Your duties as a clothing designer will encompass many disciplines, including sketching, pattern-making, and sewing. Rarely will you work regular 9-to-5 days. Because you are an artist, your mind is constantly generating ideas, so there are no time limits to how long or exactly when you work. During the busiest times, when new collections are being unveiled for spring/summer and fall/winter, you could work around the clock.
An important fact to remember is that fashion designers also help support an industry that is one of the largest employers in the United States. One out of every ten workers in manufacturing is an employee in the textile-fiber-apparel conglomerate.
Designers do not carry their projects from start to finish single-handedly, but spark the process that begins with an idea and goes to a sketch, to a sample, to mass production. As an example of how the various segments of fashion overlap, copies of the garment go from the fashion model, to the store buyer, and ultimately to the consumer.
Women's wear Designers
Based on an informal survey of 50 designers around the United States, eight out often prefer to design exclusively for women. Why? Because women's fashions change more frequently than men's, offer more creative latitude, and attract a consumer who generally changes and updates her wardrobe with each season. More fabric choices and items are also available.
The statistics don't lie. Take some of the most famous designers- such as Isaac Mizrahi, Givenchy, Vivienne Tarn, Geoffrey Beene, Yves St. Laurent, and Jil Sander-whose women's wear collections have generated, or are in the process of generating, million-dollar empires. They, too, prefer the endless variety of trendsetting opportunities.
As a designer for women, you can streamline your work even more by specializing in a subcategory such as sportswear; career apparel; evening attire; knitwear; coats and jackets (leather, fabric, fur); lingerie and hosiery; sleepwear and swimwear; sweaters; or casual separates.
Casual separates design is among the most popular areas, because many women work at home or in jobs that don't require the traditional corporate navy blue suit. Practical separates, which allow one's wardrobe to be mixed and matched, move quite easily from day to evening and lend a soft, comfortable edge to changing feminine lifestyles.
Men's wear Designers
Although most designers prefer to create appealing clothes for women, there is also a big market for menswear styles. In fact, because women's wear is so popular among designers, it might not be a bad idea to explore the somewhat less exciting, but highly meticulous, world of men's ensembles.
Since Giorgio Armani relaxed the shoulders of men's jackets, making "unstructured" one of the longest-lasting buzz words in the industry, menswear designers have gotten bolder. They still design high-quality linen, wool, and cotton suits, but they are no longer restricted to conservative solid colors, such as black, blue, and gray. Various degrees of plaids, prints, and bright colors (green, yellow, and red) are making quite a splash. Some designers have even gone so far as to show kilts and Middle Eastern-inspired styles.
Yet, overall, men's wear remains a steady market, where colors and cuts may vary but the essential garment remains the same. Famous designers, such as Calvin Klein, Gianni Versace, and Ralph Lauren, have made fortunes on their impeccably constructed lines that run from formal to business to casual wear.
Because professional men tend to buy ensembles that will last a long time, menswear designers should be attentive to a garment's durability and exquisite quality. Areas in which you can focus are custom-tailored suits; shirts and slacks; coats and jackets (leather, fabric, fur); sportswear; sweaters; casual separates; sleepwear and swimwear; and undergarments.
While a number of menswear designers work with individual clients, most are employed with large design-manufacturing firms, where they work as part of a team.
Children's Clothing Designers
If you want to turn your attention to a less popular, but very lucrative, side of the business, consider designing clothes for children. Department stores and specialty boutiques are always looking to fill their children's departments with colorful, eye-catching garments. While you will probably work for a major manufacturer, there are opportunities to build your own clientele and eventually open your own store.
Categories for children's garments include play-clothes and sportswear; party outfits; sleepwear and swim wear; and underwear.
Although there are not as many fashion shows featuring children's clothing, you can still market your merchandise to major apparel centers and larger stores. Knowing what is cool for the kiddie set is a definite asset. You may want to talk with moms, dads, and preschool or elementary teachers, watch a lot of Saturday morning cartoons, and go to the latest youth-oriented movies to find out what kids like to wear.
On the latter subject, merchandising from films and television shows has become one of the hottest marketing phenomena of our decade. If you could hook up with a major children's company, such as Disney or Warner Brothers, you would enjoy steady work and a career with promising growth opportunities. There are also many other channels in which to become a success. Kids' clothes are always in demand. Don't underestimate the options available in this challenging, but less competitive, design field.
Fabric Designers
As you delve deeper into the clothing design profession, you will notice that there are even more highly specialized areas. Fabric design is one of them. In this field, you must be an expert in weaving, dying materials, sewing, and knitting. Working with processed cottons, wools, and silk strands-to name a few raw materials-you would be employed either at a large manufacturing firm or with your own independent company.
Technology has made the process easier through advanced machinery such as computerized looms and cutters. For the most part, however, expertise in textiles, fibers, and the treatment of materials is essential to rising to the top of the industry.
Fashion designers rely on your ideas for color and print combinations. If you enjoy developing patterns and imagery on cloth, this tight knit profession is one that is highly prized. Fabric designers are perpetually in demand, as long as couturiers use material-whether it is cloth, vinyl, or plastic-for their creations.
Because fashion designers are becoming more conscious of our world's fragile environment, a brand new area of the industry is opening up to prospective couturiers: "Green" designers, who work only with organically grown fibers and recyclable materials.
You may want to take some time exploring the scientific side of these fibers and certain materials that, when discarded, pollute the environment. It's one major step toward making our planet healthier while giving fashion a higher purpose.
Seamstresses and Tailors
Of the approximately one million apparel workers employed in the United States, almost 70 percent are sewing machine operators, which encompasses seamstresses and tailors. Because designers rely on these specialists to piece together their garment ideas in solid form, they are crucial to the overall fashion industry. Working in factories, modern manufacturing facilities, laundries, and dry cleaners, they typically rotate shifts on a standard five-day, 35- to 40-hour week.
Because of the value and delicate nature of some materials, sewing may be done by hand rather than on a machine-although machines are the norm. As a highly skilled hand sewer, you would specialize in a particular subject, such as sewing button holes, or adding lace and other trims. You may also work with a designer to make a sample of a new product.
When sewing operations have been completed, workers remove loose threads, basting stitching, and lint from the finished product. Final inspection may be done at this time.
Another highly skilled area is that of custom tailors. They make garments from start to finish, including taking measurements and selecting fabrics, and must be knowledgeable about all phases of clothing production. Many tailors work in retail outlets, where they make alterations and adjustments to ready-to-wear clothing.
Getting Started in Clothing and Fabric Design
If you are efficient at meeting tight deadlines and have confidence in your ability to invent a new look or style, start preparing for a design career as early as high school. Your high school home economics department typically offers courses in textiles and sewing. Take them, along with art and general business classes, to get a lead on the competition. Familiarize yourself with computers to gain a facility with machines and learn about new design techniques for the 21st century.
Working part-time at a boutique or fabric store will put you in touch with the local design community and help you master the industry's terminology. To keep abreast of changing styles, and what social conditions usually prompt them, keep a file of designs you have cut out of fashion magazines. Then set aside sufficient time to practice your sketching skills, because most designers are also artists who put their ideas down on paper before getting out the scissors.
Other ways to begin include assisting local organizations with their annual fashion shows, and visiting textile and art museums. Both of these actions will familiarize you with how a runway show is put together, and will give you an aesthetic sense of quality fabrics and lines.
When you are ready to pursue a design degree or become a designer's apprentice, you will be that far ahead of the fashion game. In fact, moving to one of the key fashion centers of the world would immerse you in the vigorous pace of this dynamic industry.
The famous Seventh Avenue garment district in New York City has long been regarded as the U.S. fashion capital because it has a large concentration of manufacturers, designers, showrooms, and schools. California produces a high number of sportswear designers.
Fashion designers also work for American companies that produce garments overseas. These companies often require their designers to travel extensively to Asia, Europe, and South America to review the development of first samples.
In addition to all fabric creators and designers for men, women, and children, the above suggestions apply to seamstresses and tailors, who are directly involved in the overall design process.
Educational and Apprenticeship Requirements for Clothing and Fabric Designers
You don't need a formal degree to succeed as a fashion designer- especially if you're a sartorial genius with a sharp knack for networking and self-promotion. In this case, simply teaming up with an influential designer as an apprentice or getting hands-on experience in retail would be sufficient. Taking classes, and even completing a design program, would, however, certainly increase your knowledge of textiles, fabrics, ornamentation, and trends. A degree is essential to a fabric designer.
There now exist close to 200 post-secondary institutions with programs in art and design accredited by the National Association of Schools of Art and Design. Most of these schools award a degree in art. Many schools do not allow formal entry into a bachelor's degree program until a student has successfully finished a year of basic art and design courses. Applicants may be required to submit sketches and other examples of their artistic ability.
Two- or four-year degree programs in Fine Arts exist throughout the United States, as well as two- and three-year professional schools that award certificates or associate degrees in design. Graduates of two-year programs generally qualify as assistants to designers. An ideal liberal arts curriculum would include courses in art history, sketching, life (anatomical) drawing, garment construction, draping, pattern-making, textiles, and merchandising. A few schools offer one-year programs in practical design. Studies stress applied skills rather than liberal arts courses.
The Fashion Institute of Technology and Parsons School of Design, both in New York City, are among our nations most sought out and respected fashion educational institutions. They can provide you with course catalogs and sample programs to suit your needs.
When selecting a school, visit the campus and talk with faculty members to determine if a particular program will sufficiently prepare you for a career in fashion or fabric design. The school should also be in good standing with one or more accrediting associations.
Remember, too, that many prestigious design programs exist abroad. Italy, France, and the United Kingdom are highly respected for their fashion education institutions. Most of Italy's academies are located in Milan and Rome, with Paris being France's design capital. Interestingly, Florence's Polimoda Design Academy offers a course in conjunction with New York's Fashion Institute of Technology for two to four years, with a three-year Italian language study program.
As an example of a growing high-tech international design school, we will look at the London College of Fashion, which is part of the London Institute, a federation of five prestigious art and design colleges that include Camberwell College of Arts, Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design, Chelsea College of Art and Design, and the London College of Printing and Distributive Trades. It offers a B.A. in fashion promotion, and "Higher National Diplomas" in Theatre Studies and in Styling.
In addition to workrooms, design studios, and lecture theaters, the College has a fashion theater with a permanent catwalk; video suites, radio facilities, and photographic studios geared toward fashion promotion work; extensive computer rooms; a growing multimedia facility; wet and dry textile testing labs; specialist makeup and body treatment salons; a teaching gymnasium for health, beauty, and modeling work; a cosmetics lab; foreign language studies areas; extensive sample and production workrooms; and a comprehensive fashion library.
Many other programs like this exist. You can find them through fashion design associations or by asking your guidance or career counselors. Most of these schools now have catalogs available on the Internet.
Educational and Apprenticeship Requirements for Seamstresses and Tailors
While seamstresses and tailors within the apparel industry do not need formal education to enter the field or climb the fashion ladder, they should be aware of the increasingly high-tech equipment used to sew garments. In addition, most of their education takes place on the job, where they are commonly assigned to a mentor who instructs by demonstration. Practice, ultimately, is the best training for seamstresses and tailors.
For operators of large textile machinery, courses in computer technology would prepare one for the future of this industry and its advanced manufacturing methods. Energy, stamina, meticulous attention to detail, and dexterity are necessary skills. Today, a high school diploma and extensive technical training are becoming entry requirements. Technical schools provide this type of hands-on instruction, as well as manufacturers with reliable training programs.
In fact, training is one form of advancement, with some workers becoming instructors and training new employees. Others advance by taking positions requiring higher skills and greater responsibility. First-line supervisory positions usually are filled from the ranks of skilled operators.
How to Find Jobs in Clothing/Fabric Design and Apparel Manufacturing
A winning portfolio of sketches and designs is a key selling point when looking for a job in clothing/fabric design. Major design schools will be able to point you in the right direction regarding entry-level positions-such as assistants and display coordinators-and your local apparel center is a popular job source. If you ask most fashion designers how they got their foot in the door, they will frequently tell you that they worked in a boutique or dry cleaners doing alterations to learn more about the construction of a garment, then teamed up with a designer-mentor who guided them along their career path.
Participation in charity fashion shows gets your name out, and if the press attends, they will be the first to unveil your talents to the public. Getting to know fashion editors from your city's daily and weekly newspapers is a big plus. Sending resumes to department stores, and successfully interviewing with portfolio in hand, will get you into larger fashion centers that could give you invaluable design and retail experience.
Career sections of libraries provide a directory of fashion companies you can target. Also, do not underestimate the power of the Internet as a source for fashion discussion groups in cyberspace and job opportunity postings.
Apparel workers such as seamstresses and tailors work primarily in department stores and large manufacturing firms. They fill out an application and go through an interview process. Scanning the classified ads in your local newspaper, or registering with a reputable job search firm, will point you in the right direction.
Marketing Yourself
As discussed earlier, the world of fashion design is fiercely competitive. So you must be equally talented at setting fashion trends as you are at promoting yourself. One important method is through the print and electronic media. To let the media know that you're an up-and-coming designer, send out press kits on your recent collections or a fashion show you organized.
Entering design competitions is an excellent way to show the fashion universe you mean business. New York's "Golden Shears Awards" are one example. A panel of discerning fashion veterans judges this annual contest, selecting 6 winners from a field of close to 20 designers who enter. Designs are evaluated for originality, quality, and marketability and then are featured at a gala fashion show in New York, which typically benefits an AIDS-related organization.
Another intriguing way to market your-self is via cyberspace. Technology on the Internet has exploded over the past two years, and fashion is a highly visible force in this field. Many designers join fashion chat groups over their personal computers, and can even upload photographs of their designs to show the world.
One popular feature, available through America On-Line and Netscape, is "Fashion-Line," a continuous, ever-changing trade show for the wholesale clothing industry. Here's how it works. Buyers peruse the on-line catalogs of clothing manufacturers, anytime from anywhere in the world. It is a quick and affordable means of bringing the fashion industry together.
Using simple software and fast graphics systems, Fashion-Line allows designers and manufacturers to create their own private online fashion show, ready for viewing 24 hours a day. Fashion-Line highlights the newest merchandise with full-color images and regularly updated descriptions.
Seamstresses and tailors, who focus on the production side of fashion, are not required to vigorously promote themselves. Therefore, positions in this field are quite straightforward, made known through "Help Wanted" ads and word-of-mouth.
Salary and Success Outlook for Clothing and Fabric Designers
Of the approximately 300,000 designers in the United States, one-third is self-employed. Therefore, salaries vary depending on market swings and how popular your designs are. Generally, average weekly earnings of experienced full-time designers are $585. The good news is that employment in fashion design is expected to grow through the year 2005. Besides the benefits that accompany any high-profile job, as a designer you will get to travel, set your own hours, and be fairly independent-and the potential to earn millions does exist.
Entry-level design assistant and design room worker positions pay on average $300 to $325 a week. A few well-known designers in top firms can earn from $50,000 to $100,000 a year. They may become partners in the firm for which they design apparel.
Remember that the number of people who try to get into top designing is always greater than the number of job openings. But there are opportunities for those with talent, skill, perseverance, and relentless business savvy.
Salary and Success Outlook for Seamstresses and Tailors
Almost 70 percent of the one million apparel worker jobs in the United States are sewing machine operators, with production jobs concentrated in California, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, and Georgia. They have median weekly earnings of close to $300.
Benefits offered by large employers usually include paid holidays and vacations, health and life insurance coverage, and child care. Those employed in retail trade also may receive a discount of 10 to 30 percent on their purchases. Additionally, some of the larger manufacturers operate company stores, where employees can buy apparel products at significant discounts. Some small firms, however, may offer only limited benefits.
Besides employer-sponsored benefits, the two principal unions- the Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers Union and the International Ladies Garment Workers Union-provide benefits to their members.
The job outlook of apparel workers depends largely on conditions in the apparel industry. Increased imports and use of offshore assembly are expected to reduce demand for these workers. Employment of apparel workers is expected to decline through the year 2005. But because of the large size of this occupation, many thousands of job openings will arise each year from the need to replace persons who transfer to other occupations or retire.
Opportunities look most promising for custom tailors and pressing machine operators. Many of these workers are employed by retail establishments, laundries, and dry cleaners. These employers are unaffected by imports and are unable to move operations abroad. Because companies in certain locations are having difficulty attracting enough of these skilled workers, those with the appropriate qualifications and background should find ample opportunities.
Textile machinery operators hold about 300,000 jobs nationwide. The majority are employed in weaving, finishing, and yarn and thread mills. Other employers include knitting mills and manufactured fiber producers. North Carolina has been the leading state in the employment of textile workers, accounting for about 30 percent of the total. Georgia and South Carolina combined account for another 30 percent. Most of the remaining workers are employed in other southern states and in the northeast.
