If you want to see your garments and accessories in the hands of more than just a few customers, you need to understand how to get your fashion designs into production. On this episode of the Successful Fashion Designer podcast, patternmaker and designer Xochil Herrera Scheer of The Chicago Patternmaker draws on over a decade of experience to share what she’s learned about factories, production, and bringing your designs to life!
Imagine the stereotypical life of a fashion designer: frolicking in fabric, sketching beautiful designs, and traveling overseas to fashion factories. Truth is, a lot of us don’t do any of this. We spend our days in Illustrator, Excel and writing emails. And for me, after almost a decade in the industry, I’d never had the opportunity […]
Last year I interviewed successful fashion entrepreneur Rochelle Behrens. When the two of us sat down to talk…things got real. Rochelle is one of the most genuine and candid people I’ve ever had the pleasure of meeting and knowing. Before the interview started, I humbly asked her to share it all, to teach and tell […]
The fashion industry is intimidating. And if you don’t know the right technical terms, you can embarrass yourself. Maybe you’ve found yourself in acronym and terminology overload…tech pack, BOM, graded spec, block, CF, HPS, DNTS. What do all these words mean…and do you need to know all of them? It can feel overwhelming. Which is […]
Last week I sat down with American Fashion Podcast…and I threw fashion schools under the bus. Joining me were Bemis and Manufacture NY to discuss the the challenges designers face when they’re not sufficiently trained in the classroom. Listen now…
When sketching flats and designing in Illustrator, we put our best foot forward to do top notch work and make awesome presentations. But it’s easy to lose the “design appeal” when it comes to technical flat sketches. If you’re preparing for a big presentation and really want to wow your client (or boss!), here are some tricks you can […]
Want to learn more about dyeing terms in the apparel industry? A few common ones are as follows: Y/D (yarn dyed): When yarns are dyed prior to being knit or woven into fabric. P/D (piece dyed): When fabric is dyed after it is knit or woven, but before being cut & sewn (C&S). G/D (garment dyed): […]
A lot of the work I do is print/textile design based, so I’m constantly creating specs for artwork to send to factories. Here is how to prepare artwork in Adobe Illustrator to make sure your design is executed accurately. Many factories also love to get a printout of at least a portion of the artwork at full scale so […]
Don’t be caught off guard by the unexpected costs associated with overseas production or the hurdles you may have to jump over to get your product across borders. Make sure you’re well informed before venturing into unknown territory.