Arts, Design, Entertainment, Sports, and Media · Holland code ARE
Fashion Designers
Design clothing and accessories. Create original designs or adapt fashion trends.
Also called: Apparel Designer, Costume Designer, Designer, Fashion Designer, Apparel and Accessories Designer, Fashion Design Contractor, Fashion Graphic Designer, Fashion Stylist.
O*NET 27-1022.00
At a glance
- US median annual pay
- $80,960
- Middle half earn $51,940 to $106,470. BLS OEWS, May 2025.
- Most common education
- Bachelor's Degree
- 51% of workers surveyed by O*NET report this level.
- Preparation needed
- Job Zone 3 of 5
- Medium preparation. Zone 1 is little or none; zone 5 is graduate-level.
- US employment outlook, 2024 to 2034
- +2% · Slower than average
- 25,700 jobs in 2024, projected 26,200. BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, which groups this with similar roles as "Fashion designers".
What the work involves
The tasks workers in this occupation rate as most important, from the O*NET survey.
- Sketch rough and detailed drawings of apparel or accessories, and write specifications such as color schemes, construction, material types, and accessory requirements.
- Examine sample garments on and off models, modifying designs to achieve desired effects.
- Determine prices for styles.
- Confer with sales and management executives or with clients to discuss design ideas.
- Select materials and production techniques to be used for products.
- Provide sample garments to agents and sales representatives, and arrange for showings of sample garments at sales meetings or fashion shows.
- Direct and coordinate workers involved in drawing and cutting patterns and constructing samples or finished garments.
- Develop a group of products or accessories, and market them through venues such as boutiques or mail-order catalogs.
Skills and knowledge it leans on
Skills
- Active Listening3.9 / 5
- Speaking3.9 / 5
- Critical Thinking3.9 / 5
- Active Learning3.8 / 5
- Reading Comprehension3.6 / 5
- Monitoring3.5 / 5
Knowledge areas
- Design4.4 / 5
- Computers and Electronics3.4 / 5
- Production and Processing3.3 / 5
- Sales and Marketing3.2 / 5
- English Language3.1 / 5
- Fine Arts2.7 / 5
Importance ratings on O*NET’s 1 to 5 scale. Higher means the occupation depends on it more.
Who tends to enjoy it
How strongly this occupation draws on each of the six Holland interest types, which is the same profile the career interests test compares you against.
- Realistic56
- Investigative19
- Artistic100
- Social23
- Enterprising49
- Conventional32
The same work abroad
Other countries classify jobs differently, so these are the closest matches through the international ISCO-08 standard, not exact equivalents.
European occupation titles (ESCO)
- costume designer · DE Kostümdesigner/Kostümdesignerin · FR créateur de costumes/créatrice de costumes
- fashion designer · DE Modedesigner/Modedesignerin · FR créateur de mode/créatrice de mode
- clothing fashion designer · DE Modedesigner Bekleidung/Modedesignerin Bekleidung · FR styliste
- footwear designer · DE Schuhdesigner/Schuhdesignerin · FR styliste chaussure
- leather goods designer · DE Lederwarendesigner/Lederwarendesignerin · FR styliste maroquinerie
- textile designer · DE Textildesigner/Textildesignerin · FR designer textile/designeuse textile
Closest UK occupation groups (SOC 2020)
- Clothing, fashion and accessories designers (3422)18,300 employed
- CAD, drawing and architectural technicians (3120)54,900 employed
- Footwear and leather working trades (5412)7,700 employed
Employment is the UK Annual Population Survey for April 2025 to March 2026, all workers in the group, which can be broader than this one occupation.
Japan
Japan classifies jobs in its own way. The closest category that names the same work is “デザイナー”, which may be narrower or broader than this occupation.
- Median monthly pay
- ¥326,500
- Middle half earn ¥266,100 to ¥421,500 a month.
- Workers in the category
- 91,450
- Regular employees in firms of ten or more.
Scheduled monthly pay before tax, excluding overtime and bonuses, so it is not comparable to the annual figures above. Source: Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, Basic Survey on Wage Structure 2025, via e-Stat, under the Japanese Government Standard Terms of Use. The category match was made by hand.
Pay across Europe, for the whole group
Median annual earnings of all employees in “Professionals”. This is the broad ISCO group this occupation falls in, not the occupation itself, so treat it as context for the wage level, not as a salary for this job.
| Country | Median pay |
|---|---|
| Belgium | €61,714 |
| Germany | €59,529 |
| Ireland | €56,877 |
| Austria | €55,374 |
| Netherlands | €53,595 |
| Sweden | €43,567 |
| France | €41,515 |
| Spain | €35,735 |
| Italy | €33,649 |
| Portugal | €26,072 |
| Poland | €14,380 |
Eurostat Structure of Earnings Survey, businesses with ten or more employees outside public administration, in euro and not adjusted for the cost of living. Reference years differ between sources: the US, Japan and Europe figures on this page come from different survey years, so compare them as rough levels, not to the euro or yen.
Exposure to AI
This occupation sits in the middle third of the 774 occupations scored, with an exposure score of +0.58. The scores are standardized across those occupations, so 0 is the average and a score of 1 is about one standard deviation above it.
Our note on reading it: the dataset links AI applications to the abilities that occupations require, so the score reflects overlap between the two. It is a comparison between occupations, not a forecast about jobs. It does not say whether exposure means tasks are replaced or workers get more done with the tools, and it says little about one employer or one role.
Source: Felten, E., Raj, M., & Seamans, R. (2021). Occupational, industry, and geographic exposure to artificial intelligence: A novel dataset and its potential uses. Strategic Management Journal, 42(12), 2195-2217. Matched to this page by 6-digit SOC code (27-1022).
Related careers
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