Design and Product.Top-notch creative directors are particularly scarce: 67 percent of the respondents in our survey said that these professionals are impossible or very difficult to find. The hunt for designers doesn’t fare much better: 44 percent report similar challenges. Technical design also offers a meager pool of talent: 42 percent of those surveyed said that pattern makers are in very short supply. And about one-third of luxury and fashion firms have trouble attracting accessories designers.
Technology and Digital.The hiring hurdles aren’t much lower for database managers, Web developers, and other technology and digital positions—roles that have generally occupied the back office of the luxury and fashion business but which, in a digital era, have the potential to make a big difference to a company’s market positioning. One-third of the firms surveyed find it very difficult or impossible to hire an e-commerce manager.