Career management of Dutch fashion entrepreneurs- The function of established fashion companies

There is an increasing interest in career management when portfolio career have been introduced. Especially after the crisis, the topic on how to increase employability is receiving considerable attention, thus different career competencies are investigated in different industries. However, designer being the prime member of the portfolio career is still largely uninvestigated. Dutch fashion, with its modest importance, is lack of empirical support. This master thesis hence explores career capitals of fashion entrepreneurs in The Netherlands as a representative of portfolio career. Asking the question of what function do established companies play in designers’ career development. This study implements a mixed method approach. Through distributing online surveys to get exploratory data and to filter respondents for in-depth interview. The survey has reached a wider range of fashion entrepreneurs with various characteristic while interview participants are mainly recruited from Zuid Holland. Results display occupational learning has significant influence on both designers’ portfolio building and career competences accumulating. Given the fact that design industry is still dominated by projects and freelancers; social capital, design capital and business knowledge are the most significant career competence determining fashion designer’s employability. However, the conflict between creativity (design) and economic (business) remains unresolved. Meaning that education on business knowledge is in needed of attention from design institute and policy makers.