Apparel Design Career Guide: Roles, Salary 2025 & Future Scope

Updated on Apr 21, 2025 10:47 IST
Akansha Bisht

Akansha BishtSenior Executive

Making a career in Apparel Design can be considered one of the best career decisions that students can make in their lives. Candidates get an opportunity to showcase their artistic skills and talent and create various designer clothes from scratch, thereby gaining relevant skills, experience, and knowledge required to bag a high-paying job in this field.

The fashion Industry has been witnessing immense growth over the years as this field offers candidates a chance to express their emotions and creativity through designing versatile clothes from start to finish. This eventually helps them get exposure to this dynamic field of innovations and rise in their careers.

Aspiring candidates can study Apparel Design courses at various levels, such as UG, PG, Diploma, Doctorate, and Certification. Some popular Apparel Design colleges offering great placement opportunities include Banaras Hindu University, Guru Nanak Dev University, Bhagini Nivedita College - DU, MIT WPU - School of Design, etc.

Some of the widely opted job profiles by the Apparel Design students include Fashion Designer, Accessories Designer, Stylist, Trend Forecaster, Fashion Coordinator, Merchandiser, etc. Top Recruiters in this field include Zara, H & M, Park Avenue, Levi's, Louis Philippe, Allen Solly, etc. The average salary of an Apparel Designer is INR 5.9 LPA in India.

Interested Candidates may continue reading further to know more about the career scope in Apparel Design.

Links relevant to Freelance Clothing Designer Career Scope:

All About The Career As A Fashion Designer

All you need to know about a Career in Fashion Design

Apparel Design Career Scope: Popular Job Profiles

With the rise of the fashion industry and technology over the past decade, various job opportunities have emerged that allow candidates to complete this course and opt for the desired job roles according to their comfort and interests. Here are a few of the job profiles that the majority of Apparel Design students aim for.

Entry-Level Apparel Design Jobs

Here are some popular entry level Apparel Design jobs and salary options for new graduates and freshers in India:

Job profiles Job Description Average Salary
Assistant Designers They support and assist Senior Designers in various tasks throughout the pre- and post-production of a design. INR 4 LPA
Junior Design Executives Their job is to modify and revise existing designs while meeting clients' expectations and improving the quality and functionality of the product. INR 2.9 LPA
Junior Design Consultants They assist Senior Designers in the research process, complete basic Design tasks, provide client communication facilities, etc. INR 4.1 LPA

Mid-Level Apparel Design Jobs

Here are some mid-level popular Apparel Design jobs and salary options for professionals who have certain work experience in the industry:

Job Profiles

Job Description

Average Salary

Fashion Designers

Involved in designing and maintaining the clothing line of an apparel brand. They create, illustrate designs and patterns, estimate the cost of manufacturing, and maintain their associated brands' clothing lines.  

INR 5 LPA

Trends Forecasters

The fashion industry is ever-changing. Every day, a new trend is set. Therefore, as fashion forecasters, they are required to research and analyze the worldwide fashion industry. The fashion forecasters work with fashion designers to identify and create apparel designs that will set the trends in the market.

INR 8 LPA

Apparel Quality Controllers

The quality controllers are involved in setting standards for the fabric to differentiate original and quality products from faux material. 

INR 6 LPA

Stylists

Responsible for the styling of the clothes and the designs in such a way that they best suit the requirements and desires of the customer.

INR 8.4 LPA

Senior-Level Apparel Design Jobs

Here are some senior-level popular Apparel Design jobs and salary options for professionals who have gained relevant, good years of experience, say 5-10 years in the industry:

Job Profiles Job Description Average Salary

Merchandise Specialists

Merchandises are the best ways to develop a brand value and create an image in the minds of the public. Hence, these are the specialists who handle the production of merchandise and help in selling them to their target audiences.

INR 12.5 LPA

Senior Designers They are leaders who are responsible for developing and executing design solutions and leading design projects from pre- to post-production.  INR 10.9 LPA
Design Directors They lead and guide design teams to ensure that the project aligns with their brand identity and meets high-creative standards. INR 24 LPA

Recommended links for Clothing Designer Freelance:

Fashion Design Career Scope

Skills Required to be a Successful Fashion Designer

Apparel Design Scope in India: Jobs, Salary, and Further Education

Aspiring Candidates who wish to pursue apparel designing courses will experience a wide range of benefits, as this industry offers lucrative salaries and incentives. This sector is rapidly evolving and will heavily contribute to the future world of urbanization.

From a Fresher graduate to an experienced individual, everyone is allowed to learn and explore the diversity of this field, which eventually helps them land a good placement opportunity and make a career in the fashion industry. This allows them to understand their goals and interests, make plans, and achieve them to boost their careers.

Apparel Design Career Scope: Popular Courses

Given below are the various types of Apparel Design courses available in India, which the aspiring candidates can consider to pursue to make a career in the field of apparel design:

Types of Apparel Design Courses

Diploma in Apparel Design

BSc Apparel Design

UG Diploma in Apparel Design

MDes in Apparel Design

B.Voc in Apparel Design

M.Voc in Apparel Design

BDes in Apparel Design

MA in Apparel Design

BA in Apparel Design

MSc Apparel Design

Links useful for the Fashion and Apparel Design Jobs:

Fashion Design Course After 10th - Admission Process, Where to Study, Job Prospect

Apparel Design Career Scope: Top Recruiters

Given below are some of the top Indian and International recruiters for the Apparel Design aspirants. 

Apparel Design Top Recruiters

Allen Solly

Van Heusen

Levis

Park Avenue

H & M

Uniqlo

Marks and Spencer

Zara

Louis Phillipe

Balenciaga

Louis Vuitton

Dolce Gabbana

Links useful for Apparel Design jobs:

Choosing Design as a career

Best Apparel Design Colleges for Placements (in India)

Both Government and Private Apparel Design colleges in India offer this course with top-class faculty, campus life, and placements. Students considering pursuing this course and making a career in this field can select from a wide range of universities.

Given below are some of the top universities and their average packages (in INR), which the aspiring candidates can refer to:

Top Apparel Design Colleges 

Average Package Offered

Banaras Hindu University Placements INR 8 - 9 LPA
Maharana Pratap University of Agriculture and Technology Placements INR 6.5 LPA
Guru Nanak Dev University Placements INR 6.35 LPA
Pimpri Chinchwad University (PCU) Placements INR 6.05 LPA
Garden City University Placements INR 3.6 - 6 LPA
Bhagini Nivedita College DU Placements INR 5.5 LPA
School of Design, MIT WPU Placements INR 5.5 LPA
SD College Chandigarh Placements INR 5.08 LPA
KCT Coimbatore Placements INR 5 LPA
HITS Placements INR 4.5 LPA

Links recommended for Apparel Design Career:

How to become a Fashion Designer

Apparel design Career FAQs

Q: What jobs can I get with an Apparel Design degree?

A: After completing an Apparel Design course, students can become Apparel designer, Fashion marketer, Fashion Trend Forecaster, Retail merchandiser, Quality controller or Stylist.

Listed below are job profiles along with average salary package:

Job Profile

Average CTC (INR)

Fashion Designer

INR 3-5 lakh

Textile Designer

INR 3-4 lakh

Pattern Maker

INR 2-4 lakh

Fashion Merchandiser

INR 3-5 lakh

Fashion Illustrator

INR 2-4 lakh

Fashion Coordinator

INR 3-5 lakh

Fashion Consultant

INR 4-8 lakh

Disclaimer: This info. is taken from external sites and may vary.

Q: What is the difference in Garment Technology and Apparel Design?

A: Hi,
Garment / Fashion Technology: It deals with various aspects of fashion, Designing, printing, marketing, quality control, merchandising of various textiles, apparels, garments and accessories. Apparel / Fashion Designing: It deals with the creative field in which trendy and appealing apparels or accessories are designed. More to do with styling / designing / sketching / Graphics / CAD etc.

Q: What is B.Sc. In Apparel and Fashion Design all about?

A: As the world grows into global village, the incomes all across the segments increases and a large number people come into middle class bracket, this has increased the need of people to be more and more fashionable. This increased scope of creative careers in the field of fashion. Which in turn increased the scope of its training, courses and institutions.

Fashion technology course are aimed to suit the needs of the students who aspire to be the future designers, merchandisers and entrepreneurs. Developing designing and form generation skills of students is an important focus area throughout the duration of the programme. These programs aim at educating the students on all facets that make up this growing industry, through workshops/ seminars, market research, Industry visits & craft documentation. The main areas studied and various skills imparted to students are:
Basic sketching skills. Fashion drawing. Apparel manufacturing process. Fundamentals of Textile Science. Technical design development using
Graphic tools like Adobe Photoshop, Core draw, Adobe illustrator, Macro media Flash and CAD/CAM. Fashion accessories (Costume Jewellery, Bags, Hats, etc.).

Some MUST HAVES for a good programme are:
Availability of international forecast WGSN for trend forecasting. The latest machinery & soft wares to keep students at the cutting edge of technology. The various programs of the dept. Are supported by materials like books of various international publishers, state of the art labs and design studios. The emphasis is on self-motivated learning by using creativity, exploring techniques & innovating new applications in fashion. In B. Design (Fashion) the students are provided with an opportunity to showcase their design collection through an Annual fashion shows and festivals.

The career prospects in Fashion technology:
Merchandiser in Export/ Buying houses (The link between buyer-seller). Visual Merchandiser (Creation & execution of Shop-window display). Apparel production manager. Fashion retail store Manager. Fashion designers (B. Design has brighter probabilities to pursue as freelance or self-employed designers). Sales executive
Fashion Consultant
One such institution doing such pioneering work in Fashion Technology is Lovely Professional University, it has invested a lot in quantitative and qualitative parameters discussed in must haves above. So, give a direction to your career. Hope this helps.

Q: Who are the top recruiters at ATDC - Apparel Training And Design Center during placements?

A: ATDC - Apparel Training And Design Center offers placement support to its students. Notable organizations that visit the institute for recruitment include Streeboinc, Mol Information Technology, Air India Engineering Service Limited, Hicut Tools, Bharat Wire Ropes Ltd, Uaeindia Business Council, Aether Industries Limited, Aforservecom, Agora Finance, Agro Engineering Work.

Q: Which courses does Institute of Fashion Technology and Apparel Design Women College offer to students?

A: Institute of Fashion Technology and Apparel Design Women College offers courses such as B.FTech in the stream of Design. These courses are considered to be the best choice for the aspiring candidates who want to make a career in apparel design and the ones who enrol in this course do see the benefits early. Hence, if you are considering to opt for this course, it will prove to be a good decision 

Q: How is the infrastructure at Institute of Fashion Technology and Apparel Design Women College?

A: Institute of Fashion Technology and Apparel Design Women College has top class facilities like these colleges have Auditorium, Boys or Girls Hostel, Cafeteria, Gym, Medical Facilities, Labs, Library, Sports Complex, Wi-Fi facilities, etc. 

Q: Is Apparel Design worth pursuing?

A: If you have an interest in creativity and in apparels, so joining Apparel Design in worth pursuing career. This course various job opportunities to students in various design departments. In this field, you can transform your imagination in reality.

Q: How to make a career in Apparel Design?

Making a career in Apparel Design can be a good decision made by students. By deciding Apparel Design as a career option, students can bring their imagination into reality by designing clothes and artistic skills. Before joining this course, Students must have a relevant degree.

Q. Why should I pursue an Apparel Design course?

A. Here are a few reasons why to pursue a career in Apparel Design -

  • High Demand
  • Lucrative Salaries
  • Freedom of Creativity
  • Industry
  • Course Levels
Table of contents
  • Popular Apparel Design Colleges in India
  • Popular Private Apparel Design Colleges in India
  • Popular Exams
  • Most Popular Courses
  • Popular Apparel Design UG Courses
  • Popular Apparel Design PG Courses

Popular Apparel Design Colleges in India

Following are the most popular Apparel Design Colleges in India. Learn more about these Apparel Design colleges (Courses, Reviews, Answers & more) by downloading the Brochure.
4 Courses
1.18 L - 12.96 L
4.8
74.34 K - 12.96 L
3.7
2 Courses
5.63 L - 12.96 L
3.1
2 Courses
9.02 L - 12.34 L
4.5
2 Courses
6.07 L - 12.96 L
3.0
3 Courses
6.07 L - 12.96 L
3.5

Popular Private Apparel Design Colleges in India

1 Course
23.2 L

Apparel Design Applications open. Apply Now

55 K - 6.9 L
2.1 - 3.5 LPA
17 L

Apparel Design Applications open. Apply Now

4 Courses
40 K - 2.7 L
5.0
3.3 L
1 Course
7 L

#28 The Week

Popular Exams

Following are the top exams for Apparel Design. Students interested in pursuing a career on Apparel Design, generally take these important exams.You can also download the exam guide to get more insights.

Nov '25 - Jan '26

NIFT 2026 application form OPEN (Regular fees)

TENTATIVE

Jan '26

NIFT 2026 application form (Late fees)

TENTATIVE

Nov '25

SAT Registration Deadline for November Test

TENTATIVE

11 Sep ' 25 - 1 Dec ' 25

NID DAT 2026 Registration Date

2 Dec ' 25 - 4 Dec ' 25

NID DAT 2026 Application Correction Window

Popular Apparel Design UG Courses

Following are the most popular Apparel Design UG Courses . You can explore the top Colleges offering these UG Courses by clicking the links below.

UG Courses

Popular Apparel Design PG Courses

Following are the most popular Apparel Design PG Courses . You can explore the top Colleges offering these PG Courses by clicking the links below.

PG Courses

qna

Student Forum

chatAnything you would want to ask experts?
Write here...

Find insights & recommendations on colleges and exams that you won't find anywhere else

On Shiksha, get access to

  • 65k Colleges
  • 1k Exams
  • 679k Reviews
  • 1800k Answers