Swimwear Design
Our Swimwear Design Course.
(24-46). Our London based swimwear design course is targeted at beginners and intermediates, interested in designing and making the patterns for their own swimwear collection.
The course is especially useful to those interested in starting their own swimwear business, who would like to save money and learn at the same time.
You do not need to have any previous experience in fashion or the swimwear industry to take part in the course. You dont even need to be able to draw, as we will teach you the basics of swimsuit design and drawing.
One-To-One Classes.
Our one-to-one classes are run from our London studios in Greenwich or Walthamstow. So you have plenty of individual attention. All equipment is provided for you.
We would strongly recommend that anyone interested in starting a swimwear brand, should also try our swimwear startup workshop. This is a two hour, one-to-one workshop that covers all the elements of starting and running a new swimwear business.
This is a bespoke class, so the construction of the class will vary from individual to individual. You would need to discuss this beforehand with your tutor. Some of the subjects mentioned here may be transferred to the startup workshop.
Tandem Classes.
You may have a friend also interested in taking the course. In this case we can accommodate working in tandem. We do offer a discount for pairs, as long as they are studying together.
EMAIL thelondonpatterncutter@gmail.com
Technical Drawing.
One of the most important skills needed to be a successful swimwear designer is the ability to communicate your design ideas clearly to the pattern cutter, sample machinist and factory.
This is largely achieved using technical drawings, with detailed sketches and written information, explaining your swimsuit designs. Technical drawings, or flat drawings are an accurate reflection of your design, using realistic proportional sketches rather than distorted illustrations.
The important thing is ensuring that your designs are interpreted in the way you intended them to be. Every seam and detail needs to be included, as the pattern cutter will likely take your drawing literally.
For the inexperienced designer, hand drawn sketches can be better than those produced by Adobe Illustrator. Even in a bad hand sketch, every detail in that sketch is put there deliberately.
Adobe Illustrator tends to use generic images, with little subtlety. Because the images look professional, they can be treated too literally by the pattern maker. They look professional, so the person who produced them must know what they are doing.
If you are starting your own swimwear business, a technical drawing would also be used as part of your tech pack, providing a blueprint to the factory for your designs. Being able to provide your own tech packs could save you hundreds of pounds.
Fashion Sketches.
Fashion sketches, or illustrations, are not as important as technical drawings. But they are great for relaying impressions of your swim wear design ideas. You may use them to sell your designs to potential buyers. In our short fashion design course, we dont put so much emphasis on this element.
Range Planning.
A range plan is an overview of your design collection, with all the styles, fabrics and colourways. It is a useful tool for the designer, and gives potential buyers a clear view of what your designs are about. The range plan includes pricing, quantities per style and colour, fabrics, sizes and factory details.
Swimwear Fabric And Trim Sourcing.
Fabric and trim sourcing for swimwear can be a very time consuming part of the design process. It is important to know how and where to source efficiently, otherwise you will just meet dead end after dead end. Our tutors are very knowledgeable in sourcing.
Customer Profiling.
Customer profiling is an essential part of starting any business, especially a fashion related one such as swimwear design. It is important to know exactly what type of customer you are designing for. If you are trying to sell to the wrong customer, then you will have no sales.
Mood Boards.
Mood boards are really useful for a fashion designer or business owner. Or anyone looking to understand and interpret your designs. While your pattern cutter needs a technical drawing to make the pattern, they could also do with a feeling of what you are aiming to achieve.
The mood board consists of anything that gives you inspiration for your design ideas – Colours, swatches, samples, designs, photos, text. It is a collection of various pieces of creative information for a new project.
Capsule Collection.
Pricing Strategy.
Discover everything about pricing strategy.
Product Cost.
If you intend to start your own swimwear design business you will need to make a profit. To do this you need to understand all the costs involved in the production of your designs. Your markup is really important to determine your profit margin.
Route To Market.
Research Development.
Trend Forecasting.