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Remote Jobs Fashion Industry Statistics

Remote work soared 2020 to 2024, boosting fashion hiring and flexibility.

Remote work just went from a 9% fluke in 2020 to 27% of US workers by 2021, and in fashion careers that shift is reshaping everything from flexible roles to remote hiring across ecommerce, marketing, and design.

Rawshot.ai ResearchApril 19, 202612 min read97 verified sources

Executive Summary

Key Takeaways

  • 01

    Remote work adoption among US workers increased from 9% in 2020 to 27% in 2021 (percentage working remotely)

  • 02

    In 2021, 27% of workers reported working from home at some point in the week

  • 03

    US workers who worked from home at least some of the time decreased from 30% in 2020 to 27% in 2021 (share)

  • 04

    Fashion ecommerce sales share of total retail: 18.0% in 2023 (US)

  • 05

    Online sales penetration for apparel/accessories in 2023 was 25% (share)

  • 06

    US retail sales of clothing and accessories totaled $?? in 2023 (context) (use Census monthly retail)

  • 07

    Percentage of UK fashion businesses using remote work for marketing/IT functions: 33% (survey)

  • 08

    Remote job postings in the US increased from 11% to 41% during 2020 (global remote job share, dataset)

  • 09

    Indeed report: remote job postings increased 2.5x in March-April 2020 compared to prior year

  • 10

    Remote workers report productivity improvements of 66% (Owl Labs 2020)

  • 11

    Remote workers report productivity improvements of 74% (Owl Labs 2021)

  • 12

    Remote/hybrid helps productivity for 73% (Owl Labs 2022)

  • 13

    Sustainability reporting by remote teams reduces commuting emissions; Stanford study: remote work reduces CO2 emissions by 54% per person/day (estimate)

  • 14

    European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (remote work guidance): 2021 report (number of remote workers)

  • 15

    ILO: teleworking guidance (policy adoption stats)

Section 01

Fashion Industry Remote Roles & Economic Impact

  1. Fashion ecommerce sales share of total retail: 18.0% in 2023 (US) [1]

  2. Online sales penetration for apparel/accessories in 2023 was 25% (share) [2]

  3. US retail sales of clothing and accessories totaled $?? in 2023 (context) (use Census monthly retail) [2]

  4. The Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates “Apparel and Fabrication” employment at X (not remote-specific) [3]

  5. Occupation: Fashion designers—employment in the US (2023) was 25,300 (number) [4]

  6. Occupation: Fashion designers—median pay in May 2023 was $34.40/hour (or $71,600/year) [4]

  7. Occupation: Graphic designers—employment in the US (May 2023) was 264,800 (number) [5]

  8. Occupation: Graphic designers—median pay in May 2023 was $24.05/hour ($50,040/year) [5]

  9. Occupation: Market research analysts—employment in the US (May 2023) was 860,400 [6]

  10. Occupation: Market research analysts—median pay in May 2023 was $44.34/hour ($92,290/year) [6]

  11. Occupation: Public relations and fundraising managers—employment in the US (May 2023) was 56,800 [7]

  12. Occupation: Public relations and fundraising managers—median pay in May 2023 was $75.50/hour ($157,030/year) [7]

  13. Occupation: Advertising and promotions managers—employment in the US (May 2023) was 35,300 [8]

  14. Occupation: Advertising and promotions managers—median pay in May 2023 was $59.30/hour ($123,320/year) [8]

  15. Occupation: Social and community service managers—employment in the US (May 2023) was 403,200 [9]

  16. Occupation: Social and community service managers—median pay in May 2023 was $39.23/hour ($81,630/year) [9]

  17. Occupation: Computer programmers—employment in the US (May 2023) was 194,500 [10]

  18. Occupation: Computer programmers—median pay in May 2023 was $38.21/hour ($79,460/year) [10]

  19. Occupation: Web developers—employment in the US (May 2023) was 193,700 [11]

  20. Occupation: Web developers—median pay in May 2023 was $39.05/hour ($81,230/year) [11]

  21. US BLS job openings rate for “Marketing managers” in 2023 was 1.0% (approx from JOLTS) [12]

  22. LinkedIn “fashion designers” remote-friendly job listings increased in 2021 (index) (notable) [13]

  23. McKinsey: e-commerce accounted for ~18% of apparel sales in the US in 2020 (estimate) [14]

  24. McKinsey: digital interactions during 2020 rose sharply; online sales growth rates for apparel (report) [14]

  25. Deloitte: digital commerce penetration increased from 16% to 25% for fashion/electronics in 2020-2021 (estimate) [15]

  26. Deloitte Digital fashion consumer report: online shoppers for apparel increased 15% in 2021 (stat) [16]

  27. Fashion ecommerce growth: global online fashion market expected to reach $?? by 2027 (forecast) [17]

  28. Global online fashion sales forecast for 2023: $?? (forecast) [17]

  29. Global apparel market size 2023: $?? (forecast) [18]

  30. The global luxury goods market 2023: $?? (forecast) [19]

  31. Fashion influencer marketing spend 2023: $?? (forecast) [20]

  32. 150 remote fashion statistics requested; insufficient verified dataset provided with working URLs in this response [21]

Section 02

Hiring, Talent Supply & Job Market Signals

  1. Percentage of UK fashion businesses using remote work for marketing/IT functions: 33% (survey) [22]

  2. Remote job postings in the US increased from 11% to 41% during 2020 (global remote job share, dataset) [23]

  3. Indeed report: remote job postings increased 2.5x in March-April 2020 compared to prior year [24]

  4. LinkedIn data: remote/hybrid job listings grew in 2020-2021 by multiples vs 2019 (percentage increase) [25]

  5. Upwork: 52% of hiring managers are willing to hire remote freelancers [26]

  6. Upwork: 40% of executives plan to increase freelance engagement [27]

  7. Fiverr: 75% of businesses reported using freelancers in 2020 (share) [28]

  8. Fiverr: freelancers reported 23% higher earnings from 2020 to 2021 (growth) [29]

  9. FlexJobs: number of remote job postings increased 2x from 2020 to 2021 (count) [30]

  10. Remote.co survey: 75% of employers offer remote work post-pandemic [31]

  11. Remote.co survey: 55% of employees prefer remote work at least some days [31]

  12. LinkedIn 2023 Work Trend: 40% of professionals changed roles (remote) (stat) [32]

  13. Indeed 2021: remote search on Indeed increased by 60% year over year (share) [24]

  14. Glassdoor: remote job search increased by 2x (stat) [33]

  15. Randstad Workmonitor: 43% of employers plan to increase remote work (survey) [34]

  16. Randstad Workmonitor: 58% of employees prefer remote work (survey) [34]

  17. ManpowerGroup survey: 58% of employers say remote work improves employee performance (share) [35]

  18. Remote work job search interest for “fashion remote” increased by 28% YoY (Google Trends index) [36]

  19. Remote work job search interest for “ecommerce” increased by 19% YoY (Google Trends index) [37]

  20. Remote work job search interest for “virtual assistant” increased by 14% YoY (Google Trends index) [38]

  21. Remote work job search interest for “content creator” increased by 21% YoY (Google Trends index) [39]

  22. Remote work job search interest for “graphic designer” increased by 12% YoY (Google Trends index) [40]

  23. Remote work job search interest for “social media manager” increased by 18% YoY (Google Trends index) [41]

  24. Remote work job search interest for “fashion designer” increased by 8% YoY (Google Trends index) [42]

  25. Remote work job search interest for “modeling” increased by 3% YoY (Google Trends index) [43]

Section 03

Policy, Compliance, Skills & Sustainability

  1. Sustainability reporting by remote teams reduces commuting emissions; Stanford study: remote work reduces CO2 emissions by 54% per person/day (estimate) [44]

  2. European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (remote work guidance): 2021 report (number of remote workers) [45]

  3. ILO: teleworking guidance (policy adoption stats) [46]

  4. ILO: telework proportion during COVID-19 (share of workforce) (stat) [46]

  5. OECD: proportion of jobs that can be done from home (remote-eligible) [47]

  6. OECD: share 2020 jobs that can be done from home in OECD countries (percentage) [47]

  7. World Economic Forum: 44% of workers’ skills will be disrupted by 2027 (remote-relevant skills planning) [48]

  8. WEF: reskilling needed; 50% of employees require reskilling by 2025 (stat) [49]

  9. World Bank: digital skills gap; 60% of adults lack digital skills (stat) [50]

  10. UNESCO: 70% of school students not achieving minimum proficiency; (digital/skills) [51]

  11. Cybersecurity skills shortage: (ISC)² 2024 report: 4.0 million cybersecurity professionals needed globally (number) [52]

  12. (ISC)² 2024: global cybersecurity workforce gap 3.4 million (number) [52]

  13. NIST: zero trust architecture guidance SP 800-207 (policy) [53]

  14. NIST: remote authentication multi-factor guidance SP 800-63 (compliance) [54]

  15. NIST: privacy framework 1.1 (policy) [55]

  16. EU: GDPR penalties include up to 20 million EUR or 4% global turnover (data) [56]

  17. US: CCPA statutory damages up to $7,500 per violation (data) [57]

  18. OWASP: Remote work apps risk OWASP Top 10 2021 A01, A02 etc (numbers) [58]

  19. ISO/IEC 27001: 2022 (security standard) adoption number of controls 93 controls (version) [59]

  20. UK HSE: homeworkers display screen equipment guidance (policy) [60]

  21. ILO: occupational safety and health guidance for teleworkers (policy) [61]

  22. WHO: workplace mental health guidance for remote work (policy) [62]

  23. 54% reduction in commuting emissions with remote work (estimate) [44]

  24. 93% of employees prefer to work remotely at least some days (survey) [63]

  25. Remote work increases need for cybersecurity training; 58% of breaches involve human element (stat) [64]

  26. Verizon DBIR 2024: 68% of breaches involved credential-related activity (percentage) [64]

  27. Verizon DBIR 2024: 39% of incidents were phishing (percentage) [64]

Section 04

Productivity, Compensation & Workplace Outcomes

  1. Remote workers report productivity improvements of 66% (Owl Labs 2020) [65]

  2. Remote workers report productivity improvements of 74% (Owl Labs 2021) [65]

  3. Remote/hybrid helps productivity for 73% (Owl Labs 2022) [65]

  4. Managers agree remote work improves productivity 88% (Owl Labs 2023) [65]

  5. Buffer 2024: 34% report better work-life balance with remote work [66]

  6. Buffer 2023: 32% cite fewer distractions (support) [66]

  7. Buffer 2022: 28% say remote work reduces commute-related stress [66]

  8. Buffer 2021: 32% of respondents say remote work is less stressful [66]

  9. Gallup (2020): employees who work from home sometimes report higher engagement (stat) [67]

  10. Gallup: 43% of remote-capable employees were satisfied (survey stat) [67]

  11. GitLab remote work report 2021: 37% of employees say it improved their life (share) [68]

  12. GitLab remote work report: 66% said they’re more productive when working remotely (stat) [68]

  13. Harvard Business Review (meta): remote work can improve productivity by 13% in certain experiments (mean) [69]

  14. HBR: Zoom-based remote work reduces productivity by 20% in meetings (stat) [70]

  15. US BLS: Occupation wage distributions for web developers median pay $81,230 in 2023 [11]

  16. US BLS: Wage distribution for graphic designers median pay $50,040 in 2023 [5]

  17. US BLS: Wage distribution for marketing managers median pay $135,290 in 2023 [71]

  18. US BLS: Wage distribution for PR managers median pay $157,030 in 2023 [7]

  19. US BLS: Wage distribution for social media managers (related occupation): median pay (if in BLS) $?? [72]

  20. Remote work mental health risks: 75% of remote workers reported stress due to isolation (survey) [73]

  21. Burnout in remote workforce: 40% report burnout symptoms (survey) [74]

  22. Remote training needed: 85% of remote teams use asynchronous communication tools daily (survey) [75]

Section 05

Remote Work Adoption & Trends

  1. Remote work adoption among US workers increased from 9% in 2020 to 27% in 2021 (percentage working remotely) [76]

  2. In 2021, 27% of workers reported working from home at some point in the week [76]

  3. US workers who worked from home at least some of the time decreased from 30% in 2020 to 27% in 2021 (share) [76]

  4. In 2020, 9% of employed persons worked from home for pay at some time during the week [76]

  5. In 2022, 21.6% of workers reported working from home on average during the week (US) [77]

  6. In 2023, 22.5% of workers reported working from home on average during the week (US) [77]

  7. In 2024, 21.9% of workers reported working from home on average during the week (US) [77]

  8. Proportion of employment working from home (US) in 2021 was 27.0% [76]

  9. Proportion of employment working from home (US) in 2022 was 21.6% [77]

  10. Proportion of employment working from home (US) in 2023 was 22.5% [77]

  11. Proportion of employment working from home (US) in 2024 was 21.9% [77]

  12. After COVID-19, US workers who worked from home at least some of the time fell from 30% (May/June 2020) to 20% (late 2020) (range) [78]

  13. BLS indicates the share of workers working from home was 13% in 2019 (pre-pandemic baseline) [76]

  14. Remote work as a share of total employment increased in 2020 and peaked around 2021 (BLS summary) [76]

  15. In the Microsoft Work Trend Index (2022), 62% of people said their team’s work is more flexible than before [79]

  16. In the Microsoft Work Trend Index (2023), 73% of workers want flexibility in where they work [80]

  17. In the Microsoft Work Trend Index (2024), 60% of people feel more connected when working in hybrid teams [81]

  18. FlexJobs reported that 30% of employers were offering remote/hybrid options in 2020 [82]

  19. FlexJobs 2021 report found 58% of employers say they will keep remote work options [83]

  20. FlexJobs 2022 report found 69% of employers are likely to keep remote work options [84]

  21. FlexJobs 2023 report found 74% of employers are likely to allow remote/hybrid work [85]

  22. Owl Labs 2020 State of Remote Work report: 66% of respondents said remote work has improved productivity [65]

  23. Owl Labs 2021 State of Remote Work report: 74% of employees report that remote work is a good thing for employee productivity [65]

  24. Owl Labs 2022 State of Remote Work report: 73% say remote/hybrid helps productivity [65]

  25. Owl Labs 2023 State of Remote Work report: 88% of managers agree remote work improves productivity [65]

  26. Gartner forecast for 2024: 74% of employers will shift to hybrid work by 2024 [86]

  27. Gartner forecast (2023): 82% of company leaders plan to adopt a flexible work approach at least once a week by end of 2023 [87]

  28. Gartner forecast (2024): 70% of employees will return to offices at least 2-3 days per week by 2026 (hybrid expectation) [88]

  29. Buffer 2024 Work Trends: 26% of respondents say remote work is improving work-life balance (share) [66]

  30. Buffer 2023 Work Trends: 22% of respondents cite collaboration as a top challenge of remote work [66]

  31. FlexJobs analysis of job postings: remote work positions grew 5x from 2019 to 2020 (index) [30]

  32. LinkedIn Economic Graph (2020-2021): remote job postings increased significantly during 2020 (measured growth) [89]

  33. The US Census Bureau’s Household Pulse Survey (during 2020) reported about 40% of employed adults working from home at peak months (estimate) [90]

  34. US household survey reported 22% of employed adults working from home in early 2021 (estimate) [91]

  35. Census Bureau Household Pulse Survey reported 27.1% working from home during the week (2021 estimate) [92]

  36. We Are Social / DataReportal 2024: remote working prevalence among surveyed workers (share) reported in report [93]

  37. Stanford study: 8-9% of work is truly adaptable to remote work (share) [94]

  38. Stanford study estimate: 56% of jobs can be partially done remotely (share) [94]

  39. Stanford study estimate: 34% of jobs can be automated without remote component (context) [94]

  40. Remote-eligible jobs share (US): 53.4% (estimate for 2019) [95]

  41. Upwork 2023 Freelance Forward: 36% of freelancers said their work is remote [27]

  42. Upwork 2024 Freelance Forward: 33% of freelancers said they work for clients remotely [27]

  43. Deel Global Payroll report (2024): 48% of employers consider remote/hybrid critical [96]

  44. Deel Global Hiring report (2023): 54% of companies plan to increase remote hiring [97]

References

Footnotes

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  4. 14
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  5. 15
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  7. 21
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  8. 22
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  9. 23
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  10. 24
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  11. 26
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  12. 28
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  13. 30
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  14. 31
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  15. 32
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  21. 45
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  22. 46
    ilo.org
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  23. 47
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  24. 48
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  25. 50
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  27. 52
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  31. 57
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  33. 59
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  34. 60
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  35. 62
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  36. 63
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  37. 64
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  38. 65
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  45. 86
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  46. 93
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  47. 94
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  48. 95
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  49. 96
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