Where a fashion designer can go next
12 destinations recorded, ranked by how much of the target role a fashion designer already meets. The closer to the top of Table 1, the less there is to learn.
Fashion designers work on designs for the haute couture and/or ready-to-wear, high street fashion markets, and more generally on items of clothing and fashion ranges. Fashion designers can operate in a specialised area, such as sportswear, childrenswear, footwear or accessories.
Also known as accessory designer, fashion design specialist, swimwear designer, footwear designer, fashion stylist, high fashion designer, fashion design expert, textile specialist, fashion expert, sportswear designer, fashion specialist, childrenswear designer.
Professionals 21 skills on file 12 career moves 0 above 60% overlap Closest: textile colourist, 34%
- 70% and above · short step
- 50 to 70% · real move
- Below 50% · substantial retraining
Table 1 · A bigger jump
Possible, but expect real retraining rather than a sideways step.
- textile colourist 34% covered · difficulty 57.4
- textile designer 29% covered · difficulty 71.2
- textile pattern making machine operator 24% covered · difficulty 74.4
- knitter 23% covered · difficulty 68.5
- clothing fashion designer 22% covered · difficulty 79.2
- tufting operator 22% covered · difficulty 66.5
- carpet handicraft worker 22% covered · difficulty 71.8
- milliner 19% covered · difficulty 65.6
- furniture designer 19% covered · difficulty 76.2
- interior designer 19% covered · difficulty 79.1
- braiding machine operator 19% covered · difficulty 71.7
- textile sourcing merchandiser 18% covered · difficulty 78
Table 2 · What the job itself asks for
A fashion designer needs 19 required skills and areas of knowledge. These 10 are the ones fewest other jobs share, so they say the most about the work.
- identify target markets for designs management skills
- design wearing apparel communication, collaboration and creativity
- modify textile designs communication, collaboration and creativity
- produce textile designs communication, collaboration and creativity
- produce textile samples handling and moving
- history of fashion arts and humanities
- keep up to date on costume design information skills
- textile techniques engineering, manufacturing and construction
- develop design ideas cooperatively communication, collaboration and creativity
- monitor textile manufacturing developments information skills
Table 3 · Jobs that lead here
The reverse view: occupations whose skills already cover much of what a fashion designer does. The figure is how much of this job each one brings.
Look up another occupation
Fashion designer is filed under Professionals, ISCO major group 2. The full index lists all ten groups.
How these figures were compiled
Overlap is how much of the target role is already part of a fashion designer’s work. It is directional: the figure for the reverse move differs. Every entry above opens the full comparison for that move: what carries over, what is missing, and where to start. The full method.