How to become a fashion designer

Routes to becoming a fashion designer

You can get into fashion design through a university course, a college course, or an apprenticeship. You'll usually need a foundation degree, higher national diploma, or degree. You can study fashion design, art and design, garment technology or textiles. You should look for a course that covers both design and technical skills to get the practical knowledge needed by the industry. You'll usually need: one or two A levels, or equivalent, for a foundation degree or higher national diploma, two to three A levels, or equivalent, for a degree.

You could do a college course, which will teach you some of the skills and knowledge you need to work in the fashion industry. You'll usually need two or more GCSEs at grades (A* to D), or equivalent, for a level 2 course, four or five GCSEs at grades (A* to C), or equivalent, for a level 3 course.

You may be able to do a fashion studio assistant advanced apprenticeship and follow the product development and production pathway. You could work as a design assistant in a studio, develop your design skills on the job and work your way into a designer role. This apprenticeship typically takes 18 months to complete as a mix of workplace learning and independent study. For an apprenticeship you'll usually need, five GCSEs at grades (A* to C), or equivalent, including English and maths.

Undergraduate degrees

An undergraduate fashion design course lasts three years and will cover extensive areas of fashion and give you experience in designing bespoke handmade garments. You’ll have access to state-of-the-art facilities and equipment across both fashion and textiles; including knit, weave, print, industrial sewing machinery, photographic studios, 3D workshops and jewellery design. These courses will give you the chance to find your creative voice and discover your own personal design identity through exploring the latest 2D and 3D design practices. 

Typical entry requirements for a fashion design degree are A Levels at grades BBC, or a combination of A-Level, BTEC and other accepted qualifications that total 112 UCAS Tariff points.

Degree apprenticeships

If you’d like to get some practical experience while studying, a degree apprenticeship is worth considering. On a degree apprenticeship you’ll split your time between university study and a workplace where you are employed throughout. You’ll gain your degree while earning a wage and getting real on-the-job experience in the fashion industry. Degree Apprentices do not pay tuition fees as these are covered by their sponsoring employer. Which apprenticeships are available, and how you apply, depends on where you live.

The entry requirements are set by both the employer and the course provider.

You can search for apprenticeship vacancies via Find an apprenticeship.

Postgraduate degrees

A one-year fashion design masters course encourages you to pursue your creative ambitions through practice, personal research, and critical evaluation. You’ll work in studios and explore sketchbook development, visual research, sustainability and design, construction techniques and develop your fashion portfolio skills.  

You’ll learn from tutors with years of professional fashion design experience and strong industry connections. They will work closely with you to help you develop your individual strengths, build your fashion designer qualifications and to enhance your employability. 

You’ll benefit from professional skills workshops, exposure to industry through live briefs and guest lectures, and the opportunity to showcase your work. Your teaching team may also be able to set up internship opportunities with leading fashion companies to support your career ambitions.

Skills you’ll need

Finding work experience

There are various ways to find work as a designer, but you’ll need to be versatile to begin with to gain experience. You’ll also need to prepare a portfolio with designs you’ve worked on at university or ideas you’ve developed in your own time.  

Be persistent and apply to many different places to get your foot in the door. For starters, you should try:

Now is not the time to be bashful, tell everybody you know whether it’s that distant relative, the counsellor at school or even a customer from your part-time job that you are looking for a job in fashion and ask them if they know anyone that they can connect you with.

What it's like to be a fashion designer

You’ll spend your day studying fashion trends and trying to anticipate designs that will appeal to your consumers. You will use computer-aided design programs to create your designs, visit manufacturers or trade shows to get samples of fabric. You will work collaboratively with other designers and members of your team to create prototype designs. You may need to assist with ideas on how to market your clothing to retailers and consumers.

There are fashion designers at different levels of the fashion industry — from well-known couturiers to unknown fashion designers working for ready-to-wear houses, or fashion stylists who might make only small changes in existing designs.

A fashion designer takes part in just about every aspect of bringing fashion to the public. Creating the basic design can be done in different ways. It can involve storyboards with sketches, working with a dummy and sewing pieces of material together. This creating phase is when the designer takes his/her vision that's swirling in the mind's eye and puts it into a visual expression. This first draft of the design is then worked on as the designer develops the first basic prototype.

Is a role as a fashion designer right for you?

As a fashion designer, you’ll have the chance to use and explore creativity every day. Fashion designers use the principles of art and design to choose silhouettes, colours, textures and other aspects of clothes, shoes, and accessories. If you like the thought of using your imagination and your artistic skills to craft new, innovative design ideas then this will be the career for you.