Fashion Design Consultant
Why Hire A Fashion Design Consultant ?
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Looking to start a fashion business in the UK ?
Have a passion for fashion design ?
Have you spotted a gap in the market ?
Or do you have an inspirational idea for a niche product that you must bring to life ?
No idea where to start ?
Need Expert Help and advice ?
While some new fashion entrepreneurs may be trained fashion designers, many of our clients have no training in the fashion business whatsoever. They need the help of a freelance fashion design consultant.
They may be truly inspired fashion designers, overflowing with ideas and full of talent. But no idea where to start, how to communicate their ideas, or how bring them to market. They may need to hire a design consultant to guide them.
We provide a one-stop solution for small fashion businesses, starting with our fashion design consultancy service. We also offer a full sampling service, tech pack design, small production runs, mentoring, advice and fashion startup workshops, and weekly webinars.
Whether you have just one product or concept that you would like to bring to market. Or a collection of designs – We can help bring your designs to life.
Our Fashion Design Consultancy Services.
Our highly experienced design team offers a flexible and creative fashion design consultancy service for new and established clothing businesses in London and throughout the UK.
Our fashion design studios are based in South East London. Our clients come from all parts of the UK. including England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. And indeed from Eire.
We can work either face to face, or remotely via Skype, post, texts, images and email. This is surprisingly efficient and effective.
Some of our clients come to us with no fashion training whatsoever. They may have a background in banking, architecture, or marketing. They just have an inspirational idea that they would like to see brought to life.
Some of these clients want us to re-imagine their ideas and to present them in a clear and professional way. They may also want to make use of our comprehensive sample development and production services.
Other clients would like us to provide a complete design service for their brand identity.
We have specialist fashion designers and sample developers in all aspects of menswear, ladieswear, and childrenswear.
We have designers for most areas of clothing design – Functional and ergonomic wear, swimwear, sportswear, lingerie, tailoring, activewear and streetwear for example.
Brand Development.
Every fashion brand needs an identity, with a strong brand story behind it. We can help you build your brand identity. That identity has to prevail throughout the brand with colour schemes, logos, typeface, fonts
This corporate identity needs to be on the garment labels, the swing tags, the packaging and the correspondence. It needs to be everywhere that the product is.
The branding needs to reflect the customers own lifestyle as much as possible.
Our In-House Design Team.
You may have no real interest in fashion design, but just have a great idea for a clothing product. In that case you will have no problem with giving out part of the creative process to our design team.
You would be advised to gather together as much inspiration as you can from existing garments and images so that we can piece together your designs.
The Untrained Fashion Designer.
The untrained fashion designer has no idea where to start, how to source fabrics, who to go to for sound advice, or even how to put their creative ideas onto paper in a way that can be easily understood.
They need someone to take their design inspirations and their creativity, and make practical sense of them. An experienced freelance fashion designer knows how to present those ideas.
They know what works and what doesnt work. They can take your design direction, and tweak your ideas, or suggest workable solutions that you cant see.
A professional designer can compile proper technical drawings that can be interpreted accuratel by our pattern cutters.
Our clients have many questions :-
- Where Do I Even Start ?
- How Do I Bring My Designs To Life ?
- How Do I Get My Design Ideas Across ?
- Where Do I Source Fabrics From ?
- Who Can I Trust To Interpret My Designs Accurately?
- How Much Will It Cost ?
- How Long Will It Take ?
- Do I Hire A Freelance Fashion Designer ?
How To Sketch Your Design.
Our designer clients may know exactly what they want when they see it, but often they cant sketch their designs with any confidence. Just think how complicated it is trying to describe even the simplest idea in words only.
A picture says a thousand words – Being able to draw your designs is essential if you want to get good pattern interpretations and accurate samples.
We at The London Pattern Cutter, often have clients who try to describe just a small detail of a design without using a sketch.
There then follows a series of long, convoluted emails trying to discover exactly what the designer really wants.
Fabric And Trim Sourcing.
Sourcing fabrics and trims can be a really, really time consuming part of a fashion designer`s job.
But an experienced designer can do it way quicker than a new designer – Because they know exactly where to go for specific fabrics at a given price point. They know which fabric supplier will sell them small quantities, or sample lengths.
Leading Fashion Centre.
The UK is one of the world`s leading fashion centres. And London is home to world famous fashion schools, attracting many talented fashion students from all over the world.
So hiring a freelance fashion designer should be easy. But choosing the best designer for your business is critical. Good design is essential to any product today. And good design adds tremendous value.
Research.
A very important and time consuming part of the job involves researching trends and competitors. This can mean many hours in front of a computer screen, or reading through fashion magazines, or traipsing round shops, or travelling to shows.
Designers tend to buy a lot of clothes to use for inspiration for their own designs.
If they are employed by a large company they may have to travel to trade fairs and exhibitions. The company would probably pay for very expensive trend forecasting reports that they couldnt afford if self-employed.
The ability to sketch is a very important part of the job. Most designers seem to have a very exaggerated, stylish way of drawing that can make it a little difficult for an unfamiliar pattern cutter to interpret at first, otherwise it can be necessary to ask the designer if the designs should be taken literally.
But if the designer is working remotely from a pattern cutter they need to be able to communicate their ideas more thoroughly. It is very expensive to have to keep making samples because of a lack of communication.
Usually the designer will be in charge of the fit sessions. This is where the samples are tried on the models for fit and style. This may be done with or without the pattern cutter.
A good designer will have an eye for style and fit, along with an instinctive knowledge of what will sell. These are innate abilities that are not learnt.
Drawing Skills.
The first skill that any fashion designer needs is the ability to draw. Without this ability it can prove difficult to get your ideas across to the pattern cutter, or to persuade anyone to choose your design in the first place.
An Eye For Detail.
It is essential for a fashion designer to have a good eye for detail, as it it is often the little details that make a big difference to the overall design.
Do I Need To Employ A Design Consultant ?
Firstly, you need to decide whether you need to employ a design consultant at all if you have your own design ideas. Would it be cost effective for you ?
It is perfectly possible to act as your own designer, but you would probably not be able to do all the peripheral work that a designer would normally be responsible for.
DIY designers tend not to understand garment construction. They dont know where darts and seams should be placed to create shaping. The pattern cutter will often have to redesign an amateur`s design so that it can be made.
Some designers will also be pattern cutters, although it is very rare to find a designer/ pattern cutter who is as good as two different specialists.
A fashion designer is also responsible for sourcing fabrics and trims. This can be very time consuming for the amateur because they will have to start from scratch.
A professional fashion designer should have a a big library of existing contacts and suppliers to choose from. They should also be familiar with dealing with these suppliers.
Freelance Fashion Consultants.
A freelance fashion consultant is essentially the same as a freelance fashion designer.
What Type Of Designer Do I Want ?
If you have decided to employ a designer, then do you want the designer to be full time or part time. ? Freelance, or employed ? Normally startups would be employing a part time freelancer, so we can assuming that is what you will be doing here.
What Should My Own Role Be ?
You need to know what your own role will be in the business. If you want to be the one providing the designs, then you may want to employ a designer who can sketch out your designs, or to take your designs and re-do them so that they are more practical.
You may just want a designer to source fabrics and trims for your designs. Or maybe you want to supply the materials and let the designer do the designing based on your guidance.
How To Find A Good Fashion Designer.
In the fashion industry freelance world, qualifications mean very little. All that counts is talent and experience. A good portfolio will tell you a lot about the designer`s experience and abilities.
It is possible to employ a fashion designer through an agency. They would vet possible candidates, but obviously there would be an extra cost by way of commission involved.
And you may find that the agency will not go out of their way to find the best candidate for you if you are not a big established brand.
The Importance Of Research.
The importance of research cannot be over emphasised for a fashion designer. It is doubly important for a freelance designer because you will not be surrounded by other fashion designers and other fashion colleagues.
You wont have the benefit of all the expensive research that a big company can afford to buy, or the dozens of magazines that you would be surrounded by in a fashion environment.
A fashion designer`s job is very diverse
The freelance fashion designer will take on independent projects
Some fashion designers will specialise in a particular area of fashion.
But freelance fashion design is a highly competitive field. industry
These days much of the time that used to be spent traipsing round high street shops is now spent in front of a computer screen instead.
Fashion Design Agency.
To be successful as a freelancer
trend forecasting material
work history is more important than degree
get everything in writing
study markets for market trends
Make sketches
source fabrics and trims
fit sessions
deal with the factories
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