Fashion Designer Job Description

Fashion designers are the artists of the apparel industry. They create ideas for a range of products including coats, suits, dresses, hats and underwear, designing clothing and accessories for individual clients, for specialty and high-fashion stores, and — in the largest numbers — for apparel manufacturers serving the mass market. This page explains the design process from first sketch to approved sample, the artistic and technical skills designers need, the education routes into the profession, and the settings and career paths designers work in.

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What a Fashion Designer Does

Designers begin the process by making rough sketches of garments or accessories, often using computer-assisted design (CAD) software, which can print detailed designs from a computer drawing and store styles and colours so they can be accessed and changed easily. A sketch is only the start: the designer then develops the idea into something that can actually be made, creating or directing the pattern pieces used to construct the finished garment, measuring and drawing them to actual size and cutting them in sample fabric.

The sample stage is where designs are proved. Pieces are sewn together and fitted on a model, and the designer examines the sample garment and makes changes — adjusting fit, proportion, fabric or detail — until the effect wanted is achieved. Some designers use assistants to cut and sew pattern pieces to their specifications, and the cycle of sample, fitting and correction may repeat several times before a style is approved for production. High-fashion designers may be self-employed, designing for individual clients, or cater to specialty stores and high-fashion department stores with original garments alongside clothing that follows established trends; most designers, however, work for manufacturers creating men's, women's and children's fashions for the mass market.

Knowledge of Fabric, Colour and Construction

Designers need a good sense of colour, texture and style — the instinct for which combination will look right on a rail and on a body. That instinct has to be backed by technical understanding: designers must understand the construction and characteristics of specific fabrics, such as durability and stiffness, because a design drawn for a fluid silk fails in a rigid denim, and a style that cannot be sewn at its target price will never reach production however well it sketches.

This is why design in a commercial studio is a team discipline. Designers work with pattern makers on whether a shape can be cut economically, with fabric specialists on what a cloth will do, and with merchandisers and buyers on whether the style fills a real place in a range at a price customers will pay. The designers who thrive in manufacturing are those who treat those constraints as part of the creative problem, not as interference with it.

Skills, Tools and Computer-Aided Design

Drawing remains the designer's core language, whether it is done with a pencil or a stylus: the ability to get an idea out of the head and in front of other people quickly and clearly. Many employers seek designers who know how to use computer-assisted design, and digital tools now handle sketching, colourways, print placement and technical specification as well as storing the style libraries a studio reuses season after season.

Alongside the creative tools, designers need commercial and personal skills that are less visible in the portfolio: presenting and defending ideas to buyers, accepting that a loved design may be dropped for range balance, managing several styles at different sample stages at once, and working to the fixed deadlines of a seasonal calendar. A designer who misses the range deadline has not finished late — the style has effectively not been designed at all.

Education, Training and Career Path

Specialised design training is usually obtained through a university or design school offering four-year or two-year degrees in art, fine art or fashion design; many schools require a year of basic art and design courses before entry to a bachelor's program, and applicants may be required to submit drawings and other examples of their artistic ability. Formal training is also available in two- and three-year fashion design schools awarding certificates or associate degrees, whose graduates generally qualify as assistants to designers.

Beginning designers usually receive on-the-job training and normally need one to three years before advancing to higher-level positions such as assistant technical designer, pattern designer or head designer; some advance by moving to bigger firms, and some move into business or merchandising roles. Work settings differ sharply by employer: designers in manufacturing establishments, large corporations and design firms generally work regular hours in well-lit, comfortable settings, while consultants and the self-employed work on a contract basis, adjust their days to clients' schedules and deadlines, and tend to work longer hours — the freedom of independent design and the security of a studio salary are the trade-off every designer weighs.