Skills
Fashion Designer Skills & Tools
The technical skills, people skills and tools employers look for in fashion designers, and how to build and show them.
What skills do fashion designers need?
Fashion Designers need technical skills such as fashion sketching, pattern making, and garment construction, plus people skills like creativity and trend awareness. They also use tools such as Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop and CLO 3D or Browzwear.
Technical (hard) skills
- Fashion sketching
- Pattern making
- Garment construction
- Tech packs
- Textiles
- Adobe Illustrator and CAD
People (soft) skills
- Creativity
- Trend awareness
- Collaboration
- Attention to detail
Tools, equipment and technology
- Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop
- CLO 3D or Browzwear
- Dress forms
- Sewing machines
- Fabric swatches
- Product lifecycle management software
Skills in action: common tasks
These step-by-step guides show how fashion designers put their skills to work:
How to show these skills on a resume
- Lead your skills section with the technical skills from the job posting, for example, “Fashion sketching” and “Pattern making.”
- Prove soft skills with results: instead of listing “creativity,” describe a situation where you used it.
- List credentials such as Fashion design degree near the top, with the issuing organization and date.
- Use the employer’s vocabulary. Our fashion designer glossary covers the terms hiring managers expect.
How to build these skills
Formal training, supervised practice and certification are the most direct routes. Our Fashion Designer training introduces each of these skills with plain-language lessons, procedures and a final knowledge check: a strong foundation before hands-on training or your first day.