CCollegeMatcher

Fashion Designers

US occupation · SOC 27-1022

Job titles people report: Apparel and Accessories Designer, Apparel Designer, Costume Designer, Designer, Fashion Design Contractor, Fashion Designer, Fashion Graphic Designer, Fashion Stylist, Handbag Designer, Product Developer

Pay and outlook

Median annual wage, May 2025
$80,960
Half earn more, half earn less
Middle half earn
$51,940 – $106,470
25th to 75th percentile
People employed, May 2025
21,450
Wage and salary jobs (OEWS)
Projected change, 2025–35
+0.1%
Growing slower than all jobs (0% to under 3.5%)
Openings a year (projected)
2,500
New jobs plus replacing people who leave
Typical education to enter
Bachelor's degree
BLS
  • All figures are for the United States as a whole. Pay varies a lot by state and city.
  • Wages are for everyone working in the occupation in May 2025, at every career stage. They are not starting salaries or figures for new graduates.
  • Growth and openings are BLS projections for 2025–35. They are estimates, not promises. Openings include jobs that open up when people retire or change occupation, not just new jobs.

What the work involves

Design clothing and accessories. Create original designs or adapt fashion trends.

Main tasks

  • 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.
  • 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.
  • Identify target markets for designs, looking at factors such as age, gender, and socioeconomic status.
  • Collaborate with other designers to coordinate special products and designs.

Description and tasks from the O*NET® 31.0 Database.

Getting in

Typical education to enter (BLS)
Bachelor's degree
O*NET Job Zone 3
Medium preparation
Most occupations in this zone require training in vocational schools, related on-the-job experience, or an associate's degree.

Interests it suits

The strongest of the six O*NET interest types for this occupation, highest first. The short glosses are ours.

  • Artistic: creating, designing and self-expression
  • Realistic: hands-on work with tools, machines, plants or animals
  • Enterprising: leading, persuading and making business decisions

Fields of study that lead here

From the federal CIP–SOC crosswalk, which links 5 programmes to this occupation. A link means the programme prepares people for this kind of work. It doesn't mean the programme is required, or that it's the only route.

Visual & Performing Arts

  • Fashion/Apparel Design
  • Costume Design

Find colleges that fit you with our matcher: choose Visual & Performing Arts at the Major step.

Where many students take visual & performing arts

Ordered by the field's share of degrees awarded times undergraduate enrolment (College Scorecard), among colleges with at least 1,000 undergraduates. Online universities are included. It's a rough measure of how big the programme is. It says nothing about quality. The share counts every programme in the field, not only the ones linked to this career.

Other fields

Our college matcher doesn't offer this field as a major, so we can't suggest colleges for it here.

Family and Consumer Sciences/Human Sciences

  • Apparel and Textile Manufacture
  • Textile Science
  • Fashion and Fabric Consultant

Related careers

Related occupations from the O*NET database, in its order.

← All careers

Sources

This page includes information from the O*NET 31.0 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. CollegeMatcher has modified all or some of this information. USDOL/ETA has not approved, endorsed, or tested these modifications. O*NET 31.0 Database · CC BY 4.0

Changes: we show the core tasks in the O*NET database with the highest importance ratings (up to eight, in that order), the top three O*NET interest types by score, and shortened Job Zone names. Titles, descriptions and task text are unchanged.

Wages: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025. Projections, typical entry education and training: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment Projections 2025–35. Fields of study: NCES and BLS CIP 2020–SOC 2018 Crosswalk. All public domain. OEWS · Employment Projections · CIP–SOC crosswalk