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The differences between fashion designers and tailor fitters 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 tailor fitter takes usually requires 6-12 months. Additionally, a fashion designer has an average salary of $54,265, which is higher than the $34,561 average annual salary of a tailor fitter.
The top three skills for a fashion designer include fashion design, sketch and apparel. The most important skills for a tailor fitter are sales associates, coats, and customer service.
| Fashion Designer | Tailor Fitter | |
| Yearly salary | $54,265 | $34,561 |
| Hourly rate | $26.09 | $16.62 |
| Growth rate | 3% | - |
| Number of jobs | 49,476 | 2,281 |
| Job satisfaction | 4 | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 61% | Bachelor's Degree, 53% |
| Average age | 37 | 54 |
| 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.
Tailor Fitters are highly responsible for constructing, amending, altering, repairing, and changing the garments of clients based on choice and preferences. They ask for the customer's measurement like body size and determine if additional requirements are essential.
Fashion designers and tailor fitters have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Fashion Designer | Tailor Fitter | |
| Average salary | $54,265 | $34,561 |
| Salary range | Between $37,000 And $78,000 | Between $22,000 And $53,000 |
| 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 tailor fitter in terms of educational background:
| Fashion Designer | Tailor Fitter | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 61% | Bachelor's Degree, 53% |
| Most common major | Graphic Design | Graphic Design |
| Most common college | Cornell University | - |
Here are the differences between fashion designers' and tailor fitters' demographics:
| Fashion Designer | Tailor Fitter | |
| Average age | 37 | 54 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 17.3% Female, 82.7% | Male, 43.5% Female, 56.5% |
| 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, 6.4% Unknown, 3.8% Hispanic or Latino, 19.8% Asian, 15.3% White, 53.9% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7% |
| LGBT Percentage | 18% | 12% |