Textile designing is the second largest employer in India after the agricultural sector, employing 35 million people directly, says Ankur Gulati
Textile designing is the most significant aspect of the fashion industry. Any material or surface comprising fibers prepared by weaving, knitting, crocheting or pressing collectively fibers (felting) is called a textile. Textile designing comprises of both surface and structural designs. A good course in textile design should mainly equip you with an indulgent of all these areas so as to make a textile and also manipulate these techniques to make completely new textiles in total. It is the second largest employer in India after the agricultural sector, employing 35 million people directly.
Working in textile design demands alertness of changing trends and styles and a capability to create designs that are new, present or even ahead of the fashion curve. Textile designs for fashion tend to have a faster turnaround than designs for furnishing, so designing for fashion may denote high complexity and tight deadlines, with designers often working across various collections. Textile Designers work in industry — researching and producing designs for textiles companies or fashion houses but they may also work for a design agency or as a freelancer.
A rough copy of the finished design envisioned by the textile designer is made for both woven and printed textiles. The designer’s bottomless understanding of the technical aspects of production and the properties of fibers, yarns, and textile dyes help out him in visualising the final product. Traditionally, drawings of woven textile patterns were prepared onto special graph paper called point papers. These sketches were used by the weavers for setting up their looms for producing the fabric. However, these days, most of the professional textile designers use some form of computer-aided design software.
Skills
The work of textile designers is a little difficult as they have to coordinate diverse facets of textile manufacturing with market demands as well as fashion trends of the date. Textile designers are the skilled professionals having sound technical knowledge of each and every characteristic of fabric manufacturing. They have deep knowledge of as basic a material as fibre to as modern a procedure as CAD/CAM technology. In fact, their learning is a continuous method as they have to keep themselves updated about any fresh techniques or developments in the ground of textile designing. This profession calls for a set of skills like creativeness and imagination, technical knowledge, commercial alertness of the industry, research and data management capacity and critical analysis and understanding of materials.
Work conditions
You may require working extra hours to meet up deadlines when it's demanding. A lot of your time will be used up at a computer, designing fabrics and working on patterns. You may at times need to travel to visit trade fairs, clients and manufacturers.
The wonderful and talented designers’ one will get to work along. They make the bad days controllable. As a freelance designer you’ll work your hours to fit in with your clients. You will usually divide your time between designing and marketing your work. Who carry out business in their private offices does project under pressure to assure clients and to find out new ones in order to preserve a stable income.
In the industry one must be all set to meet growing competition from three sources, viz., from imported supplies coming into the domestic market at lower and lower import duties; from goods produced in the country for the domestic market by foreign controlled enterprises using their trademarks and most recent technology; and lower prices because of an incapability to raise prices in the face of low world inflation. Textile designers may carry out business in their own offices. Working hours usually include extra hours to meet up deadlines. If you’re employed by a manufacturer, retailer or design company you will generally work 9 am to 5pm, Monday to Friday. One may need to work extra hours to meet up deadlines when it's demanding.
Job outlook
Fashion designers as a whole should be expecting a highly competitive job market from 2014-2024, with more capable candidates than offered jobs. Overall, the fashion design industry is likely to experience a three percent growth in employment over this decade, with a raise of 700 jobs by 2022. Because of the competitive nature of the field, it’s essential that aspiring professionals go into the workforce with as much experience and education as possible. It’s essential to have a good portfolio of work to show your potential employers. There are good paying jobs and it’s still a niche industry.
Career option
The field of textile design encompasses a diversity of career opportunities, as clothes are used in design goods public use every day like clothing, bath towels, bed linens and other necessary products. The textile sector in India is being fond of that huge billboard at the signal you just can’t ignore. It not only provides for one of the most basic physiological requirements of the people in the country, but is also in charge for enormous economic growth. According to the Government of India’s website — India is one of the most capital and labour intensive industry that contributes four per cent to the country’s GDP and 13.5 per cent to the yearly export income Graduates of a degree programme in textile design can go on to make textiles in a variety of industries and at a range of career levels like fashion textile designer, product developer for interior design, home furnishings textile designer, quality assurance inspector for textiles, weaver, freelance textiles artist, etc.
A lot of textile design career options for graduates of a master’s degree programme are alike to those options available to graduates of a bachelor's degree program in this field. Oftentimes, master's degrees help out individuals move more quickly out of entry-level position and into management level position in the industry.
Get hired
An entry-level position consists of a lot of monotonous duties like the selection process evaluates approach, enthusiasm, and awareness together with academic qualifications, general awareness, scientific, and technical ability. Never stop creating art and updating your portfolio with hand-drawn designs as well as computer generated ones. Also, get to know your software. In the industry, everything is on a screen. The technical side to textile design can be frustrating, but knowing these programs inside and out will give you an edge and make your work easier. When, and if, possible travel to witness textile processing in different regions. Apply to firms to be a trainee, as this is a good way to get your foot in the door of a fashion design or textile manufacturing company.
Eligibility
Textile designers often hold a bachelor’s degree. In textile design a bachelor’s design programme is meant to offer students with an in-depth understanding of the conception and functional utilisation of various textiles. Students concerned in graduate programmes in textile designs have a few different degree options to decide from, including a Master of Arts in Textile and Apparel Management, Supply Chain Management and a Master of Arts in Textiles and Marketing.
These programmes are planned to help students explore the process and technologies. For this reason, students enrolling in a graduate programme in textile design must have a basic understanding of computer software, patterning, mathematics and design. Students enrolled in a master's degree programme in textile design learn about body scanning, product development and textiles and CAD techniques.
Remuneration
Textile design, is an essential part of fashion industry, is a skilled and remunerative career choice one can look out for. As per trade value if you wish to join as a fresher you could earn about Rs15,000-Rs20,000 per month. Graduates of reputed and top institutes, monthly pay could go up to Rs30,000 per month and Export houses offers between Rs25,000-Rs40,000 per month to experienced textile designers.
(The writer is dean of marketing and branding,IMS-Design & Innovation Academy)