How to become a clothing pattern maker?

Editor's note: In the interview, Wang Zheng, a famous fashion designer who has lived in Europe for 20 years, described an excellent pattern maker like this: "Pattern makers also need talent, aura, and understanding. Good aesthetic quality. Only with skilled and excellent pattern making technology can we create beautiful and comfortable patterns. A good pattern maker must be able to communicate and cooperate well with the designer, and accurately and perfectly reflect the designer's design intention. ”

< p>This also represents the evaluation of many designers towards the pattern makers with whom they have cooperated tacitly for a long time. Usually, the designer’s divergent thinking is wild and unconstrained, while the pattern maker’s strong logical thinking is rigorous and conservative. Only the combination of the two can design good products. Designers also need the advice of pattern makers to improve their work. After interviewing some designers and pattern makers, I found that both sides agreed when summarizing their opinions. There is no concept of “obedience” in the collaboration between designer and pattern maker. The key is to look at the product results. Good or bad performance cannot be explained by obedience or disobedience. The two are inherently cooperative. The only difference between designers and pattern makers is the issue of upstream and downstream links.

“Sometimes experienced typographers may have a higher status than designers. This is often the case abroad, but in press conferences and other situations, typographers have to step back. Give designers more space." said a senior pattern maker. People often refer to successful designers as "masters". The title of "tailor" is reserved more for pattern makers. However, Mr. Pierre Cardin can call himself a tailor. Then there is nothing wrong with pattern makers being tailors who understand design.

The difference between design and pattern making dialogue and cooperation between pattern makers and designers may be easily explained by definitions, but in actual business operations and production processes, the two are often used in their functions. are mutually penetrating.

An excellent designer must be accomplished in pattern, because pattern directly affects the appearance of clothing; similarly, an excellent pattern maker must also have his own unique skills in the field of design. insights. A good typographer must have experience, but experience may not necessarily make you an excellent typographer. There is a big difference between pattern design and style design. Style design is an open thinking that strives to express the designer's unique thoughts, while pattern design can accurately describe the design idea to every millimeter, which is described with data. beauty. For the data of the same part, some pattern designers will choose 2, and some pattern designers will choose 3. One of them will definitely make the clothes more beautiful and comfortable.

Another example is the tight-fitting effect. It is generally believed that adding 4cm is the most basic breathing volume, but this is not absolute. The human body is a fat muscle body and is elastic. It cannot fluctuate up or down by one or two millimeters. It will affect breathing and have a great impact on the shape. Similarly, for example, with the cooperation between shoulders and sleeves, high sleeves will appear tighter, but too high will make them uncomfortable. Then there must be a limit. If the effect cannot be achieved, other methods must be used to make up for it. The appearance of the two is almost the same. You can't see it, but the wearer knows it best. This is the inspiration for the pattern maker.

Pattern makers are not fully qualified just by having a set of techniques

Mr. Hou, the technical director of the women's clothing department of Peacebird Clothing, said: "Techniques are something that everyone knows. The gold content is not high, but how to improve the accuracy and inclusiveness of the pattern is the measure of whether a pattern maker is excellent. "The grasp of accuracy and inclusiveness is a comprehensive assessment of the aesthetic spirituality of a pattern maker. From this perspective, the template is not a simple combination of lines, but also needs to be "designed". From this point of view, a pattern maker must have the attributes of a designer to be competent. Therefore, it is not an exaggeration to call a pattern maker a designer who knows how to tailor. However, they are not designers after all. Excellent designers will also have unique insights into styles. At the 2003 China International Fashion Week, when we interviewed models, we would ask them about their experience and evaluation of the clothes they performed. What we often heard was: beautiful, fashionable, exquisite? Evaluation of design, but when At the end of Wang Yutao's presentation, chief designer of Baixian Dog, the model's comment was "His clothes are not flashy, but they are very comfortable to wear."

In subsequent interviews, we learned that Wang Yutao's presentation was The clothing patterns are all done by himself. As a designer, personally completing the layout design is of course the most perfect expression of design ideas.

Regarding "comfort", designer Wang Yutao himself explained this: First, I have experience in the pattern, and secondly, I have spirituality in the pattern.

As a designer, Wang Yutao does not shy away from others calling him "tailor" because in his opinion, pattern making and design also require inspiration. Wang Yutao has been exposed to clothing since he was 15 years old, and has never given up the study of patterns in the following ten years. He said: "It is impossible to become an excellent pattern maker without enough experience. Pattern making experience is accumulated through practice time and time again. Pattern making is the process of continuously demonstrating the theory. For example, the teacher said '1+ 2=3', then through continuous practice we can find that there are many ways to get the result of 3, and after trying these, we feel that 1+2 is the simplest. So at this time we use 1+2 and 3'. The 1+2 used at the beginning is absolutely different."

Wang Yutao said that when it comes to the technical theory of pattern making, I am no different from everyone else, but give me a pair of scissors and a piece of fabric, and my clothes will be the same. It will be more comfortable than others, I think it is because I am also spiritual in this aspect.

Why do high-paid pattern makers get high salaries?

In our impression, the reputation of pattern makers is not loud enough, and their performance is difficult to measure. Will their status in the enterprise be similar to theirs? have the same reputation, but when investigating the treatment of pattern makers, the reporter found that the importance of pattern makers has been correctly treated by business operators, which can be reflected in their wages.

According to Hong Kong Shulei (Technology) Apparel Company: In Hong Kong, the average salary of a pattern maker is about 8,000 yuan, while the technical director can get 9,000 to 10,000 yuan. The technology of larger brands The director can get 16,000~18,000 yuan.

According to our incomplete statistical survey, in areas with developed garment industries, the salary of pattern makers with some experience is generally not less than 5,000 yuan, and it is not uncommon for technical directors to earn tens of thousands per month. In non-garment industry centers such as Chengdu and Nanjing, pattern makers with better skills can also get 3,000 to 4,000 yuan. In Guangdong, there are also pattern makers who also participate in profit commissions.

When you first start, the salary of a pattern maker will be slightly lower than that of a designer. However, at a certain stage, the salary of a pattern maker will be proportional to time and experience. Pattern makers are like old Chinese medicine practitioners. The older they are, the more valuable they are. Design requires creativity and inspiration. For fashion designers, it may be more advantageous to be younger to a certain extent. In corporate recruitment, we often see companies attach great importance to design. The age requirement for teachers is no more than 35 years old. For pattern makers, although there is rarely an age limit, several years of experience is indeed one of the most basic requirements.

In a recent questionnaire survey on pattern makers conducted by this newspaper and the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, there was this question: Do you think companies will be most interested in pattern makers with how many years of experience they have? Among the nearly 30 questionnaires recovered by our reporter in Beijing area. The vast majority choose 4-5 years. It seems that the pattern makers themselves are very clear about the significance of the accumulation of experience to their careers.

Pattern making is a highly technical job that involves a lot of trivial and complicated details. An understanding of the human body structure, accurate grasp of size and parts, etc. all require rich experience, as well as It has high flexibility, and the flexible processing of layouts is supported by skilled technology and rich experience. Ni Zhibin, technical director of Beijing Taweiao Clothing Company, gave an example: For example, the shoulder slope design of general men's raglans is 45. , while unisex men's clothing emphasizes more aesthetics, and its raglan shoulder slope design is 35. , then, within what range should the shoulder slope be adjusted to achieve the best combination of beauty and comfort? It is time to test the level of the pattern maker. At this time, experience that can help the pattern maker is very important. For another example, the first domestic ski suit we mentioned earlier was divided into as many as 78 pieces. The division of these 78 pieces should follow the feeling of human muscles. The resulting version must be visually beautiful, have smooth lines, and be smooth. It meets the needs of human movement. Just imagine: without rich experience in plate making, it may be difficult to complete it well.

Therefore, experience is an important weight to measure a typographer. Shang Fuhai, general manager of Beijing Taweiou Clothing Company, said with a smile: "Pattern makers are like old Chinese medicine doctors, the older they get, the more valuable they are.

"However, please note that "old" does not refer to age, but to real and genuine experience accumulation; of course, it does not refer to the number of years of work, but to out-and-out professional skills and Quality.

What’s the point of high salary?

The monthly salary of a typographer ranges from 3,500 yuan to tens of thousands of yuan. A certain company in Guangdong actually offers a high price of 400,000 yuan to the typographer. The case cannot help but make us think like this: What is the value of a highly paid typographer? Mr. Shang Fuhai, who received an annual salary of 80,000 yuan as early as 2001, was promoted to technical director within half a month of joining the company. Because he boldly innovated the traditional tennis skirt style at Li Ning Company, adding a chest lift (that is, chest dart) to the traditional tennis skirt style that emphasizes comfort, making the tennis skirt more slim and three-dimensional. Highlighting women's curves. This idea was immediately opposed by everyone as soon as it was proposed, because in everyone's concept, sportswear is based on comfort. However, when everyone saw that the tennis skirt with added bust darts was more fitting and beautiful, they were surprised. It does not affect its comfort at all, and I am naturally convinced by this innovation.

There is a shortage of high-end clothing pattern making talents in China, and it is not easy for enterprises to find good pattern makers suitable for the enterprise. Each brand has different customer base positioning and clothing styles. Therefore, companies have different requirements for pattern making. Pattern designers need to have a good understanding of the company's brand personality in order to serve the company and the brand.

Mr. Hou, the technical director of the women's clothing department of Ningbo Peacebird Group, has been working at Peacebird for 7 or 8 years, and his current annual salary is close to 200,000. He is now involved in the comprehensive operation of the brand as a middle-level person in the company. It is said that in most brands and companies now, designers and marketing directors are more involved in company planning. As pattern makers, their participation in brand operations from a technical perspective is minimal. Some companies may give pattern makers a very low salary. Not bad, but he will not be allowed to participate more in planning, and the space for pattern makers will be very limited.

Mr. Hou believes that pattern makers should also be more involved in the management and operation of the company. The work of a pattern maker is closely related to the product. The more you learn about the company, the more you will be able to handle the specific work. Moreover, taking time to consider during the participation process is also a learning process, which is conducive to the improvement of overall quality. Having more professional opinions is also beneficial to the development of the company. Such professional opinions are often very important. At present, the competition among major brands already includes the competition of styles. After consumers see and wear them, they will What determines the sales rate of a certain piece of clothing is the pattern of the clothing. If the beautiful clothing is not comfortable to wear, consumers will not pay for it.

Mr. Hou believes that from the perspective of a pattern maker, it is his own style. The salary is very high, but if you take into account the scope of your responsibility, it is not surprising. It can be seen that in addition to unique skills, high-paying graphic designers have high salaries. one of the important reasons.

This is why some people who have been working for 10, 20, or even a lifetime are still stuck at the ordinary level of "clothing tailoring" with a low salary, while some people can pass a few years of work. With a few years of hard work, you can become a senior patternmaker and earn a high salary. In this sense, high salary does not equate to advanced age.

Hope this helps!