1. Becoming a Technical Designer

2. Technical Design A technical designer is a person who takes a designer’s idea and makes it a reality. They take the design and make adjustments to it to create a more realistic and practical garment.

3. Going to School for Technical Design To become a technical designer, you must have taken courses in fashion design. Occasionally, schools will offer courses specifically on technical design, which is really helpful for getting this type of career. An example of a school that offers a technical design course is the Fashion Institute of Technology.

4. Skills of a Technical Designer A technical designer must make changes to the garment to make it realistic. They also must be able to communicate with manufacturers so the product can get produced. In addition, they have to make sure sizing of the garment is fitting correctly.

5. Employoment Options A few companies willing to hire technical designers are: Chico’s PVH Corp. Calypso You typically will end up working with either vendors, manufacturers, or designers.

6. Salary & Benefits Most technical designers will make an average of 55,000 dollars a year. It isn’t really the highest salary, but it still is a fairly well paying job. Even though the pay may seem somewhat lacking as an average, the range can be up to 130k a year depending on the job.

7. Real Designers Samantha Baxter is a technical designer for Paper Cuts. She worked in the past at a few companies, such as Almost Famous. She specializes in knitwear.

8. Fun Facts Technical design is actually considered one of the most important jobs in the industry, even more so than the designer. The technical designer actually does a variety of jobs in the fashion industry, such as working with patterns and sizing.

9. Sources http://www.fitnyc.edu/2771.asp http://www.wisegeek.com/in-fashion-what-is-a-technical- designer.htm https://www.linkedin.com/job/technical-designer-jobs/ http://www.glassdoor.com/Salaries/technical-designer-salary- SRCH_KO0,18.htm