Let’s be honest: 2025 doesn’t exactly feel like the most stable time to be working in fashion (or any industry, really), so conducting Fashionista’s annual survey of industry professionals had a certain weight to it this year. We wanted to look not only at salaries for various roles, but also at the overall state of the fashion job market. How satisfied are people with their jobs? How widespread were layoffs? Are people burnt out? (Yes.)

We surveyed more than 400 people working across fashion design, PR, retail, media, marketing, styling and corporate roles. They range from entry-level assistants to VPs and founders, working for companies like Supreme, Condé Nast, Free People, Marc Jacobs and many more. And most of them would like a raise.

Pay Fairness in Fashion

The majority (53%) of respondents said their salary is “not very fair,” while 21% described themselves as “severely underpaid.” (And I would love to know more about the 2.3% of you who reported that you’re being overpaid.) Relatedly, nearly 75% did not receive a raise for 2025.

Burnout and Frustration in Fashion Jobs

Given how many fashion professionals felt that their pay did not reflect their workload, it’s not too surprising that most of them also experienced burnout.

Several respondents also shared the specific frustrations they have with their job or employer, including absorbing extra responsibilities following layoffs, wage discrimination and unethical bosses simply expecting too much for too little pay. Relatable? Here’s a sampling:

“Everyone is sacrificing evenings, weekends, and sleep to stay on top of the ever increasing workload due to leadership actively signing on new business every month despite staff bandwidth challenges.”

“My employer wants to pay people as low as possible and have them do as many jobs as possible. Other than that, communication is lacking and expectations are high without sufficient support to achieve the goals laid before us.”

“Older voices are resistant to talent and new ideas. They reject learning about pop culture or new technology to improve businesses. They want people to be back in office but foster terrible culture.”

“Underpaid and no salary raise after 10 years as senior editor.”

“Unequal pay due to gender or ethnicity or race. Toxic work environment. Lack of diversity.”

Download the Full Report ↓

In the full report, which you can download below (for free), you’ll find even more job satisfaction info for the industry at large, as well as specific fields within it, including: how “happy” people are at their jobs, how confident they feel about job security, how many experienced layoffs at their company and how many are actively looking for new fashion jobs — or planning to leave the industry altogether. Plus, see salary data for specific roles, ranging from assistant buyer to fashion director to senior publicist to creative director.

To view Fashionista’s 2025 Salary Survey Findings report, simply fill out the form below for a free download. 

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