Freelance Fashion Designer
Freelance Fashion Designers In London.
010). There are countless freelance fashion designers available to hire in and around London. There are hundreds offering their various fashion design services.
Their various specialisms, experience, and hourly rate will vary enormously. To hire a fashion designer in London will likely be more expensive than hiring a similar designer elsewhere in the UK.
But how do you find the best fashion designer for you ? One who you can trust, is a good fit for your brand, and is both available, and affordable ?
Sampling And Small Production Runs.
Most startup brands need to keep their costs to a minimum, and to simplify the whole process from design to production. In this case you may choose to employ a designer who can also provide sampling and small production runs. This may involve using a sampling studio run by a professional fashion designer.
Specialist Designers.
Fashion designers normally specialise early on in men’s, ladies, or children’s wear. They may then specialise further into more niche areas, such as swimwear, lingerie, streetwear, sportswear, or tailoring.
When they become freelancers, some will just design for their specialist areas, while others will need to be more flexible, and design for multi-products.
But apparel designers need to have extensive knowledge of garment construction, pattern cutting, and fabrics. To be able to design for multi products requires a great deal of knowledge.
Childrenswear Design Consultant.
Childrenswear design is a very specialised area of clothing designing , that requires knowledge of government rules and regulations that are not relevant for other areas of clothing design.
It is important to be aware of the fact that due to the extreme changes of size and shape over the ages, your design is going to change significantly from the smallest size to the biggest size.
Stretch Or Woven.
Designing for contour garments using stretch fabrics is far different to designing for woven fabrics such as dresses or tailoring. Everything about the construction is different, the fabrics react differently, and fitting is entirely different.
Part of a designers job is fitting, and instructing the pattern cutter exactly how to alter the pattern to fit correctly. If the designer is not sufficiently experienced in the genre, they will be unable to instruct others.
New Clothing Brand.
A new clothing brand looking to employ a freelance fashion designer for a particular niche area of fashion needs if possible to employ a specialist.
Specialist designers tend to be very sought. after, and consequently more expensive than generic designers. New brands may find it difficult to find a reasonably priced specialist who is available to take on a new project.
Freelance fashion designers often specialise in menswear or womenswear. Other more niche designers will specialise in sportswear, swimwear, lingerie, tailoring, denimwear, etc.
Ideally, you should employ an experienced designer, specialised in your field, and who understands what you are trying to achieve with your brand. Even if they are a little more expensive, they will have a far greater understanding of their chosen genre, and specialist fabrics, construction, suppliers, and manufacturers.
Multi Product Fashion Designers.
You do not always have the luxury of being able to hire the best freelancer in a specialised field of apparel, but most experienced generic freelancers will be able to put their hand to all sorts of areas of design.
Years of experience is the key when employing a generic designer. They should have a good eye for detail, and a good sense of what looks right.
Fashion Graduates.
Fashion colleges have been churning out fashion designers regardless of the demands of industry. That has resulted in an excess of inexperienced graduates, many of whom will try their hand at freelancing.
All these new clothing designers have their qualifications, and some talent. But no experience of working for a UK fashion brand day to day.
Sometimes, these graduates can provide a cost effective solution for small startup brands, or someone trying to develop a product that does not fit into a specific category.
Here at The London Pattern Cutter, we work with experienced and proven fashion industry professionals. Each of our freelance designers specialises in a narrow range of genres, and they are familiar with working with small startup fashion brands.
They will have access to other experienced fashion professionals, as well as fabric and trim suppliers who sell small quantities to startups, and small specialist factories with no MOQ.
We also work with a few fashion graduates who are eager to gain experience while helping startups or small brands.
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 design consultant can offer our 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
- Creating Mood Boards
- Design Consultation
- Tech Pack Design
- Technical Drawings And Illustrations
Clothing Designer Vs Fashion Designer.
Sometimes we are asked what is the difference between a clothing designer and a fashion designer. Or an apparel designer. Today, these terms are generally interchangeable, as all clothing, or apparel design has some fashion element.
Each designer tends to specialise in certain areas of clothing. Some specialise in high street fast fashion, while others will specialise in classic stylish clothing.
Some will be sportswear, swimwear, or lingerie specialists. These areas may lead into more technical clothing design.
Some clients are interested in developing a practical garment that may appear to have little connection with fashion. But it is very hard to sell a purely practical garment with no design or brand element.
Garments like this will tend to be produced in very large quantities, with little scope for added perceived value.
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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 clothing 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 own 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 fashion startups 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 The Best Fashion Designer For You.
In the fashion design 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 To Hire A Freelance Fashion Designer ?
How much does it cost to hire a freelance fashion designer? The short answer is anything from £30/hour to £150.
Some designers will work for an hourly rate, while others will work for a daily rate, or a weekly rate. A daily rate would be £250 – £1200
Just like with any other professional, the cost of hiring a freelance fashion designer can vary immensely. If you do not need an experienced freelancer for your project, you may be able to find a student or newly graduated designer as a cheaper alternative.
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.
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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.
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