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Fashion designer skills for your resume and career

Updated January 8, 2025

5 min read

Quoted experts

Dr. Jennifer Jorgensen Ph.D.,

Chris Chapin

Below we've compiled a list of the most critical fashion designer skills. We ranked the top skills for fashion designers based on the percentage of resumes they appeared on. For example, 14.2% of fashion designer resumes contained fashion design as a skill. Continue reading to find out what skills a fashion designer needs to be successful in the workplace.

15 fashion designer skills for your resume and career

1. Fashion Design

Here's how fashion designers use fashion design:

Fashion designer, Wardrobe/Fashion stylist with services including original design, personal shopping, closet organization, tailoring/alterations.
Offered full-time position Fashion Designer due to outstanding performance during internship.

2. Sketch

Here's how fashion designers use sketch:

Fashion sketch Artist, Designing for clients, Generating trendy and innovative ideas, Consulting with Productions and Creating Silhouettes.
Sketch and develop new concepts, patterns, toys, and prints for baby gear collections.

3. Apparel

Apparel is anything worn especially formal clothes; outerwear; garments; attire; raiment worn on an important occasion to protect, wrap, adorn or beautify the body. Apparel also refers to clothing of a specific type that is sold in stores. Product categories include everything from basic items like underwear, badges, jewelry to luxury items. The general classification of clothing is as follows: men's wear, women's wear, children's wear, and others.

Here's how fashion designers use apparel:

Researched and developed seasonal apparel product lines through expert trend forecasting.
Study global trends across apparel categories and Analyze international brands based on their Product offerings and hence derive trend directions.

4. Design Concepts

Here's how fashion designers use design concepts:

Initiated design concepts, introduced and developed collection according to seasonal concepts.
Researched knitwear trends and developed general direction of design concepts, color boards and made seasonal presentations of proposed designs.

5. Adobe Illustrator

Here's how fashion designers use adobe illustrator:

Create line art, patterns, and color ways in Adobe Illustrator.
Fashion Illustration; illustrating designs by using Adobe Illustrator.

6. CAD

Here's how fashion designers use cad:

Create CAD presentations that include sketches, colors, fabrics, embellishment, construction, dye techniques and screen print designs.
Helped with the research and development of key fabrics, prints and patterns with fabric team and Cad designers.

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7. Tech Packs

A tech pack is an informative sheet that designers create to communicate with a manufacturer all the details and components necessary to turn a product into a finished product. It also serves as a "product contract" between a person and the manufacturer throughout the sampling and production process. Typically, designers include dimensions, materials, sketches, size specifications, colors, illustrations, hardware, grading, labels/tags, construction information, and legends. The tech pack is essential for quality control and also ensures that the submitted samples meet ones specifications exactly and that one does not waste time and money reproducing them if they are incorrect.

Here's how fashion designers use tech packs:

Communicate with China office daily basis for tech packs, sample development, sample revision and all sample development related works.
Designed roughly 150 styles each season, issued tech packs, developed fabrics, trims and accessories.

8. Adobe Photoshop

Here's how fashion designers use adobe photoshop:

Create fine art paintings for clients, as well as design layouts using Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator.
Use Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator to create Design layouts for clientele.

9. Fashion Trends

Here's how fashion designers use fashion trends:

Gather and review information about fashion trends and consumer preferences to discuss with Designer in order to create a line.
Keep up to date with emerging fashion trends as well as general trends relating to fabrics, colors and shapes

10. Production Techniques

Here's how fashion designers use production techniques:

Capitalized on the hottest trends; traveled globally to research new trends, fabrics, and production techniques.
Selected materials and production techniques to be used for products.

11. Textile

Here's how fashion designers use textile:

Executed trend and textile international resource.
Researched fashion, textile, make up, accessory, and footwear trends.

12. Product Development

Product development is the complete procedure of creating a product from concept until release of the final product. Product development has many stages after which a product is released into the market. Identifying the need, creating the opportunity, conceptualizing a product, and providing a solution, all are different stages of product development.

Here's how fashion designers use product development:

Reported and assistant to a German Product Development Director.
Organized & plan merchandising fashion forecast product development.

13. Market Research

Market research is a collective effort to collect information related to a consumer's needs and wants. It is a systematic approach that involves recording and analysis of both qualitative and quantitative data. Market research helps a business to identify a target market correctly and identify the gaps in potential consumer's expectations.

Here's how fashion designers use market research:

Designed collections for clients, conducted market research, conceptual presentations, brainstorm, and fabrication of collection.
Market Research trends, seasonal color story inspirations, styles and cut for each season.

14. Embroidery

Here's how fashion designers use embroidery:

Source embellishments by acting as a liaison between domestic and foreign vendors, such as embroidery houses, rhinestone vendors.
Developed print, designed embroidery layout, and lead fitting from initial prototype sample to production with Asia offices.

15. Photo Shoots

A photoshoot is a series of photographs that a photographer takes of someone, usually of a model or a famous person, to be used in a newspaper or a magazine. The goal of a photoshoot is to achieve a predetermined visual objective. Later, these images can be used for editing or post-production..

Here's how fashion designers use photo shoots:

Style Director- Conceptualized overall look for photo shoots and product presentation.
Organized exclusive photo shoots of seasonable collections that paid off in no-flow maintenance of the company website and sale team functioning.

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What skills help Fashion Designers find jobs?

Tell us what job you are looking for, we’ll show you what skills employers want.

What skills stand out on fashion designer resumes?

Dr. Jennifer Jorgensen Ph.D.

Assistant Professor, University of Nebraska-Lincoln

The retail industry is robust and requires many skills. Content and industry-related knowledge are essential, including comfort with computer applications like Adobe Creative Suite and Microsoft Excel. Beyond knowledge of the industry, job candidates need excellent communication skills in written and oral forms. It's also highly recommended that job candidates have work experience in their area of interest, which could include an internship, job shadow, or part-time position.

What fashion designer skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?

Chris Chapin

Professor and Chair, Kansas City Art Institute

I would recommend they take this time to learn and practice new digital tools of the Product Design field. The expectation, once they enter the profession, is that they will already be up to speed on the tools. I advise students to research their target employers and become familiar with the ways in which they work. This pandemic period is a great opportunity for students and graduates to round out their skills, knowledge, and professional perspective via online-course offerings. There is also no guarantee that a job will be waiting for them. In which case, it is best if they are prepared to create their own career starts with a spirit of persistence and entrepreneurship.

What type of skills will young fashion designers need?

Rich Youmans

Chief Communications Officer & Publisher, MJSA

The greatest skills that any graduate can have, not just those entering the jewelry industry, are flexibility and the ability to continuously learn new practices and procedures. For those who want to start their own businesses, a foundation in business/marketing practices will always be helpful. For bench jewelers, good hand-eye coordination is a must, but they must also take the time to learn their craft: to be able to set a gemstone without fear of it coming loose, for instance, and to do so quickly (if they're in a production shop). There are a few good schools dedicated to these skills, but many times the true learning must come through on-the-job experience.

For designers, the computer-assisted design has taken a growing role, but it doesn't compensate for that foundational knowledge: how to create designs that can hold gems securely, how to protect fragile gems, and how to ensure the piece can be manufactured, and a customer can wear the piece comfortably.

Caster may need to develop an understanding of basic metallurgical principles -- e.g., how metal flows, cools, and shrinks-but again, that can be learned on the job.

More and more custom jewelers -- jewelers who work directly with customers to create personalized pieces of custom jewelry -- and for that, the ability to listen and to solicit a customer's tastes and preferences will be crucial.

What technical skills for a fashion designer stand out to employers?

Elaine Grullón

Lecturer, University of Rhode Island

Some technical skills that stand out to employers is the ability to combine the manual with the technology, in other words combining the old and new media. The rise of new media has caused a need to understand social media but not just the practical but the functional side which includes data analysis. You have to be able to answer questions related to why this trend or if not favorable how we can make improvements. It is all about adaptability and responding to a change in need or even want. Also having knowledge on using computer aided programs such as Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator or even InDesign, it is important to be able to perform technical writing. Marketing is all about catching the consumers attention in that first moment. Without an understanding of design, and the principles and elements that go alongside the purpose of great marketing will be defeated.

Do you want to know more?

List of fashion designer skills to add to your resume

The most important skills for a fashion designer resume and required skills for a fashion designer to have include:

Fashion Design
Sketch
Apparel
Design Concepts
Adobe Illustrator
CAD
Tech Packs
Adobe Photoshop
Fashion Trends
Production Techniques
Textile
Product Development
Market Research
Embroidery
Photo Shoots
Graphic Design

Fashion Shows
Design Ideas
Garment Construction
Research Trends
Market Trends
Line Sheets
Mood Boards
Design Process
Presentation Boards
Target Market
Technical Design
Product Line
Trade Shows
Trend Forecasting
Technical Sketches
Patternmaking

Fabric Selection
Instagram
Lab Dips
Stitching
NYC
Coats
Facebook
Design Development
PowerPoint
Technical Specifications
Overseas Factories
Aided Design
Sample Room
Color Schemes
Fashion Illustration
Management Executives

Updated January 8, 2025

Zippia Team

Editorial Staff

The Zippia Research Team has spent countless hours reviewing resumes, job postings, and government data to determine what goes into getting a job in each phase of life. Professional writers and data scientists comprise the Zippia Research Team.

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Fashion Designer Skills

Updated January 8, 2025

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