1. The Textile Design Field

l Manpower Needs

v      Many different designs are produced in a year; there is a wide variety of occupational opportunities for those with creative talent and appropriate preparation.

v      The increasing interest in fashion, paralleled by the impact of technological developments in the industry, is creating a growing need for textile design personnel to meet the continually growing and rapidly changing needs of this nation.

l Desired Competencies

v      A textile designer: create the patterns or design for fabric.

v Structural ð woven or knitted design

v Surface ð printed design

v      Designer for woven fabrics ð work directly on a small loom weaving sample fabric

v      Designer for knitted fabrics ð create their designs on a sample knitting machine

v      Both must adhere to their technical limitations and plot their designs for eventual mass-production

v      The different types of textile design needs different basic competencies, aptitude and skill-development experiences:

v      Print designer

v Inherent art ability

v Aptitude along with ua working knowledge of textiles, vfabric construction and wprinting processes

v      Structural designer

v An ability to draw (an advantage but not a necessity)

v A great depth of knowledge about uyarn characteristic, vtechnical processes wmachine capabilities

v Vivid and fertile imagination

v A real feeling for colour and design aesthetic

v A good tactile sense

v A sensitivity to customers' desires

v The ability to visualise the effect of their designs on cloth

v      Fabric designers tend to become specialists in a particular field for 2 reasons:

v      High degree of specialisation with the structure of the industry itself

v      One person seldom possesses the aptitude, interest, or preparation in all of the artistic and technical competencies in all types of designing

l Educational preparation

v      The tools of a textile designers:

v      Colour, paint, paper, design techniques, fibres, fabrics and textile processes

v      The best training for the textile designer

v      To become a conversant with the different areas of textile design through a series introductory  and basic skill-development educational experiences

v      Followed by further educational and/or on-the-job training in the specialised design area

v      Other skill-development studies:

v Print-making

v Graphic design

v Photography

v Jewellery designing

v      Particular help to textile design students are studies in:

v Art history

v Social studies

v Foreign languages

v Communication skills

v Computer skills

l Occupational Opportunities

v      Independent textile design studios

v      Purchase designs are a major factor in the operations of the industry

v      Offer the beginning designer opportunities to get started in a career

v      Independently-owned or vertically-integrated textile converting firms:

v      Style and finish

v      Initial designing opportunities within mills are more limited since

v      The designer must be as much a technician than an artist, and must be thoroughly conversant with factory routines and processes.

v      Print studios need:

v      Colourists: to render patterns more diverse and marketable

v      Designers: to originate new style trends

v      Repeat artists: to enable the printing of patterns

v      Mill stylists: to supervise a first printing at a mill

v      A stylist: is in charge of the studio, and is responsible for its artistic output. It requires extremely knowledgeable and experienced in the textile business

v      Screen printing area:

v      color mixing, working out repeat and printing

v      Specific job titles and exact responsibilities may vary from place to place and are subject to change as technologies change and new position are created

2. The Fashion Merchandising Field

l Definition of Merchandising:

v      Planning and supervision involved in marketing the particular merchandise or services at the places, times and prices and in the quantities which will serve best to realise the marketing objectives of the business.

l The basic difference in the merchandising activities of manufacturers and retail or wholesale middlemen is in the point of view of their operation. (Manufacturers: what to make; retail: what to carry in stock)

l All seek the same general objective:

v      Having the proper quantities, at the appropriate time, of the types and kinds of merchandise that meet anticipated customer requirements

v      At the prices such customers are willing and able to buy.

l Manpower Needs

v      The increasing interest and emphasis on fashion has created a growing need for educationally prepared and trained fashion merchandising personnel.

v      Enthusiastic and motivated young people are in great demand for such entry-level position in retail merchandising as salespeople, display assistant merchandising distributors.

v      Many related occupational opportunities that service fashion, manufacturers and retails such as fashion publication, trade association, advertising and display agencies, and resident buying office.

l Desired Competencies

v      In general, successful performance in fashion merchandising occupations demands on:

v Outgoing and pleasant personality

v An interest in fashion

v      An ability to relate to people

v      The profit motive

v      Adaptability:

v      variation in tasks and duties are customary and expected  Outgoing and pleasant personality

v      Manual skill requirements are negligible.

l Educational preparation

v      Specifically helpful and applicable to a career in fashion merchandising are such areas of study as:

v      Textiles, apparel, business or merchandising mathematics

v      Buying techniques

v      Advertising

v      Display

v      Marketing operations

v      Areas of study to deep the “life skills” of the students understanding of the economic and social forces that influence fashion merchandising operations:

v      Communication skills

v      Problem solving

v      Social studies

v      Economics

v      Part-time work experience in a retail store

l Occupational Opportunities

v      The nature of retailing makes merchandising entry job opportunities in retail firms much more widespread than in wholesale and manufacturer firms

v      More than half of all the people who work in retailing are employed in the merchandising division that has the responsibility for:

v      Planning

v      Procuring

v      Pricing merchandising assortments

v      Selling the merchandise it buys

v      Earning a profits

v      The balance are employed in activities that service and support the merchandising function such as:

v      Store operation

v      Personnel

v      Finance and control

v      In activities such as advertising, display and publicity

v      The Specific responsibilities of buyers vary according to the type of organisation:

v      Departmentalised stores?

v      Chain organisation

v      Experience in any phase of retailing selling is considered by many to be the best all around training for a career in merchandising, and equally valuable for other occupational fields in the fashion industry