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Fashion assistant vs apparel designer

The differences between fashion assistants and apparel designers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 4-6 years to become both a fashion assistant and an apparel designer. Additionally, an apparel designer has an average salary of $65,467, which is higher than the $49,812 average annual salary of a fashion assistant.

The top three skills for a fashion assistant include photo shoots, sales floor and market research. The most important skills for an apparel designer are adobe illustrator, tech packs, and sketch.

Fashion assistant vs apparel designer overview

Fashion AssistantApparel Designer
Yearly salary$49,812$65,467
Hourly rate$23.95$31.47
Growth rate3%3%
Number of jobs2,42046,436
Job satisfaction--
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 74%Bachelor's Degree, 66%
Average age3737
Years of experience66

What does a fashion assistant do?

A fashion assistant helps showcase clothes, accessories, and other products to customers and retailers. They also prepare fashion shows, photoshoots, and product launches. They handle public relations, communications with models, and marketing. They must be creative, spontaneous, outgoing, and willing to help realize a fashion designer's vision.

What does an apparel designer do?

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.

Fashion assistant vs apparel designer salary

Fashion assistants and apparel designers have different pay scales, as shown below.

Fashion AssistantApparel Designer
Average salary$49,812$65,467
Salary rangeBetween $37,000 And $66,000Between $40,000 And $105,000
Highest paying City-Richmond, CA
Highest paying state-Nevada
Best paying company-Fanatics
Best paying industry-Manufacturing

Differences between fashion assistant and apparel designer education

There are a few differences between a fashion assistant and an apparel designer in terms of educational background:

Fashion AssistantApparel Designer
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 74%Bachelor's Degree, 66%
Most common majorGraphic DesignGraphic Design
Most common collegeStanford UniversityCornell University

Fashion assistant vs apparel designer demographics

Here are the differences between fashion assistants' and apparel designers' demographics:

Fashion AssistantApparel Designer
Average age3737
Gender ratioMale, 18.9% Female, 81.1%Male, 32.8% Female, 67.2%
Race ratioBlack 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, 7.3% Unknown, 5.6% Hispanic or Latino, 11.9% Asian, 11.6% White, 63.0% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.5%
LGBT Percentage18%18%

Differences between fashion assistant and apparel designer duties and responsibilities

Fashion assistant example responsibilities.

  • Manage and facilitate fittings and quick changes, organizing wardrobe, transferring and directing costumes to desire locations.
  • Provide customize wardrobe consultations, closet makeovers and personal style and fashion recommendations using an innovative direct-to-consumer sales model.
  • Implement chart to track pop piping and stitching across pants and jacket mean to be worn as sets.

Apparel designer example responsibilities.

  • Develop marketing and brand awareness initiatives through social media outlets; create and manage company Facebook and Houzz profiles.
  • Create detailed conceptual and sketch presentations for senior management seasonally.
  • Prepare PowerPoint documents for client presentation that include furniture and material selections.
  • Select NYC print studios to handle outsource design projects and monitor progress to ensure work are completed on deadline.
  • Design Missy sweater line for domestic sweater manufacturer.

Fashion assistant vs apparel designer skills

Common fashion assistant skills
  • Photo Shoots, 29%
  • Sales Floor, 9%
  • Market Research, 6%
  • Fashion Design, 5%
  • Market Appointments, 4%
  • Trend Reports, 3%
Common apparel designer skills
  • Adobe Illustrator, 10%
  • Tech Packs, 8%
  • Sketch, 6%
  • Apparel Design, 6%
  • Technical Design, 5%
  • PLM, 5%

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