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The differences between apparel designers and head designers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 4-6 years to become an apparel designer, becoming a head designer takes usually requires 6-12 months. Additionally, a head designer has an average salary of $116,986, which is higher than the $65,467 average annual salary of an apparel designer.
The top three skills for an apparel designer include adobe illustrator, tech packs and sketch. The most important skills for a head designer are product design, UI, and sketch.
| Apparel Designer | Head Designer | |
| Yearly salary | $65,467 | $116,986 |
| Hourly rate | $31.47 | $56.24 |
| Growth rate | 3% | 3% |
| Number of jobs | 46,436 | 53,876 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 66% | Bachelor's Degree, 66% |
| Average age | 37 | 38 |
| Years of experience | 6 | 12 |
Apparel designers, also known as clothing or fashion designers, conceptualize and produce items of clothing. They frequently specialize in one type of design, like active, casual, or evening wear. Typical duties include monitoring current fashion trends and forecast future ones, sketching new designs, choosing patterns and fabrics to utilize in garments, and supervising production. They may present items to creative directors, clients, or retailers to determine if the garments are to be conventionally designed or mass-produced.
The Head Designer is the overall command over the creative team's design and the entire company. The heads of the organization look toward the head designer to provide insights into the artistic path the company will take to achieve a unique brand in the market. The head designer is highly-creative, good in management, and can articulate abstract ideas clearly and relay them to company administrators, customers, and clients. A head designer's responsibilities are to handle the creative team, train each member, and provide guidance in every part of the designing process.
Apparel designers and head designers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Apparel Designer | Head Designer | |
| Average salary | $65,467 | $116,986 |
| Salary range | Between $40,000 And $105,000 | Between $71,000 And $191,000 |
| Highest paying City | Richmond, CA | San Francisco, CA |
| Highest paying state | Nevada | California |
| Best paying company | Fanatics | Airbnb |
| Best paying industry | Manufacturing | Hospitality |
There are a few differences between an apparel designer and a head designer in terms of educational background:
| Apparel Designer | Head Designer | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 66% | Bachelor's Degree, 66% |
| Most common major | Graphic Design | Graphic Design |
| Most common college | Cornell University | University of Pennsylvania |
Here are the differences between apparel designers' and head designers' demographics:
| Apparel Designer | Head Designer | |
| Average age | 37 | 38 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 32.8% Female, 67.2% | Male, 50.1% Female, 49.9% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 7.3% Unknown, 5.6% Hispanic or Latino, 11.9% Asian, 11.6% White, 63.0% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.5% | Black or African American, 3.4% Unknown, 5.0% Hispanic or Latino, 10.6% Asian, 10.4% White, 70.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4% |
| LGBT Percentage | 18% | 13% |