Profession clothing technologist

Clothing technologists work on the design, development and production of textile and apparel products. They carry out a range of technical, investigative and quality control work to ensure the end product (from clothing to household up to industrial textiles). They perform to specifications, improve production efficiency and quality while liaising with those involved in the production process. They liaise with designers, adapt designs to suit production methods, make and size pre-production garments, source fabrics and accessories, undertake quality evaluations of materials and check the quality of the final product, and consider ecological aspects.

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Personality Type

• Investigative / Realistic

Knowledge

• Manufacturing of made-up textile articles

  Manufacturing processes in wearing apparel and made-up textiles. Different technologies and machinery involved in the manufacturing processes.

• Manufacturing of wearing apparel

  The  processes used to fabricate wearing apparel and the different technologies and machinery involved in the manufacturing processes.

• Apparel manufacturing technology

  Traditional and advanced apparel manufacturing technologies. Technologies including processes, machinery, etc. in order to compile and design pattern requirements, contribute to product costing and finalise assembly sequence and quality assurance criteria.

• History of fashion

  Costumes and the cultural traditions around clothing.

• Standard sizing systems for clothing

  Standard sizing systems for clothing developed by different countries. Differences among the systems and standards of different countries, the development of the systems according to the evolution of the shape of the human body and their usage in the clothing industry.

Skills

• Alter wearing apparel

  Alter wearing apparel repairing or adjusting it to the clients/manufacturing specifications. Perform altering by hand or using equipment.

• Distinguish fabrics

  Distinguish fabrics in order to determine differences among them. Evaluate fabrics based on their characteristics and their application in wearing apparel manufacturing.

• Analyse supply chain strategies

  Examine an organisation's planning details of production, their expected output units, quality, quantity, cost, time available and labour requirements. Provide suggestions in order to improve products, service quality and reduce costs.

• Prepare production prototypes

  Prepare early models or prototypes in order to test concepts and replicability possibilities. Create prototypes to assess for pre-production tests.

• Distinguish accessories

  Distinguish accessories in order to determine differences among them. Evaluate accessories based on their characteristics and their application in wearing apparel manufacturing.

• Perform process control in the wearing apparel industry

  Perform process control to wearing apparel products in order to assure mass production in an uninterrupted production manner. Control processes to ensure that processes are predictable, stable and consistent.

• Create patterns for garments

  Create patterns for garments using pattern making softwares or by hand from sketches provided by fashion designers or product requirements. Create patterns for different sizes, styles, and components of the garments.

• Inspect wearing apparel products

  Inspecting and testing products, parts and materials for conformity with specifications and standards; discarding or rejecting products, materials, and equipment not meeting specifications.

• Evaluate garment quality

  Evaluating stitching, construction, attachments, fasteners, embellishments, shading within the garment; evaluating pattern continuity, matching; evaluating tapes and linings.

• Manufacture wearing apparel products

  Manufacture either mass-product or bespoke wearing apparels of various types, assembling and joining together wearing apparel components using processes such as sewing, gluing, bonding. Assemble wearing apparel components using stitches, seams such as collars, sleeves, top fronts, top backs, pockets.

• Operate garment manufacturing machines

  Operate and monitor machines which make miscellaneous wearing apparel articles. Operate and monitor machines that fold cloth into measured length, and measure size of pieces.

• Manage briefs for clothing manufacturing

  Manage briefs from clients for the manufacturing of wearing apparel. Collect customers' demands and prepare them into specifications for the production.

• Make technical drawings of fashion pieces

  Make technical drawings of wearing apparel, leather goods and footwear including both technical and engineering drawings. Use them to communicate or to convey design ideas and manufacturing details to pattern makers, technologists, toolmakers, and equipment producers or to other machine operators for sampling and production.

• Coordinate manufacturing production activities

  Coordinate manufacturing activities based on production strategies, policies and plans. Study details of the planning such as expected quality of the products, quantities, cost, and labour required to foresee any action needed. Adjust processes and resources to minimise costs.

• Use textile technique for hand-made products

  Using textile technique to produce hand-made products, such as carpets, tapestry, embroidery, lace, silk screen printing, wearing apparel, etc.

• Operate computerised control systems

  Operate electronic or computerised control panels to monitor and optimise processes, and to control process start-up and shut-downs. Monitor and inspect equipment and systems to detect malfunctions.

Optional knowledge and skills

Source: Sisyphus ODB