MUST HAVE Tools For Your Fashion Business

This week’s podcast is all about empowering designers with the must have tools and resources to thrive in the ever-evolving world of fashion design. We’re excited to delve into some of the main themes from our recent podcast, where we explored the crucial elements that drive success in the design industry.

Unveiling the Design Toolkit

In the podcast, we emphasized the importance of Product Life Cycle Management (PLM) tools such as BrowseWare and Clo 3D. These tools are a game-changer for creating tech packs and visualizing samples digitally, not only reducing costs but also promoting sustainability. Imagine bringing your designs to life digitally and minimizing the environmental impact—exciting, right?

Mastering the Digital Canvas

We can’t talk about design without mentioning the trusty trio—Illustrator, Photoshop, and Excel. These powerhouses are essential for various design tasks, from crafting intricate illustrations to perfecting those stunning visuals. Whether you’re a seasoned pro or just starting, mastering these tools can truly elevate your design game.

Navigating the Business Side

But wait, there’s more! Managing finances and obtaining software licenses are pivotal steps for any designer. Our podcast suggested leveraging free trials and online resources for learning, making it easier for budding designers to access the tools they need without breaking the bank.

Embracing Creativity

In the spirit of creativity, the podcast also explored a DIY approach to creating an embroidery frame using household items. It’s all about thinking outside the box and embracing creativity while still valuing professional advice. Who knew your household items could be transformed into tools for your next design masterpiece?

Spotlight on Creative Minds

Throughout the podcast, we’ve referenced individuals and their creative endeavors, shining a spotlight on their inspiring journeys. Their stories are a testament to the endless possibilities that come with embracing creativity and utilizing the right tools. As we wrap up, we encourage all designers to keep exploring, experimenting, and creating. The world of design is ever-changing, and with the right tools and a dash of creativity, there’s no limit to what you can achieve! Links Mentioned: Fraction to Decimal download Free Adobe Illustrator Alternative

00:00 – 00:04 Welcome to the Designers Plants & Coffee podcast where we discuss how to succeed as a designer 00:04 – 00:09 while staying true to yourself, finding peace in the process, and making money doing what we love. 00:09 – 00:13 Subscribe on YouTube and wherever you get your podcasts. Let’s get into it. 00:13 – 00:16 The top three tools we use to get our jobs done. 00:16 – 00:22 One would be product life cycle management tool, like a PLM system. And I say that because you can 00:22 – 00:27 create tech packs there. Besides Excel, I mean, everyone in the industry knows Excel. However, 00:27 – 00:34 a lot of places have PLM. So knowing how to create a bill of materials sheet, how to create tech packs 00:34 – 00:40 and what a tech pack is. So tech pack is really called a technical package and it is your blueprint 00:40 – 00:45 to the factory of how to make this thing. It has technical flat sketches, which actually show 00:45 – 00:50 stitching, garment, how to construct it. It also gives them the measurements, grading, 00:50 – 00:54 everything is in your tech pack. So when you go to a factory, first thing they’re going to look 00:54 – 00:59 at is, do you have a tech pack? That will give them a clue of, you know what you’re doing. 00:59 – 01:07 Also switched over to using 3D. Software will be BrowseWare and Clo 3D, Style 3D. 01:07 – 01:14 Mostly the companies use either BrowseWare or Clo. It’s really just a matter of what your 01:14 – 01:19 preference is. If you’re familiar with Illustrator, then BrowseWare will actually, Clo is set up a 01:19 – 01:24 little bit closer to Illustrator. It’s a learning tool. And with BrowseWare, you can create digital 01:24 – 01:30 patterns all the way to an actual 3D asset is what we call it using the avatar. You’re stitching 01:30 – 01:38 together the pattern and you’re adding colorways and you’re actually giving your clients a 3D view 01:38 – 01:42 of this is what the sample is going to look like before you actually have a manufacturer make it. 01:42 – 01:48 It cuts down on cost. Very sustainability. So that’s something that I would actually recommend 01:48 – 01:53 everyone to just try it out because I do believe that’s one of the ways that we can keep things 01:53 – 01:58 going, especially with the technology and how advanced everything is going to be. Number one 01:58 – 02:03 tool that I use is Illustrator. It’s basically the whole Adobe suite, but Illustrator is what I use 02:03 – 02:08 on a daily basis. You use it for the sketches that Tish spoke about. You use it to develop 02:08 – 02:14 your ideas. So you use it for trims, use it for colorways, for CADs when you go and present to 02:14 – 02:19 buyers. So this is basically what you use to get your ideas on paper so you can sell your product 02:19 – 02:26 to whatever company. Number two, I love Photoshop and I use Photoshop for my textiles to develop 02:26 – 02:31 prints and graphics, whatever texture or print that you put on fabric. I developed that in 02:31 – 02:36 Photoshop and I bring it over to Illustrator. I do everything in 2D. So what Tish was talking about 02:36 – 02:43 was 3D. So it’s the same concept, but everything is flat on a CAD. What Tish does is make it into 02:43 – 02:48 a 3D and the mannequin would just turn around and you will see every side of the mannequin 02:48 – 02:52 because it does save production costs. So you don’t have to send it overseas to get a pattern 02:52 – 02:58 made and have it come back. We cut down a lot of time, a lot of consumption and get that stuff done. 02:58 – 03:04 And of course I use Excel. I don’t use a PLM system. Excel is very easy and I can just plug 03:04 – 03:08 and play all of my sketches and everything in there along with the specs and all that other 03:08 – 03:15 stuff. For those of you who want to learn how to basically take the home sewing and make it 03:15 – 03:20 into a professional, we’re going to be offering an online course to do that using Illustrator and 03:20 – 03:26 Photoshop and Excel. So cover me, Sheik. Yes. Big thing that I use is QuickBooks. You got to have 03:26 – 03:31 some sort of money management software. If you don’t want to pay for QuickBooks, set up a free 03:31 – 03:36 Excel sheet. You have to manage your money because if you don’t, you’re just going to keep spending 03:36 – 03:42 it and then you’re going to wonder why you can’t stay afloat. With BrowseWare, it saves all that 03:42 – 03:47 time and it saves all that money because you can see it before you start cutting out your fabric 03:47 – 03:52 and making all these samples. I teach Photoshop, Illustrator, and we’ll be getting into BrowseWare 03:52 – 03:59 because you need an actual license for that. And how I got my license was through an independent 03:59 – 04:04 designer program where I actually sent in my resume to BrowseWare for them to approve to give 04:04 – 04:10 me a free license, an independent license. And with that, went to what they have called BrowseWare 04:10 – 04:16 University and you take all of those classes. It’s a ton of classes, but they explain everything 04:16 – 04:20 and you can go at your own pace. Right. And I did the same thing because she hooked me up. The 04:20 – 04:26 Creative Suite, Adobe, you do have to pay for. They do have student discount. I think they have 04:26 – 04:32 a 30-day trial, but they do have alternative to Adobe Suite. I don’t know it offhand, but I’m 04:32 – 04:37 going to look it up and I’m going to put it in the show notes on our website. I can’t vouch for them 04:37 – 04:43 because I haven’t used them. You can do a lot of things in Canva, but again, it’s going to cost to 04:43 – 04:48 do the really good things like Canva Pro. It’s minimal. It’s probably about $10 to $12 a month. 04:48 – 04:55 If you want to start small, invest in Canva Pro. Yeah, because Adobe is $32 a month. Or you can 04:55 – 05:00 just pay annually. It’s industry standard. So if you’re going to be in the industry and you are 05:00 – 05:06 working as a designer or you’re going to be sharing files of any kind, I would suggest investing in 05:06 – 05:12 Adobe. Before you invest in any of them, take advantage of those 30-day trials. Don’t sign up 05:12 – 05:17 for your free trial unless you’re absolutely ready to start because it’ll be day 29 and you haven’t 05:17 – 05:23 done anything. I would recommend YouTube University. You can watch a bunch of tutorials where they’re 05:23 – 05:29 showing you how to use these softwares. Just follow along and just watch it. So that way you 05:29 – 05:34 can kind of see if it’s something that you really want to invest in. You know, there’s Udemy and 05:34 – 05:38 Domestika and all of these sites that offer classes. Just look into them and take one of 05:38 – 05:44 the lower price classes before you invest in a university education. What is something that you 05:44 – 05:48 think that most people wouldn’t use when they’re dealing with developing fashions? Following a lot 05:48 – 05:54 of trend reports on Instagram because to actually get a subscription to WGSN, and I’m telling 05:54 – 06:00 everyone this, WGSN is a resource that corporate companies and college universities invest in. It 06:00 – 06:06 costs thousands of dollars and they actually do trend reports in advance. The independent person 06:06 – 06:12 or the home sewer doesn’t have that luxury, but you can follow a few trend reports. Follow brands 06:12 – 06:17 that you admire. Follow your favorite designers. Follow your favorite model. Buy a Vogue once a 06:17 – 06:22 year and just flip through it. They’re very ad-based now, but those ads speak volumes because 06:22 – 06:27 they’re probably ads in there now for what’s coming in the spring. I think right now is Milan 06:27 – 06:34 Fashion Week, so WWD has actually been streaming the fashion shows for free. And The Cut from New 06:34 – 06:39 York Times. Use your internet. For people who don’t know, we always develop at least a year in advance, 06:39 – 06:44 so it gives you time to produce the garment and get it and ship it to the stores that need to be 06:44 – 06:49 shipped. So it’s always a year ahead and some companies do like a year and a half. It depends 06:49 – 06:54 on how big the company is and what the turnaround time is. So bigger companies, the turnaround time 06:54 – 06:58 is a lot more because it’s a lot more people involved, but smaller companies have a quicker 06:58 – 07:02 turnaround. I mean, depending on the factories you work with and everything, they can turn stuff 07:02 – 07:06 around in six months, which is, you know, that’s usually if you work in domestic, but most people 07:06 – 07:10 work at least a year. And yeah, and with COVID, that’s why there was so much backup for these 07:10 – 07:14 things in the stores because the stuff that was supposed to ship was just stuck in port. 07:14 – 07:22 Some other softwares that I’ve used. Calculator. Designing is math. The difference between a 07:22 – 07:28 quarter inch and a half inch is a whole size. You can mess up something really bad with a quarter 07:28 – 07:34 of an inch. What I keep basically a decimals to fraction. Yes. Maybe we should just like give 07:34 – 07:38 like a sample of that away, but you’re going to have to sign up for the newsletter, but you can 07:38 – 07:42 download it for free at Designers Plans and Costs. It’s for everybody in the industry that’s doing 07:42 – 07:46 anything with clothes and you can just pull it out, paste it on your wall somewhere and you’ll 07:46 – 07:52 use it. Believe me. I’m taking a pattern making class now and centimeters. Do your inches to 07:52 – 07:59 centimeters. When you are making those slopers, centimeters count. If my pattern instructor says 07:59 – 08:04 make it nine centimeter, I can look on my ruler and say, oh, that’s three inches or whatever it 08:04 – 08:12 translates to. This is the ruler that I use. This is the best ruler ever. Two inch by 18 inch. I 08:12 – 08:18 use this just measuring everything. You know, those little fuzzy dots that you put on the bottom of 08:18 – 08:22 things to keep it from sliding. Yeah. Put those on the bottom. It’ll keep your ruler in 08:22 – 08:28 place while it’s on the fabric. When I’m working on fabric, I use washable markers. Yeah. Yeah. 08:28 – 08:36 Chalk is fine, but it’s messy. I have the really heavy duty fabric weight. When I was doing hand 08:36 – 08:43 embroidery and my frame, my professor, he created an entire frame from two sticks of wood and some 08:43 – 08:48 organza. He showed us how to stitch it together and some clamps and showed us how to actually 08:48 – 08:53 just create your own frame instead of paying a couple hundred dollars. You can actually think 08:53 – 08:59 of different ways to look around your house to create and what you can use for tools. Even for 08:59 – 09:04 fabric weights. Before I had the heavy pattern weights, I was using bottles of mustard. So you 09:04 – 09:10 can actually use things that are around your house, but please consult a professional. This is 09:10 – 09:17 Zaheer from Cover Me Chic and Tish from Keeping You in Stitches and Naima from Fearless Threads. 09:17 – 09:21 Just follow us at Designers Plants and Coffees and leave your comments. See you.