What Does a Fashion Designer Do?
Fashion Designers work either independently or directly for an apparel company, creating various clothing and accessory designs that appeal to consumers. They often sketch their designs, then select patterns and fabrics that best complement the designs.
Many Fashion Designers travel to trade shows to gather the fabric and material needed to design their new fashion pieces. They’ll also collaborate with other designers to create prototypes of their ideas. Fashion Designers often present their design ideas to Creative Directors and may also be asked to demonstrate their designs at fashion shows.
Fashion Designer Skills and Qualifications
To show that they can create amazing designs which will appeal to a target audience, a successful Fashion Designer applicant should possess the following skills and qualifications:
- Superior knowledge of fashion design principles
- Excellent creativity with a good sense of fashion and style
- In-depth knowledge of garment technology
- Ability to create, cut and sew-up patterns
- Proficiency in computer-aided fashion design applications and digital visualization tools
- Strong interpersonal and communication skills
- Strong time-management skills
- Excellent attention to detail
Fashion Designer Salary Expectations
The average salary for Fashion Designers is $16.02 an hour. However, Senior Fashion Designers can make much higher than the average salary, especially in consulting roles at more lucrative organizations.
Fashion Designer Education and Training Requirements
It’s not a strict requirement that Fashion Designers have higher education, but an associate or bachelor’s degree is recommended. Education in fashion design, fashion technology, textiles and fabric design or related fields is common. In addition, some training in business management is necessary for Senior Fashion Designers. Hence, a master’s degree in business administration, retail fundamentals or related areas is a bonus.
Fashion Designer Experience Requirements
A qualified Fashion Designer should have a minimum of two years of experience working in the fashion industry. Volunteer experience at fashion shows and festivals is also acceptable. Candidates should be familiar with fashion trends in the industry and possess the versatility to come up with product ideas based on those trends. A Fashion Designer should be comfortable creating patterns and sketches and working with different fabric types. Proven experience designing with software tools may also be required. A highly qualified candidate may also have worked in large teams and produced designs that went on to become top-selling products.
Job description samples for similar positions
If you liked this job description sample and are interested in similar positions, you can check out the following: