Field Guide: How to be a Fashion Designer

D

esigner

Page:92

(Ray)

(05-12427) Job:05-12424 Title:RP-Field Guide-How to be a Fashion Designer

#175 Dtp:221 Page:93

092-117_12427.indd 93092-117_12427.indd 93 5/30/09 10:15:07 AM5/30/09 10:15:07 AM

PRODUCTION

Fashion is a business that moves quick-

ly and operates at a dizzying pace: it

must supply the market with new

products constantly—every four to

six months—in addition to being

global and extremely competitive.

It is for this reason that a fashion

designer must not only conceive of

collections, but also be familiar with

all the processes involved in their

creation. By doing so, they are sub-

sequently able to meet the demands

of the market and produce what has

been planned in conformity with cor-

responding times and periods.

The majority of designers that are just

starting out in the world of fashion usu-

ally do not have the capital needed to

form a solid team to deal with matters

of management and production. This

means that the designer herself must

possess sufficient knowledge to be

able to carry out not only the design

aspect of the project, but also to be in

charge of the production, marketing,

sales, and logistics departments. This

requires knowing something about

economics, understanding the evolu-

tion of the market and consumption,

and being familiar with the way one’s

industry functions.

CHAINS OF

PRODUCTION

In the industrial process of production

there are two large chains: the textile-

clothing chain and the leather, com-

plements, and footwear chain. These

are the two avenues that connect

designers to suppliers, who will work

harder and perform better the closer

the relationship is between the two.

Knowing and understanding the

links in each chain is fundamental

for understanding how the industry

works. If one wants to increase the

speed, quality, and efficiency of pro-

duction, one must be familiar and

agile with each process in the chain.

The basic outline of textile-clothing

production is: fibers, spinning, knit-

ting, finishing, and clothing.

The basic outline of the leather-com-

plements-footwear chain is: tanning,

finishing, and manufacturing.

More or less in stages, both cases

involve choosing raw materials, decid-

ing how they will be treated, and then

producing samples. As both chains

nowadays are structured on a global

scale, large production or manufac-

PRODUCTION

|

93

D

esigner

Page:92

(Ray) Text

(05-12427) Job:05-12424 Title:RP-Field Guide-How to be a Fashion Designer

#175 Dtp:221 Page:93

092-117_12427.indd 93092-117_12427.indd 93 5/30/09 10:15:07 AM5/30/09 10:15:07 AM