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The differences between fashion 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 a fashion 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 $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 head designer are product design, UI, and sketch.
| Fashion Designer | Head Designer | |
| Yearly salary | $54,265 | $116,986 |
| Hourly rate | $26.09 | $56.24 |
| Growth rate | 3% | 3% |
| Number of jobs | 49,476 | 53,876 |
| Job satisfaction | 4 | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 61% | Bachelor's Degree, 66% |
| 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.
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.
Fashion designers and head designers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Fashion Designer | Head Designer | |
| Average salary | $54,265 | $116,986 |
| Salary range | Between $37,000 And $78,000 | Between $71,000 And $191,000 |
| Highest paying City | San Francisco, CA | San Francisco, CA |
| Highest paying state | Nevada | California |
| Best paying company | Ralph Lauren | Airbnb |
| Best paying industry | Retail | Hospitality |
There are a few differences between a fashion designer and a head designer in terms of educational background:
| Fashion Designer | Head Designer | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 61% | Bachelor's Degree, 66% |
| Most common major | Graphic Design | Graphic Design |
| Most common college | Cornell University | University of Pennsylvania |
Here are the differences between fashion designers' and head designers' demographics:
| Fashion Designer | Head Designer | |
| Average age | 37 | 38 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 17.3% Female, 82.7% | 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% |