How to Become a Textile Designer in India: Courses, Salary, etc.

The path of textile designing mixes creativity & smarts. From top colleges and degrees to jobs and salaries, here’s a complete guide on how to become a textile designer in India.

how to become a textile designer

1. Role of a Textile Designer

Textile designers’ role is to create a variety of designs, prints and patterns for woven material. They usually create designs for interiors (upholstery, soft furnishings and carpets) and, fabrics for clothing (fashion or specialist, e.g. fire-proof). Basically they create two-dimensional designs.

Their job also includes research on trends, color forecasts, and textile techniques in the textile world. Textile designers study all these factors so that they are able to predict what is going to sell in the coming  years. The textile designer also needs to be street smart so that they can easily create what is in demand.

What does a textile designer do?

  • Testing simple fibers, fancy yarns, and experimental threads.
  • Formation of initial sketches before the final layout of the design.
  • Creating samples for the construction of fabrics.
  • Full-fledged research of trends and color forecast for new and unique development in the future.
  • Traveling for market research.
  • Updating people with new designing concepts.
  • Experimenting with color, fabric, and texture.
  • Sourcing fabrics and other materials at trade fairs, markets, and antique shops.
  • Attending trade fairs and exhibitions to grab new ideas and understand new trends for designs.
  • Satisfying customer’s preferences and requirements.
  • Coping up with criticism and improving accordingly.

How to become a textile designer creation-passion

Contents: Jump to Section

2.1 Courses Taken: Textile Designing Subjects
2.2 Entrance Exams
2.3 Academic Qualifications/ Options
2.4 License Required
2.5 Internship/ Work Experience Required
2.6 Cost of Tuition and Training
2.7 Competition &  Scope in India for Textile Designers
2.8 General Age to Start Professional Career for Textile Designers
2.9 Governing Bodies
3.1 Specializations/ Sub-Professions
3.2 Companies & Institutions
3.3 Growth Prospects
3.4 Entrepreneurship Opportunities
3.5 What is the Salary of Textile Designer in India?
4.1 Top Universities in India
4.2 Top Universities in World
4.3 Famous Personalities
4.4 Useful Links

2. How to Become a Textile Designer in India?

The journey of a textile designer is not so easy and not very tough either. It only demands creativity, passion, and patience. Creativity to think out of the box, passion for not giving up your creativity, and patience to make your passion and creativeness successful. Opt for a design college and start working with these three and you will reach your aim in life.

Here is a step-by-step points on how to become a textile designer.

1. Complete 12th with arts: Begin your career by completing your graduation in the arts stream.

2. Go for a design degree: You can take a bachelor’s program directly in textile design or design courses as per your interest. Also, you can go for diploma courses as well.

3. Clear entrance exams (depends on college): Based on your college preference, you will have entrance exams. If you go to government colleges like NIFT or NID then you need to give an entrance exam. If you go for private institutes then selection will be based on your 12th merit.

4. Master’s (optional): This field is totally based on personal experiences and skills. So, doing a master’s can help you increase your skills but it is completely your choice. If you do decide to do master’s, you can opt for an MDes (masters in design) degree.

5. Do an internship: To have proper industry experience, you must go for an internship or training at a textile company or in a fashion company. This will help you in polishing your skills. Also, government colleges will have a mandatory internship period in their course curriculum.

6. Apply for a license: For starting your own textile business, you will need to have a license from the textile ministry of India.

Let’s look at the details.

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2.1.1 Courses Taken at School

Arts stream or Fine arts.

In high school, start by taking fine arts as your stream. Then you can learn to sketch and begin to make your portfolio. Start gathering knowledge of drawing, prints, painting, and ancient sources of textile designing.

2.1.2 Courses Taken at College: Textile designer Course Requirements

This stream absolutely depends on your creativity, passion, and efforts. For learning more, you can simply take up a bachelor’s degree in textile designing or designing to start up with your career.

Here are some of the courses that will be in your Textile Designing degree program, although the exact courses/subjects will depend on your program and college:

  • Fashion Drawing
  • Applied Textiles
  • Color Science and Fabric Technology
  • History of Fashion & Textiles
  • Fabric & Fiber Technology
  • Silkscreen
  • Printmaking
  • Computer-Aided Design (CAD) for Textiles
  • Digital Design, Laser Cutting, Milling

2.2 Entrance Exams

Yes and but not compulsory.

Entrance examinations totally depend on your college preferences. If you want to go for government institutes like NIFT or NID, then you have to give mandatory entrance examinations. Whereas if you go for private universities like K.R. Manglam, Amity, GD Goenka, and others, here you get direct admission without entrance on the basis of you 12th marks.

2.3. Textile Designer Qualifications/ Degree Required

Bachelor of textile design, bachelor of design, or diploma in design.

Take up bachelor of designing or textile designing that can make your knowledge and skills more polished. Start developing your professional expertise. Try to always carry a degree of creativity, uniqueness, passion, and hard work which will make you lead.

You can also apply for a higher degree but this field majorly depends on your individual approach and talent rather than just complying degrees. So rather than working according to colleges, work on yourself for better.

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2.3.2 Post-Graduate Degree Requirements/ Options

Not required.

You can apply for post-graduation in design,but it is not compulsory.

2.4 License Required

Yes.

If you want to set up your own textile industry then you require a license.

2.5 Internship/ Work Experience Required

Very helpful.

Practical experience of your knowledge is, of course, a good option to give your skills a try. You acknowledge your imperfections and strengths making you more perfect. Internships are recommended to explore more opportunities and options and to help you apply what you know.

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2.6 Cost of Tuition and Training: How Much Does it Cost to Become a Textile Designer?

It totally depends on what course you opt for and which institute you choose. Degree cost is higher than a diploma.

2.7 Competition: How Hard is It to Become a Textile Designer

Less competition in education or college entrance. Highly competitive in the field.

You will face a lot of competition in this field, what you need is uniqueness and creativity at the fullest. Your designs can be easily copied. So you need to be sure to keep them confidential till they are manufactured. There are always experienced people who are way more knowledgeable than you. You need to learn from them but also compete with their knowledge through creativity in your style.

2.8 General Age: How Many Years Does It Take to Become a Textile Designer in India?

18 or higher, depending on your college degree.

You can start your career right after college, or even while you’re in college. So spend time polishing your basics. Your abilities and talent will get stronger with experience, so start gathering as much as experience possible, and that duration will decide your success.

2.9 Governing Bodies

No.

Textile designing has no governing bodies in India.

3. Professional Opportunities/ Career Growth for Textile Designer

textile-designing-vicky-malhotra-how-to-became-a-textile-designer
My daughter, Tania Malhotra, wears one of my own designs.

3.1 Specializations/ Sub-Professions

Being a textile designer simply directs you on the ways of a designer, entrepreneur, manufacturer, blogger and more.

3.2 Companies & Institutions that Employ Textile Designers

Designing firms like Raymond, Fabindia, Vardhman textiles and many more employ creative and talented textile designers.

3.3 Growth Prospects

You can establish your brand and showcase your creativity to the world, which earlier was just limited to your notebooks. You can expand your business worldwide, get into collaboration with big industries and companies. All you need to focus on is your creativity, uniqueness, and passion for success.

3.4 Entrepreneurship Opportunities

This field provides you huge aspects for exploring your entrepreneurship skills and opportunities to set up your own firm. What you need is to gather experiences so that you can run your empire well.

how-to-became-a-textile-designer-creation

3.5 What is the Salary of Textile Designer in India?

Earnings in your own business are far greater compared to those in a job, once your business takes off. If you start up your own firm, then you will have the opportunity to earn a lot with time and with your enhanced skills.

Still, if you work in a job as a textile designer, then you can earn up to 60,000 to 70,000 per month, but after gathering sufficient experience.

4. Further Resources

4.1 Top Universities in India

Here are the top institutes that offer a degree in Textile Designing:

  • NID (National Institute of Design)
  • NIFT (National Institute of Fashion Technology)

4.2 Top Universities in World

  • North Carolina State University (USA)
  • University of Nebraska-Lincoln (USA)
  • The University of Bolton (UK)

4.3 Famous Personalities

  • Lucienne Day
  • William Morris

4.4 Useful Links or Resources

If you want to become a textile designer, it’s important to keep yourself updated with new goings on in the world of design, fabrics and the industry. So keep reading magazines and books to learn about textiles, production techniques, and traditional motifs, color trends and more.

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Curated & Edited by Tania Malhotra (CareerNuts Staff)

Read next:

Textile Design Career Path: Is Textile Designing a Good Career?

Creative but don’t want to study much for becoming a textile designer? Vicky Malhotra, a textile designer & wholesaler with over 30 years of experience, discusses everything from scope to pros & cons to daily work life in the textile design career path.

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