Film Career · Costume Designer
Wardrobe Designer
Costume Designer · IATSE Costume Designers Guild, Local 892
- Union
- IATSE Costume Designers Guild
- Day rate
- ~$120K–$400K+/yr
- Experience
- 3–7 yrs
What does a Wardrobe Designer do?
A wardrobe designer carries a hands-on craft within the costume designer department, delivering their specialty daily as part of the department's crew.
On union productions the position falls under IATSE Costume Designers Guild, Local 892, which sets the rates, hours, and conditions the role works within. Like every costume designer role, the job is hired production by production, and repeat work comes from department heads who trust the name on the call sheet.
What does a Wardrobe Designer make?
- Costume design is paid weekly: roughly $3,000 at Local 892 minimum up to $12,000-$20,000+ on top projects, or roughly $120K-$400K+ a year.
Film work is gig based, so crew are paid a day or weekly rate rather than a salary. These are realistic 2024-2025 ranges grounded in union rate cards and industry data; actual pay swings with budget tier, market, overtime, and reputation.
Sources & how we estimate pay
Union scale is the floor; the ranges above also reflect market day rates above scale. They are grounded in the following 2024–2025 sources:
Union rate cards & wage schedules
Official guild scale — the floor each craft is paid from.
- IATSE — 2024 Basic Agreement wage scales (PDF) ↗
- IATSE Local 600 (International Cinematographers Guild) — camera rate cards ↗
- DGA — minimum salary rate cards (director, unit production manager, assistant directors) ↗
- WGA — schedule of minimums (writers) ↗
- SAG-AFTRA — theatrical & background rate sheets (cast, stunts, background) ↗
- Teamsters Local 399 — basic feature wage rates, 2024–27 (transportation, locations, wranglers) (PDF) ↗
Government wage data
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, for the closest federal occupation.
You’ll like and be good at this job if:
Hard skills
- You can research, design, and run a workroom
Soft skills
- You take pride in doing your specific craft well, day in and day out
- You like hands-on work and getting the details right
Career progression
The role advances the way most costume designer careers do: repeat hires from the same department heads, growing responsibility within the craft, and a reputation that travels between productions faster than any resume.
How do you become a Wardrobe Designer?
Careers reach this chair through the costume designer department ladder: entry work first, then increasing responsibility as the crew learns your name. Smaller productions hand out the title earlier, and the credits transfer.
On covered productions, rates, hours, and conditions for the role are set by IATSE Costume Designers Guild, Local 892 contracts.
Covered by a union? The joining a film union guide explains how each one takes members.