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Do Fashion Design Majors Make Good Money?

Are you curious if fashion design majors make good money? Dive into our exploration of the fashion industry, where creativity meets lucrative opportunities. We’ll cover average earnings, key responsibilities, and tips for salary growth, offering insights into the vibrant world of fashion design. Make an informed career choice by understanding the financial side of fashion design.

Ways to Increase Salary as a Fashion Designer

Woman using a tape measure to measure the clothes on a mannequin

Like any field of expertise you partake in, one of the given aspects you consider before choosing a career in fashion, is knowing the possibilities for growth. Aside from promotion and career learning, one would wish to receive higher earnings. Read along and find out how to increase your salary as a fashion designer:

Here are three main ways to increase your salary as a fashion designer:

Graphic image of a clothes pattern design

Education

Fashion designers who possess a formal education and know how to use technologies, such as computer-aided design (CAD), will have the best chance of finding jobs in the fashion industry that will pay them higher salaries.

Moreover, they are also more likely to get promoted while having additional skills that complement their fashion design talents.

ALSO READ: Best Online Fashion Design Bachelor’s Degree Colleges

Industry Experience

Positioning yourself as an in-demand professional and creating a robust portfolio will also make you more attractive to employers. The more experience fashion designers have, the more advanced positions they can qualify for and the more money they can earn.

Geographic Location

A fashion designer may benefit from relocating if he or she wants to pursue professional opportunities. Depending on the area, California and New York offer the most significant employment opportunities for fashion designers. Despite more opportunities, higher earnings do not necessarily follow, particularly when it comes to a high cost of living.

Fashion designer using a tape measure to measure the clothes that a woman is wearing during a fitting

Basic Facts on Fashion Design Earning

Per the Bureau of Labor Statistics, fashion designers average $36.87 an hour or $76,700 yearly in earnings. In other words, half of the fashion designers employed in the industry make less than this figure, and half make more. Although the lowest-paid 10% earned only $34,660 each year, the top 10 percent earned $139,920 annually.

Original clothing is created so that fashion designers can make these amounts! Designing garments, accessories, and footwear includes studying fashion trends, sketching designs, transferring ideas into computer design programs, selecting fabrics, and building prototypes. Their designs must be marketed to retailers and consumers if they decide to freelance.

Fashion Designers Set the Trend In Urban Areas

In the New York City metro area, fashion designers earn an average of $40 per hour or $83,710 per year. With the same number of jobs and a mean salary of $38 per hour or $78,920 per year, Los Angeles and Long Beach had the second-highest number of jobs. 

The Anaheim-Santa Ana region, also located in that neighborhood, ranked third with $36 per hour or $74,120 per year. Boston had the highest average hourly wage at $44 or $91,260 per year for urban areas. Taking second place was the New York/White Plains, New York/New Jersey, area with an average hourly wage of $40 or an annual income of $83,710.

Training Requirement

Graphic image of a fashion designer holding a measuring tape, with patterns, threads, clothes and accessories on the background

The fashion industry does not require formal education, although there are degrees in fashion merchandising earned after two or four years of study. As a beginning designer, you may work as a pattern maker or assistant to an experienced designer.

Portfolios are essential because they demonstrate the designer’s creative skills and capabilities. It is possible to advance to chief designer, department head, or creative director after years of experience.

A designer can also start his or her own company or offer high-end clients personalized designs.

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