals to practice and develop these skills, including communication, problem-solving, and teamwork. In the future, I may take more online and offline activities to learn transferable skills and make practices about the skills

However, I have noticed that there are many challenges in this study. Firstly, the participants, including myself, have found that acquiring transferable skills is not always easy, and people may encounter various challenges while gaining them. For example, Intervention 2 found that offline learning about transferable skills would be useful. This is supported by Intervention 1’s following-up interviews and the intervention’s results. Nevertheless, people may be very cautious about offline learning with strangers.

Secondly, considering the limitations and challenges of the three interventions, one limitation noticed is that the sample size of this study is small. For example, in the three interventions, a limited number of participants resulted in limited visibility and evaluation. In Intervention 2, limited skills could be presented and exchanged among participants, which would reduce the validity and reliability of the study. Furthermore, although the literature review examines how transferable skills can aid fashion graduates in exploring diverse career paths within and outside the fashion industry and developing a strong personal brand, this study did not find relevant results about this part. Because all of the participants in this study are fashion designers or graduates of the fashion industry, none of them switched their career direction outside of the fashion industry. This is also a limitation of this study. In the future, the study should involve participants who are currently or were in the fashion industry but now are planning or have changed their work to other industries. Therefore, the study could gain an in-depth understanding of the importance of transferable skills for fashion graduates planning to work in other industries.

Moreover, the study has limited the acquisition of transferable skills through online and offline activities and the need for further time and accumulation of skills to apply them in job search. For example, in Intervention 1 and 2, the participants have gained transferable skills from other participants, but they need more time to master and practice the skills to effectively use them in job hunting. This cannot be achieved within a limited time duration. In future studies, I will extend the time duration to gather more valid data for this study to analyze.

Additionally, I lacked experience conducting interviews. I thought it would be easy to conduct following-up interviews, but I found it challenging at times to let the interviewee follow my thoughts, and I also found it hard to catch their ideas. This phenomenon was evident in the 25-minute interview in Intervention 2. Therefore, I believe the interview questions need to be more specific and related to specific fashion skills. In the interview, reference answers might be provided for the interview questions to avoid misunderstanding the question and give a brief guide for the interviewee. Kropp and McShane (2014) support that the use of reference answers in interviews can be useful in avoiding misunderstandings and guiding the interviewee.

In future studies, I would increase the sample size and involve more types of workers, ex-workers, or potential workers in the fashion industry. Furthermore, I would give a longer time duration for this study to gain relevant long-term following-up research to gather more accurate results. 

References list.

Barbero-Álvarez, O., Olarte-Pascual, C., & Sanjuán-López, A. I. (2020). Fashion education and employment in Spain: Perception and gap analysis. Sustainability, 12(21), 8885.

Barnes, L., & Lea-Greenwood, G. (2010). Fashion branding and communication: Core strategies of European luxury brands. Journal of Fashion Marketing and Management: An International Journal, 14(1), 41-60.

Choi, S. M., Heo, J., & Kim, Y. K. (2018). Fashion bloggers on Instagram and self-brand congruity: Impact on brand attitude and purchase intention. International Journal of Fashion Design, Technology and Education, 11(2), 213-221.

Díaz-García, M. C., González-Moreno, A., & Sáez-Martínez, F. J. (2004). The role of human resource management in developing competencies and competitive advantage in SMEs. International Journal of Human Resource Management, 15(5), 809-825.

Díaz-García, C., González-Moreno, Á., & Sánchez-López, J. M. (2021). Transferable skills and employability of university graduates: Analysis of the Spanish case. Sustainability, 13(4), 2195.

Eby, L. T., Butts, M., & Lockwood, A. (2003). Predictors of success in the era of the boundaryless career. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 24(6), 689-708

Gornostaeva, G. N., Rasskazova, A. V., Vasilyeva, E. V., & Schepkina, N. A. (2019). Development of creativity and innovation in the training of future designers. International Journal of Emerging Technologies in Learning (iJET), 14(18), 163-176.

Easter, K. W., & Matthews, J. H. (2020). The creative career: Insights into success in the fashion industry. International Journal of Fashion Design, Technology and Education, 13(1), 85-95.

Jiang, Y. (2020). Identifying transferable skills for career success in the fashion industry. International Journal of Fashion Design, Technology, and Education, 13(1), 23-31.

Keller, K. L., & Lehmann, D. R. (2006). Brands and branding: Research findings and future priorities. Marketing Science, 25(6), 740-759.

Liu, Y., & Ko, Y. J. (2021). Learning from the fashion industry: Applying the fast fashion business model to supply chain education. Journal of Fashion Marketing and Management, 25(1), 20-35

Lopez-Cabrales, A., González-Sánchez, E., & González-Benito, Ó. (2020). Employability of fashion design students: The role of transferable skills and internship programs. Sustainability, 12(15), 6218.

Lu, Q., Chen, X., & Zhang, Y. (2020). Exploration of the cultivation of college students’ transferable skills in the era of Industry 4.0: A case study of the fashion design major. Frontiers in Psychology, 11, 1758.

Mumford, M. D., & Gold, E. M. (2019). Management of occupational and organizational boundaries: Generalizable competencies for knowledge-intensive work. In C. R. Scott & L. F. Greco (Eds.), The psychology of organizational change: Viewing change from the employee’s perspective (pp. 191-218). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Nasiopoulos, D., Kostopoulos, K., & Sidiropoulos, A. (2020). Transferable skills for the 21st century: A cross-national analysis of their determinants. Journal of Education and Work, 33(6), 517-537.

 

 

4.6 Feedback and Key Findings 

Xiaoyao believed the role-playing simulation had been an outstanding experience to prepare for future job interviews. Through this role-playing simulation, she felt she had tested the problems and answers she had encountered in her previous interview. She was able to reflect on the interview questions and the errors of her last application for an internship. This role-playing simulation let her experience answering interview questions more specifically and comprehensively to reflect her advantages. However, she felt that the interview questions were slightly heavy. For instance, she mentioned that ‘some questions still need to be more straightforward. When interviewed for menswear positions, the interviewers need to ask about applications of the particular drawing software. Or some experience in the fashion show’.

Adrian believed that this role-playing simulation had been an excellent way to experience the scene and status of job interviews. He thought that, if he practiced more, he would eventually improve his interview skills. The role-playing simulation positively soothed the uncertainty of his future career. However, in this role-playing simulation, he felt that some interview questions should be narrower. Certain questions needed to be made more apparent in advance and be made specific for each position, whilst greater details should also have been involved in the work.

Maggie thought this role-playing had been a good opportunity for her to express her on-the-spot response skills. However, she still felt she needed to learn more interview skills and to prepare more for future job interviews. Maggie reported that in an actual interview scene, the mentality was often different. But she also found that the role-playing simulation scene needed to be further optimised. This role-playing simulation had been an excellent opportunity for her to acknowledge her state of mind during the interview. She had also imagined the job interview scene before. Still, she thought there was a big difference between wanting and doing, regardless of the perspective of the interviewer or the perspective of the job seekers. She felt she could adopt different roles to think deeply about the skills and requirements for the positions, and that this perspective would prove invaluable for future careers.

Hichen found that this role-playing simulation had made him realise and look back upon his own skill deficiencies. When the general direction of the future is determined, he understood that he would have learned from his strengths and made up for his weaknesses. This had also allowed him the opportunity to guess at what skills the company might need. While refining the skills he already had, this simulation had allowed him to transfer the skills that companies need but he didn’t have, such that he might remedy the situation by developing, for instance, better interview skills. 

Overall Ratings from Participants 

All participants agreed that this role-playing interview simulation could have improved their interview skills and had allowed them to be in an actual situation whereby they had become aware of their lack of skills. This simulation made participants better able to face future employment. However, they also agreed that some of the interview questions covered a wide range, and that it was necessary to think more clearly about the interview questions in advance. Participants believed that actual job interviews would be more specific for each position, with more specific questions asked as such. 

4.7 Reflections and Teachings from the Third Intervention 

For interview skills, I have learned the following aspects:

Through this role-playing mock interview, the foundational transferable skills I learned included listening skills, such as how one might give effective feedback to the information conveyed by others. I learned how to execute a task effectively by better understanding its content. I was already confident in my feedback ability, reflected in observing and evaluating my own performance alongside others. I learned writing and communication skills, reflected in how I might express ideas more clearly in my writing and my communication with others. I learned public speaking skills, reflected in how I might express opinions publicly, and I learnt time management by completing the work efficiently within the stipulated time requirement.

For interpersonal skills, I learned collaborative communication to a level required during such interview scenarios. In my future career, it will be necessary to work collaboratively with my colleagues. It may also be the staff responsible for managing the company itself, or I may need to deal with people outside the company. Such instances would demand interpersonal skills, including self-communication skills reflected in providing and accepting constructive criticism, making suggestions, and encouraging and collaborating with others.

Research and planning skills are highly sought-after by employers, who want their employees to act as they are when they face work actively. Research and planning skills are critical when showing enthusiasm for self-creation. Such skills may include target management, reflected in how one sets goals based on the task and implements them individually. I myself learned risk analysis and resolution skills, reflected in how one might predict potential risks and use critical thinking to propose solutions. I learned task processing skills, reflected in how one might optimise the task according to the department’s needs, as well as how to coordinate and promote projects. I also learned innovation and initiative skills, as well as an independency reflected by how one might use the Internet and library resources to study and analyse materials.

For computer and other technological skills. Software operation skills were reflected by how one might install and use work-related software and solve related problems through this software. 

All of these skills might be of great benefit to me in my future career.

Uncertain about my future jobs, I have learned how my own transferable skills could improve through trial and error. First, I may develop certain skills which I want to improve through part-time employment. Second, I can pass through social practice activities to participate in public welfare projects and activities. Not only can I cultivate a competent sense of social responsibility, but I can also exercise many core skills in the process, including but not limited to: teamwork; willpower; organisational ability; and communication ability. I might also pass an internship in order to contact future intentions. For the new workplace, I will inevitably need to ask my predecessors about all kinds of issues in the training process. During this process, I learned that communication abilities could be well exercised. In addition, different projects and further cooperation might help me to fully exercise my ability to deal with various affairs and my ability to cooperate with colleagues. The employees needed by the company will not be employees who depend on their superiors everywhere. They will also hope to see the intern’s ability to deal with problems independently during the course of their internship. In addition, I learned that young companies also prefer innovative opinions and suggestions.

I also hope to obtain the following transferable skills through continued academic research: first, the ability to quickly retrieve and browse information; second, the ability to collect and process data; and third, the ability to produce excellent academic writing. Having an excellent theoretical point of view is the premise, but more importantly, how to report and logically present my point of view, as well as to make breakthrough contributions to existing research, is fundamental. In addition, if it is a multi-person collaborative academic research that I am conducting, I hope to fully exercise my ability to cooperate with others.

These methods should teach me various skills in the invisible. The skills I have learned can be migrated and applied to all kinds of work areas in the future.

Through the results of the previous two interventions, the communication skills I have learned will be of great benefit to me in the future. The disadvantage is that I have obtained the transferable skills I acquired during the last two interventions. I cannot use them all in such a role-playing interview simulation, yet I will nevertheless reflect on these skills after entering a career in the future.

4.8 Challenges and Opportunities 

• The interview questions I set in the early stage covered a wide range of topics, and therefore needed more specific. As such, more preparation is required, and more questions related to specific fashion skills are needed.
• For the initial interview questions, I should provide some reference answers to each of the interview questions.
• The positions in this job simulation could do with being more extensive.
• This role-playing simulation still needs to be more professional, and I can ask some fashion HR staff for advice. 
• The scene setting of this role-playing interview simulation still needs to be improved to make the scene itself more realistic.

4. Third Intervention Launch and Feedback

4.1 Overview of Third Intervention

This week, I produced my third intervention about role-playing simulations (i.e., simulating a fashion job interview). My specific approach was to invite four participants from the first and second interventions, including Maggie, Hichen (author of this blog), Xiaoyao, and Adrian. I also asked Nai, who has worked in the buyer shop, to help me simulate, organise, and design job interview questions. The participants performed a one-on-one company interview to explain what careers they wanted to find in the future, and what kind of transferable skills were important for them. First, two of the participants acted as company interviewers, with the other two participants acting as job applicants. Then, all participants exchanged roles such that interviewers become job applicants, and job applicants become interviewers. Following this, the four participants discussed and reflected on this intervention through a focus-on group discussion. Overall, all participants believed that they had acquired essential interview skills for seeking jobs in the fashion industry.

4.2 Stakeholders and Participants in the First Intervention

For the third intervention, the four participants may be introduced as follows:

Maggie had participated in the previous interventions and had no previous work experience. She wished to use this job interview role-playing simulation to experience the interview process. At this time, Maggie was preparing to interview for the MA Womenswear course at the Royal College of Art. She hoped to find out the state and feelings of the interview through these interview simulations. Maggie also wanted to use this intervention to compare the differences and gaps between study applications and job-seeking interviews, as well as to understand how the transferable skills acquired in the previous two interventions might have helped her in her future job hunting.

Hichen (the author of this blog) had participated in all interventions on this subject. In addition, he had previous work experience in sales and sportswear design, and has taken part in more than ten job interviews. He wanted to learn more about interview skills through this role-playing interview simulation. He also wanted to test the transferable skills he had previously acquired through this interview role-playing simulation, and to test how the participants could use their skills in their future careers. Hichen wanted to use this role-playing simulation test to gain insight into participants’ knowledge of their transferable skills, and to see how flexibly they may express it to receive more job opportunities. Hichen wanted to create his own fashion sportswear brand in the future. He also wanted to stand in the positions of different characters through this role-playing simulation. He was thinking deeply about each character’s thoughts, by which he sought to lay the foundation for his future career.

Xiaoyao was a graduate of LCF menswear, and was currently unemployed. During her university studies, she had taken an internship interview for a fashion design position. She successfully received a three-month internship offer, and she now wanted to share her interview experience in this role-playing interview simulation and to learn more interview skills for herself. She hoped that this intervention would help her to solve some fundamental problems that she had previously faced when finding a job in the future.

Adrian graduated from LCF with a bachelor’s degree in Menswear, and was currently studying MA Menswear at LCF. He had no previous experience in job interviews. Through this role-playing simulation, Adrian wanted to understand a job interview’s process and the essential skills he might need to take one successfully. 

4.3 Platform and Medium for Supporting third Intervention

The reasons for using this offline face-to-face role-playing simulation as the platform and medium were as follows:

• Participants could feel a more real interview scene through role-playing scenarios. As a result, they could have more tentative experience for future career development and face the uncertainty of future careers. Participants could realise their own shortcomings through this role-playing simulation, which would significantly improve their future employability and allow them to understand what skills they need to improve.
• This interview scene role-playing simulation allowed participants to empathise with and think from the perspectives of both the interviewer and the company. They might then be able to use this experience for their future careers.
• Participants of the previous two interventions would be able to use their styling skills to interpret their own understanding of working dress. 
• Participants could exchange and learn interview skills to help cope with the uncertainty of their future careers. Through this role-playing simulation, they would be able to grasp the dynamics of the company and the fashion industry; learn more about what skills the company needed; and learn what positions required which talents. These skills realised by the participants would be a great help to their future careers.
• This role-play simulation could test the outcomes of both the first and second intervention.

4.4 Intention, Goal, and Questions

The third intervention aimed to conduct an immersive job interview scenario to discover how the participants used the transferable skills they had acquired through the previous two interventions to help them face the uncertainty of their future careers.

4.5 Activity and Event allowing Users to Engage

The photo above shows Hichen, Meggie, Xiaoyao, and Adrian participating in this role-playing simulation (See Figure 4.5.1).

Figure 4.5.1

First, Hichen (the author) interviewed Meggie, Xiaoyao, and Adrian individually, and came to understand which jobs they wanted to interview for in this role-playing simulation. Second, Hichen invited Nai, who had participated in the previous two interventions, to develop an interview question list. These 15 interview questions were as follows:

1. What made you decide to pursue a career in fashion?
2. What do you consider the most important facets of the fashion industry?
3. What do you think are the current and future trends in fashion?
4. How do you think your education has prepared you to work in fashion?
5. Define “fashion.”
6. What were your daily tasks at [Fashion Company]?
7. How do you handle stress?
8. How comfortable are you working hands-on with models and designers?
9. What qualifies you for a career in fashion over other candidates?
10. Do you consider yourself a people person?
11. How do you handle conflict?
12. How would you describe your personal style?
13. Where would you like your career in fashion to lead you?
14. How would you deal with an arrogant client?
15. What hobbies do you have that relate to the fashion industry?

In addition to the above interview questions, participants would also be expected to answer specific questions about the tasks they might need to perform, in addition to more basic interview questions as well. The fashion industry is reasonably broad, and job seekers’ abilities and personalities often speak for themselves.

Figure 4.5.2

Then, Hichen printed out two copies of these interview questions (See Figure 4.5.2) and invited Maggie, Xiaoyao, and Adrian to Maggie’s home to participate in this role-playing simulation. The four participants prepared their CVs and outfits for this job interview role-playing simulation. Each of these four participants later joined in a focus-on group discussion regarding this interview, in which fashion dressing, transferable skills, and future job-seeking were all discussed. 

The interview process went as follows. First, the hard copies of the interview questions were provided to those participants who played the role of company managers (i.e., interviewers). Then, both interviewers and job seeker introduced themselves to one another. Next, the job seeker demonstrated their fashion portfolio and CV, following which the interviewer selected and asked questions based on the provided list for the job seeker to answer. Meanwhile, the interviewers used their experience to develop further interview questions based on the job applicants’ answers. The role-playing simulations consisted of two rounds, since the four participants would exchange their  roles midway through. 

Round 1 of Interview Simulation

Hichen and Maggie began as the interviewers, with Xiaoyao and Adrian as the job seekers. The interview position was that of a menswear designer (see Figure 4.5.3).

Round 2 of Interview Simulation

After switching roles, Xiaoyao and Adrian became the interviewers, whilst Hichen and Maggie became the job seekers. The interview position was now that of a stylist (see Figure 4.5.4).

The total role-playing simulation session lasted for 30 minutes. Following this, a 6-minute focus discussion was conducted to reflect upon this intervention. All processes were recorded into video, as is shown in Video 4.5.1 and Video 4.5.2.

Figure 4.5.3 Interview Simulation (Round 1)

Video 4.5.1.

Figure 4.5.4 Interview Simulation (Round 2)

Video 4.5.2.

To conclude, every participant took part in a focus-on group discussion (see Figure 4.5.5), reflecting on the experience and their skills and strengths, as well as what kinds of thing to look out for when applying for a job interview. The focus-on group discussion sought to address the following questions:

1. What do you evaluate this role-playing simulation?

2. What transferable skills do you think the way of role-playing simulation has given to you? How can these transferable skills you get help you face the uncertainty of future work?

3. Through the interview scene role-playing simulation, what skills let you realise your lack and strengths?

4. How do you use your skills to face job interviews? What other skills do you need to be more confident in your job interview?

5. How does this role-playing simulation help you in your future career? Why is that can help you?

6. If it helped you, how did it help you face the uncertainty of your future career?

Figure 4.5.5

Video 4.5.3

3.8 Challenges and Opportunities 

In this intervention, I faced certain challenges and opportunities:

• Through individual cases, I could only evaluate a few situations. Therefore, I need more types of fashion personalities to join a future test to provide more case studies.
• It is possible that the skills participants want to learn cannot be learned from other participants. Therefore, participants can only pass on their own skills.
• There are many uncontrollable factors, such as security issues arising from participants who do not know each other’s background, presenting the risk of information leakage and fraud.

3.9 Next Step 

After this intervention, I invited Maggie from the previous two interventions to join me in the subsequent intervention. I also invited Xiaoyao and Adrian join me as well. The four participants (myself included) then performed a role-playing simulation of a one-on-one company interview to understand what careers the participants hoped to find in the future, and what kind of transferable skills were important for them. To begin with, two of the participants would act as company interviewers, whilst the other two participants acted as job applicants. Following this, all participants exchanged their roles, such that the interviewers became job applicants, and the job applicants became interviewers.

3.6 Feedback and Key Findings 

Following the skills exchange, I conducted an interview with each of the participants.

Nai was very positive at the convention and was grateful to Hichen for giving her the technical support she could use at work. She was sure she had developed her skills in creating a CV, alongside basic statistical skills, business analysis skills to grow her own fashion store, and how to coordinate between colleagues. Compared to the previous first intervention, she felt that offline skills exchange had been a better way to learn these skills in more detail and with more senses than skills exchange online. She felt safe working with friends, though she added that she would not have wanted to participate if it was an offline meeting between strangers. In terms of future employment, Nai would love to continue teaching Hichen more techniques to retouch and embellish his images. Hichen increased his frequency of posting pictures and thus encountered more opportunities as a result of her tutelage.

Hichen believed that meeting offline had been an excellent way to exchange skills, which had improved his photography skills, photo editing skills, and styling skills. Furthermore, he felt that this offline skills exchange activity had become a part of his daily life, and was something he could do with his friends. But he also felt that this had been a debatable part of the experiment. Such an activity can exchange transferable skills and, if practiced on a large scale, allow participants to make new friends, which can have an even greater positive impact upon them. However, there are also many other uncontrollable factors to consider, such as the potential safety hazards involved when meeting strangers.

Through observation, compared with the previous intervention about online fashion websites, Hichen believed that transferable skills can be learned online, but that offline exchange is different. Online fashion websites mainly teach transferable skills through the review comment process. Still, this method needs to be more manageable. The most important thing is that the online website may be used to connect the participants. Fashion online sales websites can become online fashion skill transfer websites. Then participants could meet offline – be it individually or in teams – to exchange transferable skills. 

Hichen believed that offline exchange skills would be beneficial for career hunting in the future. If he continued to meet new fashion professionals who might allow him to acquire transferable skills, he believed it possible to learn one or more skills on this skill exchange website and eventually become an expert in the field. Furthermore, as a platform for fashion people to connect, Hichen considered it a good direction for his future employment.

In Maggie’s evaluation of this intervention, she had found this way of meeting and exchanging skills offline to have benefited her acquisition and improvement of certain skills. Maggie utilised her skills in women’s fashion matching. At this event, she explored areas of menswear styling that she hadn’t been involved in before, but that she thought could be done online. As a result, Maggie improved her styling skills and communication skills throughout this process. Maggie and Nai didn’t know each other very well beforehand; however, between shooting photographs, discussing outfit details, and planning shooting angles, Maggie came to realise the importance of communication. Maggie thought the way to meet offline to exchange skills could be in more fact. Compared with the intervention of the previous online fashion website, Maggie believed that the combination of online and offline exchange could better consolidate transferable skills among all participants. Maggie believed that the transferable skills she had acquired through this intervention would be of use to her career in the future.

3.7 Reflections and Learnings from the Second Intervention

Throughout this process, I developed my skills in photography, retouching images, styling, communication, and collaboration. These skills should construe a great benefit to my future employment, as is discussed in further detail in the paragraphs below.

For the improvement of my communication skills, through offline skills exchange communication, I have learned how to develop my creativity and imagination. I have interacted with participants to gain new insights into this area, and I understand that both imagination and creativity will be necessary in my future employment. These skills can support me in absorbing or creating new fashion styles in my future career.

Styling skills have taught me to use womenswear elements in menswear, which can significantly influence my unisex and gender-neutral styles and may also be of benefit to my future career development. Secondly, these skills have a good effect on the psychology of primacy, a cognitive bias shared by many people. For the initial appearance of information to be received, it is imperative that one has a decent dress. The halo effect should also be considered, which is a cognitive bias that magnifies or extends the established impression of someone or something in terms of how well-dressed they are on the outfit to other areas. So for future employment, it is vital to make an excellent first impression. An excellent first impression and aftertaste achieve the goal and lay down a solid technology, attaining twice the results with only half as much effort. Moreover, if I can make a good impression in one aspect, people will often automatically add points to others. 

I also exchanged my own sportswear styling skills with the other participants, such that we eventually reached a consensus on what matching details may be used to display a finishing touch. Sometimes, if a boring outfit is suitably embellished (even with just a small detail, like the addition of a necklace or a trouser belt), these touches can enhance the overall visual sense as a whole outfit.

The improvement of my photography skills has taught me to pay greater attention to detail, thus changing the way I ‘see’. With this skill, I can continue to develop my career in the future and notice the details that others might miss. And for the pressure of my employment, with the continuous improvement of photography technology, I can find fun and let me live in the moment. Whilst shooting, I must notice details, circumstances, or other things in that moment that may be difficult to spot. Instead of constantly thinking about the past or future, focusing on the present means that I can forget my worries and stress.

Furthermore, through the selection of materials and expressions, advances in photography may allow me to better express my opinions and beliefs. When I change, my work changes with me. The photographer’s work can see the heart of the character. For future employment, photography skills can also play a role in recording for my career.

I may use my image retouching skills in many fields, including picture production, publicity planning, corporate culture construction, PPT reports, etc. I might also use it in my future work in the fashion industry itself. And the ability to use photo editing software is also an essential requirement for employees in many companies and positions. In addition to learning and improving my ability to modify and beautify photos, software such as trim video production is also highly beneficial at present. It is even necessary for daily work. And this process has made it possible to achieve the high level of software application required for future employment. It has also allowed me to find my goals and the space needed for me to improve myself. 

However, if I had another chance to design this intervention, I would nevertheless make significant improvements and improvements:

• I would increase the number of participants. These participants can come from different fashion professions and fields in the industry, and I would require  prior knowledge of these participants by writing a detailed CV.
• The two participants I invited for this intervention were both fashion graduates, yet this was not a deliberate limitation. In a future intervention, I would also invite fashion industry professionals to join as well. This intervention would allow for expert support and would also improve the overall professional level.

3. The Second Intervention Launch and Feedback

3.1 Overview of Second Intervention

This week I produced my second intervention as an experiment in offline skills exchange. I exchanged transferable skills with two fashion graduates, Nai and Maggie, who had also participated in the first intervention.

Firstly, I taught Nai how to create a CV and used my previous experience in sales to help her apply for an internship at her favourite buyer shop. She eventually got the opportunity to work this internship. Nai taught me photography skills, providing useful tips on finding the right angle for a shot and how to take photos that are popular on the internet currently. Nai also taught me skills for retouching and beautifying images, including tips on retouching and depicting body and facial details, overall colour and filter control skills, etc.

Second, Maggie would teach me how to create new outfit styles, such as how to apply traditionally feminine elements to male outfits. A total of 166 original photos were produced based on this new outfit style, from which I selected 7 photos and uploaded them to my own social media, receiving more than 200 likes. The resulting and original photos are retouched in Figure 3.1.1 ~3.1.10. After this process, both Maggie and Nai were invited to a 25-minute interview with me. 

Figure 3.1.1 ~3.1.6

Figure 3.1.8 ~3.1.10.

3.2 Stakeholders and Participants in Second Intervention

I invited two people to attend, and the specific stakeholders and participants are described below:

Nai is a former fashion design graduate from Kingston University with over ten years of experience in the arts. She is a skilled painter, with excellent communication skills. She has helped two friends to take photos, and taught and improved their retouching skills, gaining them 100.2k and 10k followers on social media, respectively. She has strong confidence and self-awareness in her photography skills. Since her graduation, owing to her compulsion to stay and live in London. she has faced a lot of pressure to find employment. She is currently looking for a job in fashion in order to make ends meet.

Hichen (the author of this report) is a London College of Fashion graduate with a degree in Sportswear. He likes to share photos of his daily life and fashion outfits on Instagram and currently has 10k followers on the platform. He has previously worked in sales and has some knowledge of finding sales-type jobs which he considers to be a transferable skill. However, he needs to clarify his perspective about future job opportunities and wants to build a personal social media account. He is trying to upload photos and videos to his account and is on the lookout for unexpected opportunities.

Meggie is a London College of Fashion graduate with a degree in Women’s Fashion. She is currently applying for a postgraduate degree in Womenswear at the Royal College of Art. She has studied womenswear design for a long time, and she seems to already understand women’s fashion inside out. However, she nevertheless wants to work as a menswear stylist instead, so she was willing to participate offline in this skills exchange event.

3.3 Platform and Medium for Supporting Second Intervention

An offline exchange skills experiment has been used as a medium for understanding how transferring skills can be gained. The most important feature of this experiment has been to allow investigators to physically engage and interact with participants. This method can generate more deep implications regarding how transferable skills can be gained more effectively, and can better depict the demands of fashion graduates for transferable skills.

3.4 Intention and Goal 

The second intervention aims to discover how fashion graduates can gain transferable skills through offline and face-to-face exchanges.

3.5 Activity and Event allowing Users to Engage

As can be seen from the photo above, Hichen, Nai, and Meggie were all involved in this offline skills exchange experiment.

Figure 3.5.1

Nai taught Hichen how to find the right shooting background and how to adjust lighting (Figure 3.5.1). Hichen then used the model posing skills he had learned in the previous Intervention to pose in a suitable shooting angle. Nai used her iPhone to teach Hichen how to find the right angle, and assisted in his coordination of the composition of the whole picture. A total of 166 original photos were taken, including solo and duo photos, from which 7 images were selected as being the most suitable. Relying on experience, Nai taught Hichen how to use mobile photo editing software. She taught him to use 3 mobile apps: Meitu Xiuxiu, Xingtu, and the iPhone’s built-in colour correction function. Through a period of discussion, Nai assisted Hichen in the beautifying of each of the seven photos to a standard that both could agree upon. These photos were then posted on Hichen’s Instagram account, and after three days, he had received more than 200 likes on them.

Hichen spent several weeks working with Nai, teaching her how to write a CV; how to use the accounting app Square; and how to create a cargo list form. Hichen in turn taught her to maintain a healthy working relationship with her colleagues. Finally, she received an internship offer and gained recognition from her boss.

Maggie matched outfits with her fashion taste and Hichen’s personal characteristics, including his usual daily outfit and personality factors. Maggie also taught Hichen the skills he might use in styling womenswear products in the future, such as the skills of overall colour control or how one might improve the proportions of the human body to make the whole picture more coordinated. Hichen used his previous understanding of outfits to discuss and debug with Maggie, and between them they provided mutual approval of the final outfit. In the communication process, Hichen taught Maggie how to use detailed accessories, such as jewellery in the overall outfit shape, to make the outfit more distinctive.

The group concluded with a 25-minute interview, inviting them to reflect on this offline skills exchange and the implications it might have had for their future careers.

I prepared the following questions for the purpose of this interview:

• What do you think of this offline skills exchange event?
• How do you think this offline skills exchange may have developed or improved your skills? If at all, what kinds of skill have been enhanced?
• What have been the advantages and disadvantages of using the offline skills exchange event?
• Compared to the previous intervention about online fashion websites, which of these two trials do you think have taught you more transferable skills? What transferable skills did you develop?
• How do you think the transferable skills gained through this activity will help you find a career in the future?

The video of the retouching process is as follows (Video 3.5.1):

Video 3.5.1

2.9 Challenges and Opportunities

For the challenges and opportunities of this website, there are four limiting factors that must be considered：

1. More participants are required. Although I initially invited nineteen fashion graduates to participate, only ten ended up contributing to the website.

2. This website has limited visibility and evaluation. Yet, there is more than one source of knowledge available.

3. Limited transferable skills can be acquired through this online fashion website. 

4. All ten participants thought they had gained some skills, but they also felt that using these skills to get a job would still take further accumulation and time.

2.10 Next Step

Going forward, I will invite two fashion graduates to join the second intervention, such that the three of us may mutually exchange our fashion expertise in a face-to-face environment. The first participant, Nai, taught me how to create atmospheric photos, learning from each other offline to help us both in our future careers. In exchange, I taught her job-seeking-related skills, such as sales experience. Similarly, the second participant, Maggie, taught me styling, whilst I in turn taught Maggie how to photograph.

2.7 Feedback and Key Findings 

Based on the above interview questions, ten participants from five groups offered important feedback, as is shown below. Figure 2.6.1 – Figure 2.6.4 shows screenshots from these interviews.

Figure 2.6.1 – 2.6.4

  Interview Images.  

Key Feedback from Group 1 based on Interviews

Maggie believed that this fashion website could help her learn professional model shooting skills. In the comment session, Maggie learned some skills to control the body and make the camera pose more natural, coordinating in the picture with Ji. But Maggie believed that the model shooting skills she had acquired through this online fashion website had not been sufficient to find a professional model job. She now wants to pursue professional model training at an institution to learn how to be a professional model in the future. Regarding her future career direction, Maggie thought chatting with others had reduced a lot of the pressure she had previously felt.

Key Feedback from Group 2 based on Interviews

Chai felt the biggest skill she had gained was the ability to communicate, and Ru felt that she had gained communication skills through the later comment session. They both felt that just doing now cannot make them associate the acquisition of skills. They will need more practice to give me a full answer, however. Both of them realised that communication skills were essential for future career hunting and are now looking for suitable ways to improve their communication skills. Chai reported that this fashion website had taught her that teamwork skills are more complex than she had previously imagined, and that she had acquired these skills through communication on this online fashion website. Teamwork skills should take more time to practice, and by doing so, she will positively impact upon her future career.

Key Feedback from Group 3 based on Interviews

Overall, the participants from Group 3 stated that they had felt able to learn photography skills, whilst also improving their skills in retouching, beautifying pictures, and using retouching software. They felt it would be helpful in the early stages of job hunting, but that it could only be an additional auxiliary skill. Nai felt that she had been a skilled transmitter in this fashion website event, having taught the other two participants the techniques of taking and beautifying pictures. Yuki and Molly had also taught her many photography skills that she hadn’t known before. Yet the tremendous pressure she now faces is in finding a job. In that matter, this fashion website has not been an optimal experience for her. However, in the commenting processes, she has been able to get psychological comfort from other participants about her future employment direction. Yet in order to help participants with their future employment, this fashion website still needs to develop in the long term and accumulate more participants.  

Key Feedback from Group 4 based on Interviews

Dongshan and Sky found this website to be a great platform to interact with people in the fashion field and to learn professional skills. Dongshan said she had felt seriously exhausted during her collaboration with Sky. Because Sky needed to gain certain skills when taking photos, she felt that Yuki had helped her a lot in commenting. Dongshan learned the craft of retouching image details. She felt that this transferable skill could be used again in the future, and that both her work and life could benefit from this transferable skill. Sky also said he had learned photography skills that he had yet to realise were specialist areas. He reported being happy to have learned the basics of photography. They felt the transferred skills they had gained would help them in their future careers.

Key Feedback from Group 5 based on Interviews

Ji was pleased with the photos he had taken from street shoots and claimed he would like to learn more about shooting techniques and photo retouching with Hichen. The following week he used the outfit to meet many people at a number of social events, who gave him positive feedback on his outfit and said it made him look more confident. The early career help could be a benefit for his work and made a good impression.               

Summary for the Interview

For future careers, it appears possible to gain transferable skills from interacting with this website, such as matching clothes, taking fashion photos, communication skills, organising clothes, graphic design, making websites, etc. The respondents all said that they felt able to strengthen their transferable skills with practice and learning over time. More observations and experiments can be made later on through memory curves. It is helpful for everyone who needs clarification about their future career to know people in a familiar situation with whom to share their confusion about work at this exchange event.

2.8 Reflections and Learnings from First Intervention 

I firstly learned the basic skills of how one might create a website. When creating this fashion designer website, I began with a needs analysis of a fashion website. I performed a needs analysis and designed the site with the actual needs and features of a fashion website in mind, making it more conducive to the exchange of skills among fashion designers.

Secondly, I have also been inspired by the fashion website Farfetch, using Farfetch as a learning direction (see Figure 2.7.1). For website planning, in terms of content and layout, it must be built to serve the consumer’s functions and to land these specific needs on the website. This requires a wealth of expertise both in website design and in the browsing habits of Internet users. I also learned business skills by researching Farfetch’s business model, and have learned and paid attention to the legal issues related to domain name copyright in the process of creating this website.

Lastly, I wish to discuss my own learning experience and the transferring skills I have learned based on the first intervention. Indeed, transferred skills gained through the online website can allow users to communicate online, creating an atmosphere suitable for learning professional skills. The exchange of transferrable skills is about more than just exchanging skills but also about sharing skills as well. In today’s increasingly fast-paced world, it is challenging to stand out with just one or two skills. Currently, many young people learn new skills by attending specific training institutions, which can be relatively costly in terms of both time and money. Furthermore, certain operational skills are difficult to learn through online social networking, and there are some security issues involved with proceeding from the Internet to reality. In addition, the two exchanging parties must first build trust, which requires more effort from the user. As such, a standardised assessment and operational model are needed to determine the effectiveness of the exchange in terms of gaining transferring skills through the online fashion website.

Figure 2.7.1

2. The First Intervention Launch and Feedback

2.1 Overview of First Intervention

This week I produced my first intervention. For this intervention, I created an online website (https://kf28275920.jzfkw.net/) allowing independent fashion designers and graduates with fashion majors to present their designable products based on second-hand clothes and accessories. Six fashion designers and four fashion graduates were involved in this project. This website allows these graduates and new designers to mutually learn from one another, acquiring ideas and finding inspiration in fashion product design. Meanwhile, the fashion items uploaded by these independent fashion designers can also be viewed by online customers. Following this, I further invited these fashion designers and graduates to join in an interview (conducted both online and offline where appropriate). All participants have also been invited for the following interview, in which they will be asked about their experiences and opinions of this online channel and the opportunity it has provided for them to gain transferable skills. 

I have provided screenshots of the website created by myself. Shown in Figure 2.1.1 – Figure 2.1.9 are the logo for this website; the search bar; photos of participants (i.e., six fashion designers and four fashion graduates); and these participants’ fashion outfits and fashion products.

Figure 2.1.1– 2.1.9

2.2 Stakeholders and Participants in the First Intervention

Initially, I invited a total of nineteen fashion designers and graduates to take part in my project. However, only ten fashion designers and graduates agreed to join this study and post their fashion products and style images on my website. The ten participants consisted of six fashion designers and four fashion graduates. The ten participants in the first intervention had various degrees of professional knowledge and experience in womenswear, sportswear, fashion photography, fashion styling, fashion media and the production of fashion shows. 

2.2.1 Why Attend?

To understand how these participants would attend this project, I also developed an online questionnaire to gain further information about them. As is shown in the following questionnaire results, all of the participants had the times stressed their future careers after graduation. They were also all interested in finding new opportunities by developing transferable skills. For professional reasons, these participants all expressed a significant interest in fashion. 

Figure 2.2.1.—2.2.3.

Note: The answers are based on the initial nineteen participants.

2.3 The Group Division for Participants and Their Individual Contexts

I divided the ten participants into five groups. Each participant was invited to design at least six matching outfits, and six matching outfits were photographed according to the group with each other. Each of these six matching outfits will be uploaded to my website.

Group 1 (One Fashion Womenswear Graduate)

Maggie, a fashion womenswear graduate from the London College of Fashion, had a mysterious style in her work. She submitted photos of worn outfits that displayed a strong sense of brokenness.

Group 2 (One Fashion Stylist Graduate, and One Fashion Womenswear Graduate)

Ru, a fashion stylist, was a graduate from the London College of Fashion, whilst Chai was a fashion womenswear graduate. They took six separate sets of commercial photographs of each other’s fashion items for the website, preferring a ‘girl-next-door’ style with the occasional sexy twist. Because of their versatility, each of their unused clothes may appeal to a wide audience.

Group 3 (Three Fashion Design Graduates)

Three friends from Kingston University, Nai, Yuki and Molly, all of whom had graduated in fashion design, presented six fashion items to be photographed. Each item belonged to the post-00s trends in fashion, and because of their versatile style, each one also appealed to a wide audience.

Group 4 (One Fashion Media Graduate, and One Fashion Management Graduate)

Dongshan and Sky were a couple from the London College of Fashion, having studied Fashion Media and Fashion Management respectively, and their preferred style was comfortable and relaxed. They uploaded photos of both jewellery and clothes for this project.

Group 5 (One Fashion Sportswear Graduate, and One Fashion Performance Graduate)

JI was a former fashion model now working as a brand agent for vapes, which he was hoping to sell on this website as a new-age fashion product. Hichen had graduated from the London College of Fashion with a degree in Fashion and Sportswear, and had a preferred style for streetwear and sportswear. In his photos, Hichen uploaded vintage clothes with designs that I had hand-sewn myself. Hichen allowed JI to model for the shoot.

2.4 Platform and Medium Selection 

2.4.1 Online Website as Platform 

For the website design (as is shown in section 2.4.1), I designed the homepage section of this website with a photo of a baroque pearl, representing the fashion graduates who have something special and shining about each one of them. The slogan presented on the website (shown at the top of Figure 2.4.1) hopes to inspire fashion graduates to create a future through the abilities and opportunities they have now. If online users scroll down the website, they will encounter the avatars of each of the ten participants involved. Customers can then check the ten fashion designers’ and graduates’ products and style images by interacting with the avatar index. 

Figure 2.4.1 Overview of My Fashion Website

https://kf28275920.jzfkw.net/

2.4.2 The Advantages of Using This Platform

The fashion website may be said to have the following three advantages:

1. The essential feature of this online platform is that, by uploading photos demonstrating the unique style of fashion creators (i.e., fashion designers and graduates), complete with the author’s name, information, a description of the work’s concept, and a comment section, fashion creators may receive comments from other  creators, and can also comment on other fashion creators’ photos. In turn, this may then improve fashion creators’ knowledge and skills in fashion, dressing, photography, fashion awareness, and website creation. These skills will not only help the individual in terms of finding their early career paths, but can also be built upon later in their lives. These experiences will also give fashion creators a clear idea of what they want to do in the future.

2. The website can also be viewed by other consumers, and consumers can pre-order items that they like or give reviews of designs. These comments from consumers, in combination with the feedback provided by other fashion designers, are important transferable skills and can be a great help when it comes to future career paths. For example, consumer feedback can help fashion creators to understand how my product will respond to consumer tastes. The transferable skills provided by the feedback of other fashion designers are mainly reflected in the collision of fashion ideas, which subsequently generates new ideas. The comments may also allow fashion creators to reflect on their own work and improve their skills. The feedback from consumers, as well as from other fashion creators, will have a significant impact on these young fashion creators in their future careers.

3. This website is very personal in its approach, and provides fashion graduates with enough autonomy to pursue their own projects. This approach allows designers to use their autonomous initiative and imagination to express their unique style through the form of photography. These styles can be innovated upon through the transferable skills acquired, and new transferable skills can be acquired through the process of constant repetition. Other transferable skills can also be learned through mutual commentary with others. An additional channel of communication with fashionistas in the fashion field may help to overcome the uncertainty of such early careers.

2.5 Intention and Goal

The first intervention sought to investigate how fashion graduates might gain transferable skills more efficiently through online forums or websites.

2.6 Activity and Event allowing Users to Engage

The first intervention developed two activities for participants to engage with. Firstly, these 10 participants uploaded their images and fashion products on the website, where they could learn from each other and gain transferable skills in the process. After posting images on the website, they were asked to comment on other people’s products and follow each other’s products, allowing them to communicate with others whilst looking for a career. 

Secondly, I invited them to an online interview lasting a little over ten minutes. I sought help from an expert in fashion management to design the following open-ended questions to be asked in these face-to-face interviews:

• How do you rate the website?
• Do you think this online website will allow you to gain new transfer skills or allow you to improve your skills?
• If you were able to gain or improve your skills, what kind of improvements were made? What activities or aspects of the website enabled these improvements?
• How do you think this approach has helped or hindered you?
• Do you believe this approach has helped you to find a job for the future? If so, why do you think it will help you find a job in the future, and how can you face the pressure of finding an early career with these skills?

Research Question:

How can fashion graduates gain transferable skills and improve individual competency? 

1.Introduction

Fashion industry is a highly competitive and dynamic field that demands constant innovation, creativity, and adaptability. For fashion graduates, possessing technical skills related to design, production, and marketing is crucial for securing entry-level positions in the industry (Lu et al., 2020). However, beyond technical proficiency, there is an increasing demand for transferable skills that enable graduates to navigate different roles, industries, and contexts (Lopez-Cabrales et al., 2020). In this project, we aim to explore how fashion graduates can gain transferable skills and improve their individual competency to enhance their employability and career prospects.

Transferable skills refer to the general competencies that can be applied across different settings, industries, and roles, such as communication, problem-solving, teamwork, leadership, time management, and adaptability (Díaz-García et al., 2021). These skills allow individuals to transfer their skills and knowledge to new situations, learn quickly, and collaborate effectively with diverse stakeholders, enhancing their employability, competitiveness, and career mobility (Mumford & Gold, 2019). Fashion graduates who possess transferable skills have several advantages over their peers. 

In the fashion industry, transferable skills are becoming increasingly valuable due to the industry’s globalized and multidisciplinary nature, requiring professionals to work with different cultures, languages, and technologies (Barbero-Álvarez et al., 2020). This is especially for graduates who lack industry-specific experience (Díaz-García et al., 2004). They can adapt quickly to changing industry trends, technological advancements, and consumer preferences, enhancing their employability and competitiveness (Liu & Ko, 2021). Transferable skills, such as critical thinking, communication, teamwork, and adaptability, allow fashion graduates to demonstrate their ability to learn and apply knowledge to new situations, collaborate effectively with diverse stakeholders, and add value to their organizations (Lopez-Cabrales et al., 2020). For example, a fashion graduates who master intercultural competence would be crucial in a globalized and fast-paced company. They can work effectively with clients and stakeholders from different cultural backgrounds, leading to better business outcomes (Lu et al., 2020).

Moreover, transferable skills can enable graduates to explore multiple career paths within and outside the fashion industry, adapt to changing labor market demands, and pursue lifelong learning and professional development (Nasiopoulos et al., 2020). On one hand, fashion graduates who possess transferable skills can continue to develop their skills and knowledge throughout their careers, increasing their job satisfaction and competitiveness in the labor market (Nasiopoulos et al., 2020).  For instance, creativity and innovation skills can enable fashion graduates to think outside the box and develop new and innovative products and services that meet customer needs and preferences (Gornostaeva et al., 2019), and leadership and management skills can also allow fashion graduates to take on managerial roles, leading and motivating teams to achieve organizational goals (Nasiopoulos et al., 2020). On another hand, transferable skills can be especially valuable for graduates who may not be able to find employment in their desired field or who want to explore different career options within the industry. Transferable skills allow individuals to transfer their abilities and knowledge from one job or industry to another, making it easier to adapt to changing labor market demands (Liu & Ko, 2021). 

In addition, transferable skills can help fashion graduates to develop a strong personal brand, which is essential in a highly competitive industry and creative industry, such as fashion industry (Barnes & Lea-Greenwood, 2010). In the fashion industry, competition for entry-level jobs can be intense, and graduates need to find ways to differentiate themselves from other candidates (Easter & Matthews, 2020).  A strong personal brand can help graduates to showcase their unique skills, experience, and personality, and make a lasting impression on potential employers (Barnes & Lea-Greenwood, 2010). Additionally, reputation is everything in the fashion industry, and a positive reputation can open doors to new opportunities and collaborations (Choi et al., 2018). By building a personal brand that is consistent and authentic, graduates can establish themselves as experts in their field, gain respect from industry peers, and increase their chances of being noticed by key influencers and decision-makers (Keller & Lehmann, 2006). Meanwhile, from the long-term perspective, building a personal brand that is engaging and compelling enable graduate to attract the attention of industry professionals, build relationships with other creatives, and develop a network of contacts that can support their career over the long-term (Barnes & Lea-Greenwood, 2010).

Despite the benefits of transferable skills, acquiring them is not always straightforward. Fashion graduates may face several challenges in gaining transferable skills, such as the lack of opportunities to practice, the absence of guidance and mentorship, and the difficulty in identifying and articulating their transferable skills to employers (Jiang, 2020). Moreover, there is limited research and literature on how fashion graduates can acquire and develop transferable skills, particularly in the context of the fashion industry (Lu et al., 2020). 

Therefore, this project aims to investigate how fashion graduates can gain transferable skills and enhance their individual competency to improve their employability and career prospects. The project questions is “how do fashion graduates effectively reap transferable skills?” and “how these learned transferable skills help them future job seeking?”.

This study is going to develop and implement two interventions that provide fashion graduates with opportunities to acquire and practice transferable skills in the fashion industry context, and one intervention to evaluate the effectiveness of the former two interventions in enhancing the graduates’ transferable skills and individual competency.