Plans, designs and develops clothing, accessories, footwear or other items of personal apparel considering the form and construction of clothing, historical styles and contexts, contemporary and cultural trends, colour, fabric, and decoration, and the techniques and processes available for manufacture.

• Determines objectives and constraints of the design brief by consulting with clients and stakeholders; does product research and analyses functional, commercial, cultural and aesthetic requirements; formulates design concepts for clothing; prepares sketches, diagrams, illustrations, plans, samples and models to communicate design concepts; negotiates design solutions with clients, management, sales and manufacturing staff; selects, specifies and recommends functional and aesthetic materials, production methods and finishes for manufacture; details and documents selected designs for production; prepares and commissions prototypes and samples.

• Works indoors in fashion design studios, workrooms, and factories.
• Works in adequately heated and ventilated work spaces.

• Sedentary to light physical demand levels.
• Frequently sits either at a computer or design table, cutting table or at a sewing machine.
• Occasionally walks about the studio or work area to gather required tools, materials and equipment.
• Stretching up and reaching across may be required when cutting or pinning designs.
• Bending over at workstations such as cutting tables is likely to be frequent.
• Squatting, crouching and kneeling may be required when pinning hems.
• Twisting of the body or neck is not a significant feature of the job.
• Contact with skin irritants or water is not a significant feature of the job.
• Light lifting, carrying and holding is likely to be required.
• Repetitive movement of the hands is likely to be required frequently due to use of computers, and tasks such as sketching, cutting and sewing. Most fashion design (and clothing production processes) is now carried out via the use of computers.
• Driving is not a significant feature of the job.
• Use of hand-held objects and equipment will be frequent andmay include scissors, sketching, drawing and design tools and drawing boards, cameras, computers with specialised design software.
• Mental skills necessary include design, drawing, pattern making and sewing skills. Employees also need to have good communication and organisational skills. Some knowledge of computer-aided clothing design, marking and cutting is desirable.

• A relevant tertiary qualification or at least five years applicable experience (ANZSCO Skill Level 1). In some cases special experience and/or on-job training may be needed.

• There are opportunities for flexibility of movement.