Is your dream job to work with clothing, shoes, or accessories? If so, you’ll be happy to know that there are plenty of high-paying jobs in the fashion industry.
Not only that but there are also so many different opportunities. You’re sure to find one that fits YOU. To help you out, I’ll list the 20 best paying jobs in clothing/shoe/accessory stores.
A career in fashion is exciting, competitive, and fast-paced. The career paths available can vary greatly and often intersect with other industries. Some fashion professionals are focused on the design, creation, and styling of garments, while others work within the commercial end of the industry in sales or fashion merchandising roles. – The Intern Group
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What Are the Best Paying Jobs for Clothing/Shoe/Accessory Stores?
Here is a list of the 20 highest-paying jobs in the fashion industry:
- Sourcing manager
- Creative director
- Design director
- Art director
- Public relations manager
- Marketing manager
- E-commerce manager
- Goldsmith
- Fashion designer
- Clothier
- Buyer
- Merchandising manager
- Editor-in-chief
- Store manager
- Jeweler
- Shoe Designer
- Shoe repairer
- Apparel associate
- Retail Cashier
- Stylist
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1. Sourcing manager
Average national salary per year: $142,500
Sourcing managers usually work in the fashion manufacturing sector. Your job is to keep everything on schedule. You’ll be in charge of keeping the process cost-effective. You’ll also source the different materials needed, including zippers, fabrics, raw materials, and whatnot. Another responsibility is dealing with the suppliers of these materials.
2. Creative director
Average national salary per year: $129,330
A fashion creative director is one of the highest positions in a company. These directors are the ones who create the overarching concept for a clothing line. They don’t design clothes, but they plan out the concept, such as the color, design details, and fabrics.
3. Design director
Average national salary per year: $113,126
The design director takes the work of the creative director and interprets the concept into a clothing design. To make sure it sells, these design directors have to keep up with industry trends, seasonal fashion, and market demands.
Design directors work in all aspects of the design process. They do the market research. They design sketches. They handle product fittings. They ensure product lines are compatible with each other.
4. Art director
Average national salary per year: $121,757
Here’s another one of the best paying jobs in clothing/shoe/accessory stores. You can earn six figures! As a fashion art director, you are the one who supervises all the visuals. You’ll add visual materials to campaigns, magazines, and other media.
You’ll also manage photographers and graphic designers to ensure everything goes to your liking. If you want to go down this path, you’ll most likely work in a fashion magazine company.
5. Public relations manager
Average national salary per year: $83,626
As a public relations manager in the fashion industry, you’ll be the one responsible for a clothing/shoe/accessory store’s public relations strategies. You’ll oversee and execute relations with media outlets to promote the fashion brand.
You’ll also be the one to plan and schedule promotional campaigns, fashion shows, press releases, showroom appointments, and the list goes on. If this is your type of role, then this is a great career path for you.
6. Marketing manager
Average national salary per year: $83,488
This job will see you deal with all things marketing-related. You’ll be the one to plan out the branding efforts. You’ll see to it that the brand’s logo, packaging, and briefs will be effective.
You’ll also be in charge of marketing campaigns, as well as analyze the results of both the branding and marketing. If you see that it isn’t doing good, you’ll be the one to manage the improvements.
7. E-commerce manager
Average national salary per year: $77,129
If you’re more into online shopping, then you can become a fashion e-commerce manager. As you might guess, you’ll be in charge of the online presence and purchases of a fashion brand.
Your daily schedule can look like this – reviewing sales data, managing payments and returns, and planning online campaigns. You may also have to deal with excellent customer service experience. For this, you’ll work with other departments to provide the very best for online shoppers.
8. Goldsmith
Average national salary per year: $79,999
If you’re interested in fashion accessories, then you can work as a goldsmith. You’ll be the one that makes the jewelry. You’ll do the forging, filing, and casting. If this is your idea of a fashion-focused job, then go ahead and improve your goldsmith skills and work for jewelry companies or create your own business.
9. Fashion designer
Average national salary per year: $69,494
Have a knack for designing clothes? Then choose fashion design as your career! You not only earn big, but you get to be super creative, too. You can research the current clothing trends and add your twist to them. You can even start your own trend.
The best part is that, as a fashion designer, you can start a clothing store or business. Remember, the BIG names in fashion design, such as Donatella Versace and Coco Chanel, all started somewhere.
10. Clothier
Average national salary per year: $69,494
This job is similar to a fashion designer. However, a clothier specifically works with individual customers. They will make custom garments for their clients. More than that, they are also the ones people go to to altercate a clothing item to fit the owner better.
As a clothier, you can start your own business. If you work in a store, the usual setting will be a men’s formal wear or bridal shop.
11. Buyer
Average national salary per year: $68,384
No, this doesn’t mean that you’re the buyer of shoes and clothes and accessories. Instead, fashion buyers are always on the lookout for the latest fashion trends. They attend fashion and trade shows or meet up with fashion designers.
Their job is to select the best products that will be sold at a store. This includes negotiating contracts, coordinating deliveries, watching customer habits, checking the pricing and quality of a product or service, etc.
12. Merchandising manager
Average national salary per year: $58,334
As a fashion merchandiser manager, you’ll most likely work in a retail store. Here, you’ll determine the prices, stocks, and presentation of the fashion items. Moreover, merchandising managers are responsible for overseeing the inventory, the store’s visual appearance, and customer data.
You’ll be the one to determine if it’s time to restock. You’ll let retail employees keep the retail shop visually pleasing. You’ll be the one to research and find vendors that will sell well for the store.
13. Editor-in-chief
Average national salary per year: $55,000
As a fashion editor-in-chief, you are the one who deals with the publications, whether digital or print. Publications can include magazines, blogs, newspapers, and television ads, just to name a few.
You’ll be the one to create the content, set the tone, and design the layout. You’ll also manage the writers and editors. You may even have control of the budget and who to hire in this department.
14. Store manager
Average national salary per year: $54,099
If you want to choose a career inside clothing, footwear, or accessory stores, then you can choose to be a store manager. As you might guess, you’ll be the one to manage the daily operations of the apparel store.
This can mean that you manage the sales associate and other personnel, implement on-the-job training, help entry-level workers, and more. You’ll also see to the inventory, visuals, customer service, sales, budgeting, operation efficiency, etc… You’ll spend your days at work in retail stores.
15. Jeweler
Average national salary per year: $47,866
The jeweler is the one who designs the jewel accessories. More than that, a jeweler also creates, repairs, and sells jewelry.
Here, your role involves various tasks related to working with precious metals, gemstones, and other materials to craft or enhance jewelry pieces. If you’re all about adding the perfect touch to an outfit, you’ll enjoy designing these precious accessories.
16. Shoe designer
Average national salary per year: $45,895
One of the best paying jobs when it comes to footwear is shoe designer. Just like a fashion designer, you get to design and create – only this time, you’re taking on shoes. You can look at the market demand and see what shoe design sells. You can also get super creative by crafting some of the most fashionable shoes out there.
17. Shoe repairer
Average national salary per year: $46,482
The name is pretty self-explanatory. You will be the one who repairs any shoe damage. You can start your own shoe repair shop or you can work at a shoe store. Either way, this is a very fulfilling job as you’ll be helping people get their shoes ready for good use.
18. Apparel associate
Average national salary per year: $37,440
An apparel associate deals with clothes. They spend a lot of time folding clothes, arranging displays, and putting stuff back from the dressing rooms.
But, they also need to assist customers, know about what’s in stock, and be familiar with how the store is set up. Depending on the store, they might even give suggestions on what could look good on customers.
19. Retail cashier
Average national salary per year: $31,678
OK, say you’re looking for a more entry-level job that only requires a high school diploma. Well, you can be a retail cashier. This is the one who sits at the cash register.
You’ll be the one to take the purchases, punch them in, and receive the payment. It might not be the most enjoyable job, but it will help if you want to make it up the ladder to be part of the higher fashion industry.
20. Stylist
Average national salary per year: $30,200
If you love fashion, then you’ll love this job. As a fashion stylist, you’ll be the one to plan and coordinate outfits. How fun!
Plus, you get to work in different settings. You can work for a personal client and help them look their best during special dinners or events. You can also choose to work at fashion shows, showcasing the best clothing from a specific brand. You get to choose outfits for photo shoots, ad campaigns, TV productions or appearances, etc.
Final Words
So those were the 20 best paying jobs in clothing/shoe/accessory stores. Look into each job role and see which is the best fit for YOU. From there, you can work your way to doing your dream fashion job.
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