Mr. Roopak Vasishtha, CEO, AMHSSC and Ms. Khushboo Chanana, Founder, SkillReporter talks about “Understanding the Opportunities for Youth in Apparel, Made-Ups and Home Furnishing Sector”
The Apparel Made-ups and Home Furnishings Sector Skill Council (AMHSSC), is a sector skill council launched jointly by the Ministry of Textiles, NSDC, and AEPC with the primary mandate of enhancing and building a capacity in skill development through designing of the training programmes, based on industry demands of different segments and to ensure that all successful trainees are certified through accredited assessment agency.
In an interview with Skill Reporter, Roopak Vasishtha, CEO, AMHSSC said that the Apparel is an extremely vibrant sector which has appx 3.58 Crore workforce and needs another 86-lac skilled force till 2025.
Exerpts from the interview:
Khushboo Chanana: Apparel are the key part of Bollywood fashion and the youth are very crazy about Bollywood.” So, how youth can be benefitted from AMHSSC courses, to work closely with Bollywood?
Roopak Vasishtha: Youth have creative bent of mind have enormous opportunities in fashion industry. Apparel is the key noticed element in any bollywood production. Also, Bollywood has always been a pioneer in setting up trends. Many apparel designers have been an integral part of the industry and vice versa.
The fashion design course module being offered under the PMKVY scheme is curated such that the students are extensively trained on various topics such as Pattern Making & Garment Construction, Fashion Illustration, Elements of Fashion & Design, Fashion Ornamentation, clothing culture & Communication etc. On the successful completion of the course, students can pursue a career as a fashion designer or a costume designer who designs costumes for various characters in films, television series, or stage shows.
He further said, “technically, to alter garments, pattern masters and self-employed tailors are required on shoot location.”
Khushboo Chanana: With a boom in construction sector for residence, the demand of interior designing professionals is rising. Home Furnishings plays a major role in beatifying the same. In fact, now-a-days I can see even office interiors are also designed by professionals. So, how AMHSSC courses can help youth to explore the jobs in this sector?”
Roopak Vasishtha: Contemporary fashion/designing has been customer centric, bespoke designs are now the need of the customer. A designer plays an important role in implementing vision of interior designer and can work in tandem with architect.
Moreover, post pandemic the Home furnishing sector has been witnessing tremendous growth due to shift in the mindset of the consumers. They are now spending more than ever on home decorations, due to considerable increase in health awareness and time spent at home with family. The office space is also renovated so to provide congenial atmosphere to the employee. The scope of opportunities in this sector for youth have increased manifold.
He mentioned “The council offers two courses in this sector: Asst designer Apparel, Made-Ups & Home furnishing and Merchandiser Made-Ups & Home Furnishing.” which equips youth with the applicable knowledge required in Home Furnishings sector. After having a better understanding through a well structured training program and a certification, they can explore the avenues with interior designer firms.
Khushboo Chanana: Since, the employment scenarios are changing abruptly, so…Job or Business or becoming a self-employed professional. Which should be the ideal career option youth should focus?
Roopak Vasishtha: Apparel is an extremely vibrant sector which has appx 3.58 Crore workforce and needs another 86-lac skilled force till 2025, as per PwC report. Through skilling eco-system, the main objective of the Government of India has been to make India the Skill capital of the World.
The youth of the country after pursuing these courses can either seek employment or become an entrepreneur and create jobs for many. As the apparel industry is prevalent from ancient times, the employment scenarios have been flexible and has come up strong with many new job roles evolving such as sourcing manager, boutique manager, social compliance auditor.
Khushboo Chanana: Many youngsters are interested in starting something of their own instead of doing a job. Do the skill training programs of AMHSSC equip youth to be business ready?
Roopak Vasishtha: For those who wish to have their own start-ups, we have specialised courses such as Boutique Manager. However, as Boutiques require relatively bigger space and infrastructure, for smaller set ups ‘Self Employed Tailor’ Job role is very helpful for self-sufficiency.
Youngsters will be surprised to note that they can opt for the Job role of ‘Compliance Auditor’ in Apparel sector and the best part is that while there is a requirement of thousands of persons in Apparel sector, no Institution offers this course in the Country and even across the world. So, youngsters have very bright chances of becoming Compliance Auditor in Apparel industry.
Khushboo Chanana: Can you highlight some key courses or job roles of AMHSSC which are in high demand or which may see increase in demand of skilled and certified youth, say in next 10 years?
Roopak Vasishtha: Job roles such as Self-Employed Tailor, Sewing Machine Operator and Hand Embroiderer are in high demand in Rural areas. In the urban areas Job roles of Fashion designer, Export manager, Factory Compliance Auditor and Sourcing Manager are amongst the favourite job roles and we expect the trend to continue in the next ten years.
