Designer Technical Designer: Profile a Fashion Technical

¶ … Designer Technical designer: Profile A fashion technical designer is responsible for the 'nuts and bolts' construction of a garment. A technical designer is given the responsibility of taking "a lead designer's creations from the prototype stage through to full production. They work up specifications for new clothing and accessories, have samples made, and work with marketing and production facilities to ensure that finished pieces are made correctly and profitably" (Technical fashion designer, 2012, Fashion Schools).

The lead designer may have the broad, sweeping vision, but the technical designer works to make that vision a reality. Taking measurements, ensuring measurements are standardized, working to create a perfect fit, and working with patterns are all part of the daily life of a tech designer. One technical designer stated that she used her associate degrees in fashion pattern maker more than her general bachelor's degree in fashion in her work.

"Basic responsibilities include going over sketches with designer, producing flat measurements and general construction from the sketches, specing garments, conducting fittings, correcting patterns based on fitting corrections, creating tech packs (which include corrections, construction, measurements, trims, etc.), conveying all corrections, issues, and details to overseas vendors as clearly as possible" (Behind the scenes with a technical fashion designer, 2009, 39 thandbroadway). Technical designers must have the necessary computer skills to create and illustrate different fits. One of the most critical components of a technical designer's task is what is called fit continuity.

Virtually every person can recall trying on clothes which had unusual discrepancies between one size up or down -- good technical design is designed to eliminate this. Tech designers who are "responsible for a line of dress slacks (to choose an arbitrary example), all of the line's different slacks with the same measurements should fit customers the same way" (Technical fashion designer, 2012, Fashion Schools).

There should also be continuity within the brand, whether the brand fits small, large, or relatively 'average.' Customers should expect that all components of the line are sized "very close to the same way as slacks with the same measurements that the company has released in recent years "(Technical fashion designer, 2012, Fashion Schools). Because the bulk of manufacturing at most companies is done overseas, technical fashion designers often act as a liaison between the main designer and factories abroad.

This requires some understanding of how foreign cultures and companies operate. A "technical designer is responsible for working closely with the designer and conveying their ideas to the factory overseas with flat measurements, construction, and pattern corrections from the first sample to production" (Behind the scenes with a technical fashion designer, 2009, 39 thandbroadway).

The technical designer must be able to be fluent in "patternmaking, tailoring, specing, flat sketching" so the overseas company can produce the new line from a sample in a consistent and efficient manner (Behind the scenes with a technical fashion designer, 2009, 39 thandbroadway). The demand for technical designers is likely to.