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Fashion Designers

Arts, Design, Entertainment, Sports, and Media · SOC 27-1022

5.7% AI Exposure — Medium
$80,960
Median Annual Salary
Average
O*NET Outlook
2,600
Proj. Annual Openings
21,450
Employment (OEWS 2025)
-0.4%/yr
Empl. growth (2019–2025)
94/100
AI Resiliency Score

AI exposure from the Anthropic Economic Index (2025); salary from BLS; skills from O*NET. See /sources.

Decision card

Career Evidence Passport

SOC 27-1022 evidence across exposure, wages, projections, postings, certified LCAs, skills, and transitions.

Proxy / seed data labeledDescriptive-only
SOC exposure
5.7%
Medium · Anthropic AEI
Automation friction
44/100
Moderate friction; broad SOC seed ORS job-requirements coverage.
Wages
$80,960
H-1B offered wage $70,000; LCAs are filings.
Projected openings
2,600
BLS EP 2024–2034; employment change +2.0%.
Observed/proxy demand
83
FY2025 certified LCAs; 3,353 postings in 2025.

Skill evidence

Active ListeningCritical ThinkingSpeakingActive LearningSocial Perceptiveness
  • H-1B values are certified Labor Condition Applications, not visa approvals.
  • Job postings are seed-static / seed-derived; treat as provider-ready proxy coverage until observed provider data is wired in.
  • Transition matches are directional skill-overlap context, not placement guarantees.
  • This release is a FutureGrid broad-SOC seed derived from public BLS ORS requirement concepts and categories, not direct occupation-level ORS survey estimates. It describes job requirements, not worker ability, AI capability, or displacement probability. Automation friction is a FutureGrid derived score and should be read alongside exposure, demand, wage, and projection signals.

Best transitions from here

Explore all pathways

Lower AI-exposure roles that reuse your skills, ranked by a transition score (skills that transfer, safety gain, pay and retraining effort).

AI Exposure Analysis

AI Exposure5.7%
AI Resiliency94/100
Exposure BandMedium
Sector Avg. Exposure18.3%

Across AI measures

Multiple exposure lenses for this occupation.

40.7%
Consensus
Actual adoption · Anthropic5.7%
AI capability · OpenAI39.1%
AI ability · AIOE77.4%
Automation baseline (2013) · Frey & Osborne2.1%

AI could do ~39.1% of this role but only ~5.7% is currently done with AI — a large capability-vs-adoption gap.

Top Skills

1.Active Listening
2.Critical Thinking
3.Speaking
4.Active Learning
5.Social Perceptiveness

H-1B Visa Sponsorship Demand

View full H-1B trends →

Certified H-1B Labor Condition Applications naming this occupation, FY2016–FY2025. A descriptive high-skill labor-demand signal — employer filings, not visa approvals or individual outcomes. Note: one LCA can cover multiple worker positions.

1,657
Decade Total (Certified LCAs)
83
FY2025 Volume
0% of all H-1B filings in FY2025
$70,000
Median Offered Wage (Latest Year)
#134 of 776
Rank by Total Volume
H-1B filing volume, FY2016–FY2025

O*NET occupation profile

What this work involves

Design clothing and accessories. Create original designs or adapt fashion trends.

Common titles: Apparel and Accessories Designer, Apparel Designer, Costume Designer, Designer, Fashion Design Contractor, Fashion Designer

Representative Tasks

  • Sketch rough and detailed drawings of apparel or accessories, and write specifications such as color schemes, construction, material types, and accessory requirements.
  • Examine sample garments on and off models, modifying designs to achieve desired effects.
  • Confer with sales and management executives or with clients to discuss design ideas.
  • Select materials and production techniques to be used for products.
  • Provide sample garments to agents and sales representatives, and arrange for showings of sample garments at sales meetings or fashion shows.

Detailed Work Activities

  • Draw detailed or technical illustrations.
  • Write informational material.
  • Develop artistic or design concepts for decoration, exhibition, or commercial purposes.
  • Calculate costs of goods or services.
  • Determine the value of goods or services.

Tools & Technologies

Adobe Creative Cloud software · hotAdobe Illustrator · hotAdobe Photoshop · hotMicrosoft Excel · hotMicrosoft PowerPoint · hotAutodesk Revit · hotMicrosoft Outlook · hotTrimble SketchUp Pro · hotComputer aided design and drafting software CADDCorel CorelDraw Graphics Suite

Employment Projections & AI Exposure

15
Occupations Shown
17.7%
Avg AI Exposure
3
Bright Outlook
Horizontal bar chart showing occupations with the highest projected annual openings. Each bar length represents annual projected openings. Color uses a gradient from violet (lower) to cyan (higher). Summary statistics are shown above the chart.

Employment & Wage Trend

BLS OEWS, 2019–2025


Occupation Employment & Wage TrendMulti-year BLS OEWS history for SOC 27-1022: 2019 — employment: 22,030, median wage: $73,790; 2020 — employment: 21,050, median wage: $75,810; 2021 — employment: 19,310, median wage: $77,450; 2022 — employment: 20,560, median wage: $76,700; 2023 — employment: 19,940, median wage: $79,290; 2025 — employment: 21,450, median wage: $80,960.

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS). See /sources.

Sector Comparison

MetricThis CareerSector Average
AI Exposure5.7%18.3%
OutlookAverage18% Bright
Median Salary$80,960N/A
AI Resiliency94/100N/A