Technical Design, in apparel?
WHAT IS TECHNICAL DESIGN?
Technical Designers help turn a design into a tangible scalable product. Often working from a design sketch, the technical designer ensures construction, patterns, molds, material selection, cost, fit, function, support, aesthetics, and material usage are captured in a product and then properly graded to all sizes in the determined size range.
Technical Design is often the key role involved during the entire product development cycle and a key partner in problem solving during the design phase. A technical designer also works to ensure the usability, customer wearing experience, and lifetime of the product are present in the final garment. In order to do this the technical designer works from concept through to the final product on several prototypes to continue to iterate until final approval before bulk production of the product.
WHY IS TECHNICAL DESIGN IMPORTANT?
Technical Design is a shared role/title description between the apparel industry and software industry. Technical Designers are the engineers of apparel design. A technical designer in the apparel industry marries form and function like that of an industrial designer. Technical designers are responsible for creating the form of the product which includes the specifications of the product: construction, measurements, sizing, and tolerances. Technical designers must also ensure the product is functional since products, especially soft goods, do not stay in a static state. The function of the product often must have materials that flex and retract, the product must move with the wearer, be comfortable, understood by the wearer, and support the wearer or protect against elements.
Often a design can be aesthetically attractive but if it does not have fit, function, comfort, and support, sales are impacted, and business opportunities are lost.
Technical design also drives sustainability by working with factories to ensure materials are utilized to their maximum efficiency and operations are minimized in bulk production of the product.
THE SQUAD, offers a range of technical design services in its one-stop-shop product design and product development services. This includes pattern making, mold manipulation, grading, fit strategy, soft goods development, hard goods development, material and trim development, specification creation, and liaising between factory and supplier partners. With over 100+ years of multi-disciplinary experience across a wide range of products, from the most intimate in comfort and support of bras to the extreme performance of outerwear's protection from the elements, to integrated garments in medical and wearable tech, we have it covered.
Hidden opportunities surround us and whether through innovating specific products or improving consistency or standards within your brand, we can help.