What Is A Technical Designer?

Chances are, in your search for clothing manufacturers and pattern makers, you’ve also come across service listings for technical designers. Maybe your factory or your pattern maker can offer technical design services, but then there are people who do only technical design. Just like everything else in the garment industry, it’s kinda confusing, right? 

Before starting Garmenta Apparel I worked as a technical designer for many, many years in all different capacities. Now, I’m going to date myself here, but when I first started out in the garment industry, being a technical designer was an up and coming profession. Being the dumb kid that I was, I figured that if one could not be a regular designer, a technical designer would do just as well. Afterall, “designer” is in the name. Eh…not really. I faked it until I made it and someone hired me. Even on my first day my questions about the processes had to be framed as me “needing clarification on processes” instead of not really knowing what I needed to do. But spoiler, I did figure it out. 

A technical designer really has nothing to do with design. Yes, a technical designer works closely with a fashion designer, but their jobs look very different. Today I’m taking you on a quick tour of what a technical designer does and what one can do to help your fashion brand. 

Develops tech packs

Tech packs have been discussed at length around the Garmenta Blog. Basically tech packs are the instruction manuals for your project. It’s a lot of information to pull together! If you’ve done it for your own brand and perhaps a singular item, you know it’s a lot of work. Well, in a high volume fashion business, technical designers are responsible for the development and upkeep of many, many tech packs, often simultaneously .

Technical designers tend to be the first step after design in which a garment starts to come to life. When the tech pack is made it is then provided to the pattern maker/factory for sampling and from this point on the technical designer is the go-between the designer and the factory until the style is approved for production. The tech pack is the communication tool where all changes are documented. 

Translates designs for production

During the first phase of production, the designer or design team will meet with the technical designer to discuss the details they have in mind for a specific style. This could be explaining inspiration images and techniques and it is up to the technical designer to clearly communicate these expectations to the factory/pattern maker. 

Part of the translation of a design that the technical designer does is to create an initial measurement that the pattern maker can use to build a pattern based on. Sometimes these measurements come from an existing garment or reference style. Other times they can be just an educated guess where the pattern maker has to advise what the measurements should be. 

The technical designer also details out the construction that they have in mind by calling out different stitches or construction methods they want to use and the different components and trims that go into each individual garment. 

Measures garments

I did a lot of freelance technical design gigs back in the day. I would have to go through these tedious and intense corporate interviews to be a freelance technical designer for maybe a three week gig. Based on the seriousness of the interviews I thought, “well, I guess I’m in for a serious workload!” But more often than not, I found myself showing up to work in my cute uncomfortable shoes and being handed large bins full of garments that just needed measuring so the “actual” tech designers could be ready for their fittings. I would spend 8 hours a day for weeks at a time just measuring garments…and this was before podcasts, earbuds and audio books were a thing! 

A technical designer is responsible (if they don’t have a freelancer to assistant) to measure the garments that they are fitting that day/week. They will take the original measurement/spec sheet that they provided to the factory and double check garment measurements to see/make sure they align with the measurements requested. 

Measuring garments is an important part of the process because we are looking for continuity in measurements. Measurements also help the technical designer verify if corrections were made, how the garment relates to overall sizing standards, and how it compares to the pattern it is based on . 

For instance, if a pattern is made to be 40” at the chest, but the garment is measuring 38”, then this warrants investigation as to the difference. Afterall, the pattern maker would be pretty confused about what to do if they are asked to “increase the chest to 40” if it already is. 

Keeps records

The tech pack is the ultimate record of your garment. Maybe you are at a stage in your own fashion brand where you think this doesn’t sound too important. However, as your business grows you will find that the information that is in the tech pack is invaluable and worth revisiting over and over again. 

For example, in big business fashion, if a style is a bestseller then it will be forever referred to and referenced at the ULTIMATE guide on what similar styles will be (sarcasm, but true). I can’t tell you how many fittings I’ve been to where I requested that the factory use pattern# 123 bestseller to be used for a brand new style. We get to the fitting and the first thing that everyone asks, “is this based on pattern 123?” If there is a slight variance then I may have to go through investigative channels to figure out why this sample is different. 

But seriously, a tech pack will help you remember what fabrics were used for specific styles. Perhaps you want to use a button that you used two seasons ago but you don’t have the email reference as to what it is. Not to worry! This information is in the tech pack. 

As a pattern maker, I’m all about looking at old tech pack specs to see what I did for similar styles and what worked and what did not for both development and pattern grading. The tech pack is truly a great reference when you are making lots of patterns for a singular brand.

Attends fittings

Another requirement of a tech designer is to show up for fittings. Actually they are generally the one scheduling the fittings based on what they have on hand to fit. This is a tricky part of the job because in some companies, fittings are like a sporting events that require stadium seating- designers, assistant designers, head designers, production coordinators, production coordinators boss, tech designers manager and their manager, sales, pattern makers, and of course the fit model. I’ve been in fittings where there are maybe 10-15 additional people in the room all with their own opinion.

It is the tech designers responsibility to take the designers feedback from the fitting, along with any changes they want to make to improve the fit, and have clear and concise notes that they then consolidate into an updated tech pack that the factory/pattern maker will then review to see what changes they need to make for the next round of fitting. 

Gives the final sign of approval

The tech designer is the one who ensures that everyone agrees that the garment looks the way it should, fits the way it should, and meets all the necessary parameters. When everything is confirmed to be ok/fine/acceptable, the technical designer issues the fit approval so the subsequent stages of production can start to happen such as pattern grading, marker making, bulk cutting and production. 

How a technical designer can help your brand

There are a lot of new designers out there that have this idea that exists in their heads, but they don’t know how to get it out and where to even start. This is the perfect opportunity to hire a technical designer. Most have sketching skills so they can help put your idea on paper in a way that makes sense so pattern makers and factories can easily see what you want to achieve.

A tech designer will also be able to help you gather all of the information that a factory would need to make your product and give you a professional look in your presentation. Plus, they will be able to help figure out some basic specifications needed to get your first pattern and sample made so you are finally able to launch your product. 

Be prepared for a lot of questions and be ready to follow up on what the technical designer needs from you. 

Now, just as a general disclaimer, as like most jobs in the fashion industry, titles can have different responsibilities. Maybe you are working remotely with at tech designer that doesn’t measure your samples as they come in from sampling. Or perhaps, a tech designer doesn’t do sketches. Always ask and find out the specifics about what a person does. A technical designer can have many interchangeable roles. But now you have a pretty good scope of the work that they can help you with!