This Is What Fashion Jobs Really Pay In 2021

By Emma Golley | Survey & figures courtesy of IG account @merchandying

02.09.2021

From Design to Merchandising, over 3,000 industry professionals of all levels took part in an anonymous online survey revealing their current salaries.

You would assume by now with the ever growing demand for company transparency, we would all have a better idea of what salaries we should all be on or what we should be aiming for. Sadly, the fashion industry business still very much remains behind closed doors and full of secrets - with Glassdoor being one of the only platforms that helps us do a little digging. So when Ig accounts @merchandying and @highstreet.designers.life announced a fashion salary survey, many fashion industry professionals jumped at the chance to have their say. Designers, Merchandisers, Buyers and Garment techs of all levels participated from across the globe and the survey saw professionals from various internationally recognized brands take part. Over 3,000 entries later, here are the results. Some you may find are pretty surprising, especially with the future of fashion so uncertain right now, but I hope you find it helpful and can use it as a guide. It’s important to know your worth in this industry.

To find out what people in the fashion industry really make, scroll below where you'll see the lowest and highest average salaries (per annum) for each field surveyed and the countries with the highest and lowest salary. Figures are in British pounds but have also been converted to US dollars based on the current exchange rate.

For a more detailed view of all levels and countries as well as a UK focussed round up, sign up to download the full survey results below:

Fashion Merchandisers

Worldwide Results:

Entry level Merchandiser: £21,000 ($28,700)

Director of Merchandising: £107,000 ($146,400)

Country with lowest salary average: UK

Country with highest salary average: Netherlands

It appears Fashion Merchandisers are getting a raw deal in the UK, with the Republic of Ireland and Germany not far behind. However in the Netherlands and the USA you can expect to see a higher paycheck. Looking at salaries across the globe, as a Senior Assistant Merchandiser, the average salary was £31,000. However based on the results, after a few promotions (and several more years of experience later) you could expect to receive £56,000 Senior Merchandiser.

Focussing in on the UK only, the region with the lowest salaries was Northern Ireland, and the highest was the South East and London (no surprises there). On average an entry level Merchandiser can expect to receive £20,000 per annum (£1,000 less than the Global average) and as a Director the average salary was £112,000 (£5,000 more than the Global average).

Fashion Designers

Worldwide Results:

Design Assistant: £22,000 ($30,00)

Director of Design: £143,000 ($196,000)

Country with lowest salary average: Sweden

Country with highest salary average: USA

Designers fared pretty well in comparison, with the highest averages of the roles surveyed, particularly at Director level. Although if you take a look at the average salary for Head of Design vs Head of Buying, Buyers come out on top by over 30k! On average a Senior designer could expect to walk away with a £48,000 per annum salary ($63,000) - if this was USA focussed, this figure would be considerably higher.

If you’re looking to increase your paycheck you may want to consider working in the USA or Spain as both countries made the top of the list for pay by country. Unfortunately Designers in Sweden and the UK were on the lowest salary per annum. Looking at the UK focussed results, London had the highest pay by area, the North East had the lowest.

Fashion Buyers

Worldwide Results:

Buyers admin assistant: £21,000 ($28,700)

Director of Buying: £105,000 ($144,000)

Country with lowest salary average: South Africa

Country with highest salary average: USA

The average Buyer’s salary results were similar to Merchandisers, although at Head of Design level their yearly pay was significantly higher than Merchies and Designers. Something the survey didn’t take into account was how often promotions within each role occurs and how many years it takes to climb the ladder- something for us to consider in future surveys!

When looking at pay by Country, the United States yet again came out on top, with Germany just behind. South Africa and the UK were at the bottom of the pay scale. Surprisingly in the UK focussed results, Scotland were top of the list for highest salary.

Garment Techs

Worldwide Results:

Garment Tech Assistant: £19,000 ($26,000)

Head of Garment Tech: £88,000 ($120,000)

Country with lowest salary average: UK

Country with highest salary average: USA

The average salary for a Garment Technician was at the lower end of the pay scale, with £19,000 ($26,000) being the average Assistant level wage. However a Garment tech manager could expect to receive an average of £66,000 per annum and a Head of Garment Tech £88,000 ($120,000). Sadly the UK didn’t fare too well when looking at the averages per country, however the USA was yet again top of the list. In the UK focussed results. the South East and London were the highest paid areas. Scotland and the North East were the lowest.

A Garment Tech is a highly skilled role, they take a Designer’s vision and turn it into reality. Half of the time when we purchase clothing it’s because we love how it fits. So it’s disappointing to see that on average, professionals in this role aren’t getting paid the yearly wage they deserve.

Brands

Everyone that took part in the survey was asked what brand they currently worked for. As you can see below, participants worked for a huge variety of brands, most of them internationally known.

Brands included in the results:

Primark, Superdry, Mountain Warehouse, Zalando, Burberry, House of Fraser, M&S, Debenhams, Net A Porter, Reiss, Monsoon/Accessorize, Urban Outfitters, TK Maxx, Lipsy, River Island, Ted Baker, Selfridge’s, Argos, ISAWITFIRST, Boden, Arcadia, Next, Pep&Co, COS, Tesco, JD Sports, All Saints, Asda, Anthropologie, Very, New Look, Asos, Pretty Little thing, The White Company, Ralph Lauren, John Lewis, N Brown, DCK Group, Sainsbury’s, Boohoo, Supplier, Hobbs, Matalan, Missguided, Joules, H&M.

Survey Summary

Overall, the USA came out on top for the highest salaries in Fashion, and it appears from the 3,000 entries received that Designers are paid a little higher than their counterparts. Directors across the board definitely seem to be paid a pretty penny, but as we all know, when you climb further up the ladder, the job search becomes narrower. As someone that works in the Fashion Industry myself, what I found most disappointing is how little yearly salaries have increased since 10 years ago when I started my career. It seems the industry needs to re-evaluate their yearly salaries and pay these highly skilled professionals what they’re worth, especially in the UK where on average salaries were the lowest worldwide.

On a positive note, I hope you found these results useful and that they encourage you to push the boundaries and fight for what you’re worth. The industry still has a long way to go when it comes to transparency, but if we as a collective continue to push for it, maybe salary inconsistencies will become a thing of the past.

Thank you again to @merchandying for sharing your survey results with us!

DISCLAIMER from @merchandying

• All results are 100% anonymous

• To ensure anonymity, any brands that appeared in results less than 10 times were not mentioned

• To ensure accurate results, any position or function that wasn’t included in enough forms to pull an accurate average from has been removed

• All salaries are in GBP per annum. Any forms submitted from other countries were converted.

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