Importance of design in production

1. Importance of Design
in Production

2. Introduction
• The design department can be considered as
the research and development department of
clothing industry, because it is in this
department that the proto-types of garments
are developed and prepared for selling and
production

3. Process of Product Development
For most factories the process of product development
involves seven stages
1. Forecasting
2. Designing
3. Collection Planning
4. Pattern Making
5. Technology
6. Production of sample garments
7. Pattern Grading

4. Forecasting
• This stage commences with the evaluation and
interpretation of the market’s future needs in terms of
fashion and price.
• Apart from intuition and common sense, these
forecasts are based on the accumulated
knowledge, expertise and experience of the
company to make fairly accurate prediction of
the types of garments customers will buy and
the prices they will be willing to pay.

5. Forecasting
• Marketing is a collection of activities that include
market research, consumer surveys, and customer
service.
• The objective is to arrive at a collection of products
for sale in the future and then to promote this
collection in the market.
• The ultimate goal is a collection that can be produced
for minimum risk and maximum return.

6. Target Group
• A Target group is an identifiable sector of
consumers with broadly similar
characteristics, such as
–fashion consciousness,
–buying habits,
–types of shops used,
–brand awareness,
–brand loyalty and
–quality requirements.

7. A target group can be defined according to the
following criteria.
Attitude and Lifestyle Fashion Awareness and Expectations
Women’s wear Menswear Women’s wear Menswear
Anti-Fashion, no
demands
Trendy fashion
follower
Avant-garde Avant-garde
Nonconformist Younger, confident,
demanding
Fashion Conscious Young Fashions
Prestige Oriented Untidy youthful Jeans type Jeans type
Not to be tempted Older, demanding,
fashion grouch
Career Woman Career Man
Careful,
Unsophisticated
No particular
orientation
Modern woman Modern man
Smart, Conservative Conventional,
Unsophisticated
Youthful Youthful
Young trendy Cultured Businessman
Smart Formal
Middle of road Middle of road
Bargain hunter Bargain hunter

8. Quality Level
• Quality Level is the other factor that
determines the market sector towards which a
collection will be aimed.
• The quality level defines the rank of the
product in the total range of offers in the
market, so far as its design content and
workmanship are concerned.

9. Factors that Influence the Quality Level
1. Fabric Quality
2. Fashion Content
3. Workmanship in the interior parts
4. Precision of assembly
5. Style and fit
6. Range of sizes and number of pieces

10. Designer
High Quality
Upper Middle
Middle
Bottom, discount
Store
High
Low
EXCLUSIVITY
Quantity

11. The Following quality levels can be
distinguished
• Designer – Quality Characteristics include
unique designer labels, small number per style,
the most exclusive fabrics – often with in-house
designs – extreme fashion leaders.
• High quality or Model Fashions are
characterized by very high levels of
workmanship, exclusive designs and detailing,
small series production, limited size range,
fashionable.

12. • The Upper Middle Level uses good quality
fabrics, provides optimum fit, and follows the latest
fashions in style and colour.
• The Middle Level has strict price constraints, a
comprehensive size range, but a limited range of
styles.
• The Bottom or Discount level has large quantities of
limited styles. Fabric quality and workmanship are
geared to low price levels. The style and fit are of
comparatively lower importance.

13. Designing
• In practice, the designer starts by preparing some
sketches of the core ideas for the collection and
selecting the fabrics and trim to be used for each
design.
• These core designs are garments which contain
the main design and fabric features of the
collection and they will be used as the themes for
developing the full range of samples.
• For example, four or five core designs might
represent the basic ideas of the collection and
each one of these lead to several variations

14. Elements of Clothing Design
• Fashion is not the only consideration in developing a
garment for a market.
• The overall appearance (style) as well as the utility
value (fitness for purpose, after care) also have to be
appropriate.
• The style, color, decoration, material, trimmings and
technique are fundamental elements of clothing
design.

15. Styling
• A fashionable cut, a good fit and comfort in wearing
arise mostly from the structure of the design.
• This includes for example
1. The position and direction of the vertical and
horizontal components
2. Length – width proportion
3. Shaping
4. Details, e.g. sleeves, collars, fastenings, pockets

16. Styling
• Distinctive silhouettes are attained from particular
designs.
• A distinct sectioning of the garment is obtained from
the disposition of the seam line and edges.

17. Decoration
• Decoration can emphasis the style of a particular item
of clothing and can, for example, give an elegant,
casual, business-like, or romantic feel to the clothing.
• Decoration can take form of;
1. Decorative stitching and embroidery
2. Pleats and tucks
3. Frills and flounces
4. Piping and binding
5. Trimming and braid edging
6. Applique and incrustation

18. Material
• The material greatly influences the character of an
item of clothing and also determines its possible end-
use.
• On the other hand, the visual qualities such as how to
use material hangs, the color, the pattern and surface
texture are important when choosing a material.
• On the other hand the comfort, wearing, and care
characteristics, which depend on the fibres, type of
yarn, fabric and finishing, must also be taken into
account.

19. Trimming and Technique
• The trimmings and technique considerably influence
the utility or the functional performance of the
clothing.
• Apart from the material, they are crucial to the overall
quality level.
• Trimming include the application of linings and
interlinings, padding and fastenings.
• Technique includes technical aspects of sewing, such
as the quality and structure of the seams,
reinforcement of edges, and securing of pockets and
files.

20. Collection Planning
• The collection plan concerns all those sections of the
company that are involved in the
development, making and selling of a collection.
• It is organized framework for timely processing –
from the acquisition of sample materials through to
exhibition at the clothing fair and follow-up sales.
• A basic concept for the new season’s collection is
developed by the company Direction together with
product managers and designers.

21. The collection plan contains all of the necessary
information for those departments that will be directly
or indirectly involved with realizing the collection, for
example
• Product Concepts: Number of models, model groups,
deadlines, production planning, themes
• Design Concepts: General character and particular
style, guidelines for the themes
• Market: Target Groups, price levels, sales plan,
delivery schedules
• Fabric Concepts: Trend themes, fabric qualities,
basic and fashion colors

22. Collection Planning
• The collection has to be coordinated to the seasonal
and product requirements of the retail trade.
• Both summer and winter seasons are subdivided into
individual segments.
• These segments are given theme names and each will
be composed of a number of items according to the
style, fabrics and colors which form a fashion trend.
• Members of a theme will be grouped together in the
retail store.

23. Collection Planning
• Example: Weekend Theme:
• Sporty, diverse leisurewear theme for the young,
modern woman.
• Styles: Sporty skirts with added details, long or knee
length slim trousers with side slits, short-sleeve blazer
with patch pockets
• Fabrics: Cotton, lyocell, wool mixtures
• Colours: Lime green and apricot combined with
marine.

24. Developing a Collection
• A collection is a range of garment styles (models)
designed with respect to current fashions trends and
economic realities.
• It is put together by collaboration between creative,
sales and technical resources.
• Individual development steps may be undertaken
sequentially or in parallel.
• The time required depends on the quality level and the
size of the collection.
• Computer software is available for the design and the
product data management aspects.

25. Stages in the Development of a Collection
Target Groups
Quality Level
Collection Range
Product groups
Market Research
Consumer Surveys
Fabric & Garment Fairs
Internet styling trends
Regulations
Capacities
Sales quantities
Finance
Price expectations
Development Brief

26. Stages in Developing a collection

27. Pattern Making
• This function connects design to production by
producing paper templates for all the
components, such as cloth, lining and fusible, which
have to be cut for a garment.
• Pattern making is highly skilled technique which calls
for technical ability, a sensitivity for design
interpretation and a practical understanding of the
process technology used by the factory.
• Industrial pattern making has two basic stages, the
block pattern and the garment pattern.

28. The Block pattern
• This is a basic pattern without any style features and
incorporates the measurements, proportions and
posture of the body for which garments developed
from this pattern are intended.
• The block pattern can be created by either of the
following methods:
• (1)Flat Method:
• (2) Modeling:

29. Flat Method
• The components of the pattern, usually the body and
sleeve, are constructed by a draft (technical drawing)
which incorporates the measurements and proportions
of the particular system used by the pattern maker.
• This type of pattern draft can also be produced by a
computer which has been programmed to construct
basic patterns according to given measurements and
proportions.

30. Modeling
• This was the original method of constructing garment
patterns before the advent of flat systems and it is still
widely used in the clothing business.
• Modeling entails the fitting of the block garment,
usually in toile, on a workroom stand of the
appropriate size.
• When the fit and balance are satisfactory, the toile is
removed from the stand and each component is copied
onto pattern paper and the necessary making up
allowances added.

31. Modeling
• This was the original method of constructing garment
patterns before the advent of flat systems and it is still
widely used in the clothing business.
• Modeling entails the fitting of the block garment,
usually in toile, on a workroom stand of the
appropriate size.
• When the fit and balance are satisfactory, the toile is
removed from the stand and each component is copied
onto pattern paper and the necessary making up
allowances added.

32. The garment pattern
• The styled patterns used for cutting the original
sample garments can be developed by a variety of
means, including the flat method, modeling or a
combination of both.
• When using the flat method, the pattern maker
superimposes the style lines of the garment onto copy
of the block pattern, performs the necessary
manipulations and then adds the requisite sewing and
other allowances to each component.
• Related components are aligned to check their
accuracy and nips and/or notches are made in the
seam lines as guides for alignment and matching
during sewing and making up.

33. The garment pattern
• The conventional methods of pattern construction are
gradually being replaced by computerized systems
which interact with the pattern maker.
• The essential features of this technology are the
• (1) Pattern Design and
• (2) Pattern Generation Systems.

34. Pattern Design Systems (PDS)
• The pattern maker inputs to the system all the block
patterns in current use and with the aid of the
computer can construct garment patterns for them.
• Alternatively, a previously constructed pattern stored
in the system can be used as the base pattern for a new
style.
• It is also possible to store specific features such as
collars, lapels and pockets; then, providing the pattern
maker has inputted matching alignment points, an
existing lapel can, for example, be literally ‘stuck on’
to a different forepart with a minimum of time and
effort.

35. Pattern Generation Systems (PGS)
• When the pattern components for the top cloth have
been developed on the computer via PDS, the pattern
generation programme automatically generates the
patterns for auxiliary components such as linings and
fusible.
• It operates according to rules specified in advance by
the pattern maker on relationship between top cloth
and lining cloth or top cloth and fusible.

36. Technology
• Irrespective of the techniques and methods
used to construct and perfect the patterns, an
important factor which must be taken into
account at this stage is the technological
capability of the factory and what it can or
cannot produce.

37. Technology
• It is possible that a new style feature requires
the use of a special type of machine which the
factory does not possess, and this is the time
when decisions have to be made as whether
this particular item of equipment should be
purchased, or whether an acceptable substitute
can be found from what is available in the
factory, or whether minor modifications to the
design / pattern will allow existing machinery
to be utilized.

38. Production of Sample garments
• Sample garments are usually produced by a small unit
supervised by the pattern master /maker and/or
designer, and this unit has an important role in
determining the results of the forthcoming season.
• Separation of the design function from the
manufacturing function brings pressure to bear on this
phase: can a design department based in one country
interact with the sample function based in the other
country to fully understand the implications of
producing a new range of garments?

39. Sampling is a continual process in the clothing industry.
During the development of new products the following elements
arise.
1. New materials and process have to experimented with to
establish their suitability for mass production
2. The production garment patterns have to be altered and
perfected to rectify faults discovered during the making-up of
the samples.
3. At the sampling stage, the quantities of fabric and trimmings
are established and quick costing made. Sometimes the
designer and pattern maker will decide to alter a pattern to
reduce the amount of the material and/or labour required, if
the projected cost of the original design exceeds the forecast
price.
4. The finished sample garments undergo a thorough scrutiny to
evaluate whether they fit in with the overall picture the
company wants to present in this particular collection. In this

40. Pattern Grading
• Pattern Grading is a process whereby patterns of different sizes
are produced from the original master pattern. This process can
be performed either manually or automatically by a computer
system.
• Computerized pattern grading is the link between pattern
design and generation and the preparatory stages of cutting.
The grades produced by the computer can be used in two ways.
1. The patterns can be cut out and used to plan cutting markers
manually if necessary
2. The graded sizes can be stored in the model files of the
computer and recalled when cutting markers for that style are
to be planned on the system.