costume buyer

Costume buyers work with the costume designer in order to identify the materials for the costumes. They buy and rent fabric, thread, accessories and other items needed to finish the wardrobe. Costume buyers may also purchase ready-made clothing items They base their purchases on the sketches of the costume designer.

The most in-demand skills for this role include aesthetics, place orders for clothing merchandise, identify suppliers, manage budgets, mark differences in colours, maintain relationship with suppliers. These are the skills O*NET identifies as most important for competent performance.

Our AI-durability model gives costume buyer a score of 0.50 on a 0-1 scale (higher = more exposure). That places it at moderate AI exposure — some tasks are being automated but the role adapts. Learning to work with AI tools rather than against them is the path forward.