Study fashion… to make just 8,000 pesos a month

Years ago, during a trends conference, the speaker who was presenting said a phrase that truly outraged me:

“Designers (of footwear) should be paid salaries of 8,000 Mexican pesos per month.”

He, certainly, was not a designer, but he was dedicated to disseminating trends. To me, his statement seemed most outrageous, since, being a fashion designer by profession, I know firsthand that this career is one of the most costly and that it requires too much investment of time and money.

This comment was made perhaps 13 or even 15 years ago, but I believe that statements like these still reveal the reality of salaries today.

At that time, I was still working as a designer within a prestigious Mexican footwear company, in which, fortunately, by that moment I was already earning more than double the amount that the speaker mentioned as a suggested salary for footwear designers.

But earning a good salary is not something common in this sector, and today, at least in the footwear industry, this has had no improvement. For this reason, let us review the salaries that today are offered to a designer —not a head or design manager— in Mexico as of 2026:

This is a worrying situation, especially in the midst of the crisis that is currently being experienced in one of the industries that constantly employ Mexican designers: the footwear industry.

And this “ill” of low salaries, in the end, can only cause another problem, since if you hire a professional designer who “is worth” 10–12 thousand pesos per month, the quality of their work will be of that same value, until a better opportunity arrives where they can develop their potential.

When I heard that misguided comment from the speaker in question, something that immediately came to mind was the evident —and outrageous— imbalance between the salaries received and the cost of studying a career such as fashion design.

Si bien no todas las instituciones y universidades que ofrecen esta licenciatura son privadas, el costo económico que debe hacerse a lo largo de ella sí es alto. Materiales costosos para ilustración y costura, como máquinas de coser, AD Marker y metros de tela, se requieren desde el primer día.

While not all the institutions and universities that offer this degree are private, the economic cost that must be made throughout it is indeed high. Expensive materials for illustration and sewing, such as sewing machines, AD Marker and meters of fabric, are required from the first day.

Even after graduating, fashion is one of the most costly professions if you want to stay up to date, since not all relevant information is free.

Subscriptions to specialized pages and platforms, high-cost books and constant travel to attend events and gain perspective on what is happening in other markets are just some of the “investments” that have to be made to remain current.

This questioning is something I have kept from that day until today, as I continue to see how salaries for designers have not improved in more than a decade, although the costs of studying this career keep rising more and more.

This profession has had a great push in Mexico in the last two decades due to the glamorized idea it produces, but the real result it offers upon graduating may perhaps be discouraging for many.