What A Textile Designer/Stylist Needs To Know?

The following are the responses from four Philadelphia Textile Design alumni who are currently working in the industry. 

A good designer is a good problem solver. An inquisitive, investigative person, the designer is constantly seeking to identify needs and seek innovative solutions. A designer must be able to collect, analyze and interpret facts, but should not be limited to current knowledge alone in the idea development process. Intuition and imagination must be paired with a combination of technical skill to conceive a product which is at once esthetically pleasing, functionally sound and appropriate for production. Even after all of these have been achieved, the product may still fail to sell if it does not meet a need at an affordable price -- in short, a designer must create marketable products. 
The designer's role is to combine a knowledge of textile materials and production processes, economics and the consumer, with the ability to generate and implement innovative ideas. In the industry, the role of the designer may take one of several forms. It may entail working from a managerial position, closely allied to sales and marketing, determining new color and pattern directions and market areas for the company's products. World travel and a broad awareness of trends in color, style and 0 fashion are important in this position.
On the other hand, the designer may world as an artist, drawing and painting fabric designs, or form a more technical approach, interpreting given design ideas into viable production terms. These designers who work in the production mills, act as liaisons between the design office, often based in New York, and the plants that produce the fabrics, many of which are located in the South. For the mill designers, as for all those concerned with the total design process, communication is especially important in order to ensure quality reproduction of the original design. 
A textile designer needs to be able to develop a fabric for any piece of machinery (dobby loom, Jacquard loom, warp knit, m/c, etc.). He needs to select the fiber type, yarn sizes, construction, etc. that will be appropriate to a given end use. The fabric must meet given fashion requirements. It must be made in such a way as to be consistent with the pricing structure of the company. Once the fabric is developed, the designer must be able to stand in front of management ( and/or customers) and "sell" the fabric. 

The following chart indicates the various CAD systems whichare integrated into all of the School of Textiles and Materials Technology undergraduate and graduate degree programs.

 

 

PCT&S Textile CAD Systems for Students
Software Capability Dobby Jacquard Knitting Print
Athena       X
AVL X      
Cadtex     X  
CIS X      
EAT    X    
Info Design X X   X
Monarch Design Studio X X X X
Nedgraphics    X    
Millitron       X
Shima Seiki     X  
Stoll Sirix     X  
Viable   X    
In-house X      
Monarch/Pointcarré X X X  

 

If you would like more information about Textile Design, send mail to Professor Peggy Goutmann. Details on the graduate program in Textile Design are available. Here is a curriculum sheet for the undergraduate degree.

Some information about the School of Textile and Materials Technology can be found here.