Introduction to Garment Designing and the Garment Industry
This domain introduces what garment designing is, how the apparel industry is organised, and the route from a design idea to a finished product. The exam tests definitions, department functions, the fashion cycle and the product-development sequence.
Core concepts
- Garment design combines silhouette, fabric, colour, construction and cost into a product suited to a target customer and price point.
- Design categories: haute couture (made to measure, one-off), ready-to-wear (standard sizes, seasonal) and mass market.
- Typical departments: design, merchandising, sourcing, pattern making, sampling, production, quality, finishing, dispatch and marketing.
- Fashion cycle: introduction, growth, maturity and decline. Seasons are planned as Spring/Summer and Autumn/Winter.
- Sampling sequence: proto sample, fit sample, size-set, pre-production (PP) sample, then bulk production.
Worked example
A brand plans 5,000 cotton kurtis for a festive range. Design sketches the silhouette; merchandising fixes the target cost; pattern making prepares a base-size block; sampling stitches a fit sample; the tech pack records measurements, fabric GSM and stitch type; production plans the marker and line layout. The reasoning is that every creative decision must become a measurable instruction, and cost is checked before bulk cutting rather than after.
Traps that cost marks
Confusing fashion (a short-lived trend) with style (a lasting characteristic). Describing merchandising as if it were designing. Giving a design answer with no mention of cost, target market or fabric availability. Mixing up proto samples with production samples.
Key points
- Design must satisfy aesthetics, function, fit and cost together.
- Ready-to-wear relies on size charts and blocks, not individual measurements.
- Merchandising links design to costing and delivery dates.
- The fashion cycle explains why designs are replaced seasonally.
- Tech packs and spec sheets control bulk production quality.