Also called: Fabric Lab Technician, Apparel Quality Lab Tech
Tests fabrics in a lab to see if they shrink, fade, pill, or catch fire before clothes and car seats reach stores.
A textile lab technician washes a shirt sample 20 times, measures how much it shrank, and rubs a dyed swatch with white cloth to check color transfer. They run a flammability test on kids' pajama fabric and log the results so the brand can prove it meets federal safety rules.
Approximate.
Approximate: anchored on Bureau of Labor Statistics data for a broader job group.
Associate's degree (2-year), about 2 years after high school. Associate degree in textiles, chemistry, or lab technology; some start with high school and train on the job.
Ways in: 2-year college, On-the-job training. Training cost: Under $15k.
Majors to look at: Textile Technology, Chemistry, Laboratory Technology.
Growing about average. Steady; safety and quality testing is required.
Medium risk for 10 years. Machines and image analysis automate grading; sample prep, setup, and judgment calls stay hands-on.
Classes: Chemistry, Biology or lab science, Family & consumer sciences.
Career Universe is an early version. Pay, training and AI-risk figures are estimates to start your own research, not verified facts. The research was written with AI research assistants, checked by validation scripts and spot-checked by hand. Check anything important with schools, employers and official sources. How the numbers work.