How to become a clothing, fashion and accessories designer
Official title: Clothing, fashion and accessories designers
Also called: Designer, Gem designer, Hat designer, Dress designer, Fashion adviser, Apparel designer, Clothes designer, Costume designer, Fashion designer, Handbag designer, Pattern designer, Textile designer
Clothing, fashion and accessories designers plan, direct and undertake the creation of designs for new clothing and related fashion accessories.
Main tasks
- Liaises with client to determine the purpose, cost, technical specification and potential uses/users of clothing or related fashion accessory
- Undertakes research to determine market trends, production requirements, availability of resources and formulates design concepts
- Prepares sketches, designs, patterns or prototypes for textiles, clothing, footwear, jewellery, fashion accessories
- Submits design to management, sales department or client for approval, communicates design rationale and makes any necessary alterations
- Specifies materials, production method and finish for aesthetic or functional effect
- Oversees production of sample and/or finished product or produces one-off products for fashion shows
- Observes and manages intellectual property issues
How to become one
Entrants have usually completed a foundation course, BTEC/SQA award, degree and/or postgraduate qualification. Vocational qualifications in Fashion Design and Design are available at level 2 and 3, as are apprenticeships at levels 2 and 3.
Ways in
- University: Creative Arts & Design degrees, Offered by 26 universities in the UK
Pay · Outlook
- Median full-time pay: £36,848 a year
- About 25,700 people work in this job now, and about 28,500 are projected by 2035. (+11.1%)
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Questions people ask
How do I become a clothing, fashion and accessories designer?
Entrants have usually completed a foundation course, BTEC/SQA award, degree and/or postgraduate qualification. Vocational qualifications in Fashion Design and Design are available at level 2 and 3, as are apprenticeships at levels 2 and 3.
How much does a clothing, fashion and accessories designer earn in the UK?
Median full-time pay is £36,848 a year (Office for National Statistics).
Is a clothing, fashion and accessories designer a growing career in the UK?
Yes. Employment is projected to grow 11% by 2035, from about 25,700 to about 28,500 people (Department for Education).
Do you need a degree to become a clothing, fashion and accessories designer?
Usually. 79% of people in this job hold a bachelor's degree or higher.
Sources
- Office for National Statistics: Annual Population Survey: employment by occupation (April 2025 to March 2026), OGL v3.0, retrieved 2026-10-03
- Office for National Statistics: SOC 2020 Volume 1: structure and descriptions (2026-08-27 edition), OGL v3.0, retrieved 2026-10-03
- Department for Education: Skills Imperative 2035: employment projections by occupation (2021 to 2035 (Warwick IER / Cambridge Econometrics)), OGL v3.0, retrieved 2026-10-03
- Office for National Statistics: Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, Table 14 (2025 provisional), OGL v3.0, retrieved 2026-10-03
Updated 2026-10-03
Graduate outcomes: Discover Uni dataset, HESA (www.hesa.ac.uk), licensed under CC BY 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0). Aggregated by subject and adapted by Peernovo.