If you’re interested in clothing, love accessories or have a passion for fashion as a whole, then you may have considered choosing fashion copywriting as an option for your future career. This is especially true if you already enjoy writing, and you’re looking for a niche category that suits your style and voice when it comes to delivering content.
From blog posts to press releases, fashion copywriting spans a wide range of styles and types – making it an excellent choice for anyone looking for consistency in their writing with the variety of a far broader subject range. Want to know more about what a fashion copywriter is? Read on to discover all the details.
What is a fashion copywriter?
A fashion copywriter is a content creator that writes copy for the fashion industry, either exclusively or as part of their more extensive expertise. As a large and ever-expanding industry, writing within the fashion sphere can include a wide variety of different tasks, types of content and styles of writing.
Fashion copywriters generally create content either for fashion brands individually or for retail businesses such as e-commerce stores, physical shops and anything else in between. As such, content creation for fashion is often highly branded, with specific marketing requirements around wording, tone and style of copy.
In addition to brands, copy for press also falls under the remit of a fashion copywriter, which may involve creating informed content for magazines and other fashion media. Press, advertising and SEO-based content are all common forms of fashion copywriter content.
So, what is a fashion copywriter in the basic sense?
It’s a more specialised type of copywriter, one who may have specific knowledge on the subject matter of fashion. Unlike a generic copywriter, a fashion copywriter may not work across a variety of industries, instead choosing to focus on producing high-quality content for a specific area of expertise; in this case, fashion.
What type of content does a fashion copywriter create?
As a vast and varied industry, fashion copywriters can be expected to write a variety of different types of content. The style and tone of material can change from brand to brand, in the same way it would between different businesses in any industry. Often, content is highly dictated based on briefs that include brand style guides or stipulations.
Here are just a few of the types of content a fashion copywriter may be expected to produce:
- Copy and features for use in a variety of fashion media, including magazines, online articles and even newspapers
- Promotional content for the advertisement of the businesses’ brand, such as social media posts, press releases and blog content
- Online website content for SEO and customer purposes, such as product descriptions, blog posts, style edits and category descriptions
- Write-ups based on research on specific areas of fashion, such as particular brands or fashion shows
- Brand-based content based on style guides and brand attributes to refresh existing catalogue, web and promotion copy
As a large and complex industry, fashion copywriting can span a wide range of different requirements. As such, a high level of skill in versatility and research is required to succeed as a fashion copywriter and to ensure the client is happy with the work every time; as well as a healthy dose of emotional connection, according to Pulkit Rastogi.
For any writer considering specialising in fashion copywriting, it’s essential to be flexible when it comes to the style of content you create, as well as being knowledgeable of your subject matter.
What skills are needed to be a fashion copywriter?
As with any copywriting profession, it’s important that those looking into fashion copywriting as a career are able to write to a high quality and produce accurate and well-researched content. This is especially important in an industry where brand perception is at an all-time high according to industry expert Camilla Peffer. As such, fashion copywriters have to go the extra mile to ensure they meet the requirements of their clients every time.
So, what skills do you need to have to be successful as a fashion copywriter? Here are just a few of the top talents you’ll need to go far:
Passion for your work
Many content creators want to work in fashion. So when it comes to differentiating your skills from your competition, your passion for your subject matter could be what puts you on top. If you particularly enjoy writing about, researching and delivering content for fashion, this should show the client you have a passion for the content you’re creating. That passion can make your quality of work better overall and will come across in your copy.
Excellent timekeeping skills
While both writing and fashion could be considered arts, both industries are now very much run as businesses. As such, having the skills to keep time consistently, produce content on a deadline and create copy to a timeline is essential. In the world of fashion, the pace of business is far brisker than other industries; so you should anticipate tighter deadlines and faster turnarounds.
High accuracy and expert research capabilities
A saturated and brand-focused industry, when it comes to producing content having an accurate understanding of the product or brand itself is a must. With fashion brands often competing with hundreds if not thousands of other businesses, producing content that fits their needs first time is a must. This means producing copy that’s accurate to their products, and well-researched at all times.
Working in fashion copywriting
Do you think working in fashion copywriting is the career for you? Whether you have a particular talent in helping brands to shine or you just have a passion for the industry, that extra edge can make you a valuable resource for countless fashion businesses. For copywriters, the high level of competition can be an excellent advantage to create compelling, brand-driven content that clients will love.
From producing press releases to creating website content, fashion isn’t just a one-trick pony. It offers a variety of options for growth, development and learning. Because of the versatility of fashion, there’s plenty on offer to test your skills against. Whether it’s promoting a product for an upcoming campaign, creating SEO-based copy to drive visitors to a website or anything in-between. To get started and fine-tune your copywriting skills, why not sign up to Copify?
