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The differences between fashion designers and freelance designers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 4-6 years to become a fashion designer, becoming a freelance designer takes usually requires 6-12 months. Additionally, a freelance designer has an average salary of $57,260, which is higher than the $54,265 average annual salary of a fashion designer.
The top three skills for a fashion designer include fashion design, sketch and apparel. The most important skills for a freelance designer are sketch, CSS, and HTML.
| Fashion Designer | Freelance Designer | |
| Yearly salary | $54,265 | $57,260 |
| Hourly rate | $26.09 | $27.53 |
| Growth rate | 3% | 3% |
| Number of jobs | 49,476 | 45,914 |
| Job satisfaction | 4 | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 61% | Bachelor's Degree, 73% |
| Average age | 37 | 38 |
| Years of experience | 6 | 12 |
Fashion designers design and assist with the making of shoes, accessories, and clothing. They identify trends and styles, colors, and trims of a clothing collection. The designers keep an eye on travel shows and read fashion magazines to spot trends and interpret specific patterns, color palettes, and prints for each season. They sketch designs by hand, address buyers as a seasoned marketer, and create technical production drawings. It is part of their responsibilities to collaborate with team members to make edits to lines, select seasonal themes, and create new concepts.
Freelance designers are creative, independent contractors who create visual and graphic designs for their clients. They develop text and illustrated versions of brands, messages, and communications with strong visible influence with their clients. Typical activities include networking, seeking projects, and negotiating prices to their customers. They manage client proposals, develop concepts, present solutions, and ensure the timely completion of projects. Freelance visual and graphic designers are creative, self-motivated as well as result and deadline oriented.
Fashion designers and freelance designers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Fashion Designer | Freelance Designer | |
| Average salary | $54,265 | $57,260 |
| Salary range | Between $37,000 And $78,000 | Between $39,000 And $83,000 |
| Highest paying City | San Francisco, CA | - |
| Highest paying state | Nevada | - |
| Best paying company | Ralph Lauren | - |
| Best paying industry | Retail | - |
There are a few differences between a fashion designer and a freelance designer in terms of educational background:
| Fashion Designer | Freelance Designer | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 61% | Bachelor's Degree, 73% |
| Most common major | Graphic Design | Graphic Design |
| Most common college | Cornell University | University of Pennsylvania |
Here are the differences between fashion designers' and freelance designers' demographics:
| Fashion Designer | Freelance Designer | |
| Average age | 37 | 38 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 17.3% Female, 82.7% | Male, 48.0% Female, 52.0% |
| 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% |