Skills and abilities: Artistic and technical skills, with keen sense for colour, texture, etc. Ability to establish and develop fashion trends.
What you’ll be doing: This role is required within a variety of fashion industries, including sportswear, tailoring, etc. Typical day-to-day responsibilities include:
- Working to a brief to design garments, producing concept and ‘mood’ boards
- Predicting trends in materials or colour, and estimating manufacture costs
- Designing by hand or computer-aided design (CAD), and manufacturing samples
- Sourcing suppliers, and making presentations to finance or marketing departments
- Supervising production, ensuring designs are accurately reproduced
Career progression: To begin your fashion design career, you’ll usually need to be a graduate of a fashion design course and start as an assistant designer. Experience could lead to positions such as Senior or Head Designer, Design Director, or you may choose to work freelance or launch your own company.