Freelance Designer
Freelance Fashion Designers In London.
(46-19). There are countless freelance fashion designers in the UK. In London alone, there are hundreds offering their services. But how do you find a good designer that you can trust, is a good fit for your brand identity, and at a rate that you can afford ?
Fashion colleges have been churning out fashion designers regardless of the demands of industry. That has resulted in an excess of inexperienced fashion designers, many of whom will try their hand at freelancing.
All these new clothing designers have their qualifications, and a certain amount of talent. But no experience of working for a fashion brand day to day.
As your chosen freelance fashion designer tends to become your project manager, you are entrusting your designs, your money, and your business to someone who may be hopelessly unsuitable for the task.
You need to employ a designer who is experienced in your field, and who understands what you are trying to achieve with your brand.
Here at The London Pattern Cutter, we only work with a few experienced and proven fashion industry professionals. Each of our freelance designers specialises in a narrow range of genres.
What Does A Fashion Designer Do ?
A Fashion Designer`s job is far more involved than most people realise. It goes way beyond just sketching an idea on to paper and giving it to a factory. Their job is very diverse. These are just a few of the services a freelance fashion designer can offer clients :-
- Full Collection Design
- Design Analysis And Review
- Market Analysis
- Colour Direction
- Fabric And Trim Sourcing
- Fittings And Fit Meetings
- Sample Reviews
- Textile Design
- Liaising With Factories And Suppliers
- Instructing Pattern Cutters
- Mood Boards
- Design Consultation
- Tech Pack Design
- Technical Drawings And Illustrations
EMAIL thelondonpatterncutter@gmail.com
Full-Time Vs Freelance ?
The new fashion entrepreneur needs to decide whether to employ a full-time designer, or a freelancer. Or whether it is necessary to employ a designer at all.
Many startups prefer to provide their own designs. For some, this may seem to be the best approach in the early stages. It takes a lot of money to support an in-house design team.
Often, however, it is a false economy. Even if you have the most brilliant of design ideas, you need an experienced fashion designer to advise on the practicality and cost effectiveness of your designs.
You can still use your won designs, but with an experienced designer by your side to guide you and advise you every step of the way.
We at The London Pattern Cutter can work with your chosen designer, or supply our own . As most of our clients are on a restricted budget, we would normally advise against employing a full-time designer because it can be prohibitively expensive.
It is rarely cost-effective unless you have extensive funding. And even then a freelancer is probably a better choice.
It is not just the employment costs of a designer. The employer would also be expected to pay for very expensive trend forecasting reports as well as travel expenses involved in visiting fashion shows and exhibitions around the world.
This sort of expense is only really affordable for companies with serious financial backing.
Sometimes it may be worth hiring a graduate to assist with designing duties.
How To Find A Good Designer.
In the 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 brand.
How Much Is A Freelance Designer ?
How much does it cost to hire a freelance fashion designer? The short answer is anything from £40/hour to £150.
Just like with any other professional, the cost of hiring a freelance fashion designer can vary immensely.
Most startup brands wont be looking at hiring the most expensive designers and shouldnt be considering hiring the cheapest, unless they are just looking for an assistant.
I would suggest that any startup hiring a designer should specifically hire an experienced freelance designer – A designer who understands how to work with startups to get the best for them.
But should you be paying a flat rate for the project, a rate per sketch, or an hourly rate ?
If you rule out employing a full time designer, there are four options to consider :-Employ an independent freelance designer.
This can be an option worth considering if the designer is very experienced as a freelancer and understands how the industry works.
And if they specialise in the specific area of fashion that you are aiming for. It can also be a very expensive option though. You would still need to employ a pattern cutter, and a pattern cutter is probably better value because they can act as a technical adviser.
Use a one-stop shop such as The London Pattern Cutter. We can take care of the entire project, or just the areas that you want us to take care of. Emile is our resident designer and has over twenty years experience as a fashion designer.
He can work with you on your own designs, or provide the designs according to your instructions. He can also source all your fabrics and trims. This can be very time consuming if you are new to the fashion business.
The pattern cutters know how to interpret his sketches and Emile knows what information needs to be supplied to the pattern cutters in order to get it right first time round.
This makes it more cost effective as making repeat samples can be expensive. This is certainly the best option if you are fully employed.
Do all of the designing and sourcing yourself. I wouldnt really recommend doing it all yourself, unless you really know what you are doing and you have a lot of free time.
A mix of the above two options. If your talent is as a designer, then you would be best to concentrate on the designing.
The sourcing of fabrics and trims is very time consuming if you are unfamiliar with it, although we can help you by supplying a list of suppliers who are willing to supply small quantities to startups.
EMAIL thelondonpatterncutter@gmail.com
Hiring A Freelance Fashion Designer.
It is possible to get a job as a freelance designer without getting a degree, but it would be very difficult within a big company, especially today when there are far more graduates than there are jobs.
Fashion designers need to understand garment construction and they need to be able to convey their ideas to the pattern cutter, sample machinist and factory.
A freelancer may have to do many of the jobs that would have been done by specialists in a normal job. Rather than employ a pattern cutter, many designers will choose to make the patterns themselves. Some designers make very good pattern cutters.
But while they can be very good at the arty, creative parts of pattern cutting, such as draping on the stand, they tend to lack the patience, accuracy and detail of a pattern cutter.
Full-Time Vs Freelance ?
The new fashion entrepreneur needs to decide whether to employ a full-time designer, or a freelancer. Or whether it is necessary to employ a designer at all.
Many startups prefer to provide their own designs. And often this is the best approach in the early stages. It takes a lot of money to support an in-house desgin team.
We at The London Pattern Cutter can work with your designer, or supply our own . As most of our clients are on a restricted budget, I would normally advise against employing a full-time designer because it can be very expensive.
It is rarely cost-effective unless you have extensive funding. And even then a freelancer is probably a better choice.
It is not just the employment costs of a designer. The employer would also be expected to pay for very expensive trend forecasting reports as well as travel expenses involved in visiting fashion shows and exhibitions around the world.
This sort of expense is only really affordable for companies with serious financial backing.
Sometimes it may be worth hiring a graduate to assist with designing duties.