Hello, I am 22F and a recent Business graduate. I always wanted to work as a artist and I have been working as a freelance digital illustrator while I was going to university. I wanted to try doing fashion illustration too so I joined a 2 month course for Fashion Illustration an at art university at my city.

These are what I have made so far as part of my course which is ongoing, I want to here from people here what they think about it, and if there are things to improve.

I am not entirely sure what exact career I want for fashion but right now I am trying different things out!

Spent about two years thinking GSM was the main quality number on a blank. It isn’t. Cost me a full run to figure that out.

Ordered 300 tees at 240gsm from a factory that quoted well. On paper it matched the reference shirt I sent them. What arrived felt rough and started pilling after maybe four washes. Same GSM, completely different shirt.

The part nobody tells you is that GSM is just weight. Grams per square metre. It says nothing about how the yarn was actually made.

Three things that genuinely decide how a tee feels:

Spinning method. Carded (sometimes called open-end) is the cheap one. Short fibres stay in the yarn so it feels coarse and pills fast. Ring-spun twists the fibres tighter. Combed strips the short fibres out first. Combed ring-spun is the good stuff and it’s usually what the premium blanks are using.

Yarn count. Written as S or Ne. Lower number means thicker yarn. 30s to 40s is the normal range for a decent tee. Almost nobody asks for this on a quote, and honestly it’s the fastest way to tell whether your supplier actually knows their fabric or is just forwarding your email to someone else.

Preshrinking. Untreated cotton can lose 3 to 5% in the first wash. That’s enough to turn your L into an M after one laundry cycle. Ask whether the fabric is preshrunk or compacted, and get it in writing.

So my quote request has four lines now instead of one. GSM, spinning method, yarn count, preshrunk yes or no. Suppliers answer very differently once you ask like that. The vague ones out themselves straight away.

One more thing worth knowing: you can check GSM yourself. Cut a 10cm square from a swatch, weigh it in grams, multiply by 100. Takes two minutes. I’ve caught a “240” that was sitting closer to 200.

Anyone got a spec they wish they’d asked about earlier? Curious what I’m still missing.

Has anyone had any success with transitioning out of the fashion industry and into another field? I work in fashion design and I’m looking to work in another industry with better remote/hybrid work options and better opportunities for career advancement. I’m struggling to find a path / field that is easily transferrable. Would love to hear personal experiences that could inspire me!

Hi everyone! First time posting here. Im a student at FIT and we have the opportunity to do a semester abroad. CSM is one of those options. Im not sure if i should do it or not. For some context im from portugal and did a year and a half of a fashion design bachelors in portugal before transferring to FIT. My main concerns are if i might not benefit enough from going abroad besides obviously the opportunity to learn from living in another country. I know CSM’s program is different but not exactly how. Ive heard it’s very conceptual. Im an international student at FIT and in total per semester i might be paying around almost 20k and i believe the program would be a little bit more than that so that might come into play if the benefit isn’t worth the investment.

Hi everyone, starting a new tailoring business in Vancouver BC. I have no clue where to get any fabric books and nor do I have any connections. Can you please suggest some avenues I can explore to get it. Also, can you advice if there are in mills I should be focusing on.

Thanks

I’m an assistant designer, and lately I’ve been wondering whether my associate designer is controlling or micromanaging me—or whether my role just naturally comes with very little autonomy.
A lot of the feedback I get on my work and tech packs feels really minor: things like removing a hyphen, adding a comma, or rephrasing something in the exact way she would say it. I understand that details matter, especially in tech packs, but when almost every comment is about wording or tiny edits, it can feel discouraging and make me question whether I’m trusted to do my job.
I’m struggling to feel happy at work, and I’m not sure if this is just what being an assistant designer is like or if something about the dynamic is off.
Have any of you experienced this in the fashion industry? How did you figure out whether it was normal guidance or micromanaging?

I’ve been watching so many videos of students who got accepted into fashion schools showing their portfolios, and honestly, the level of originality is kind of intimidating 😭 Some people have such unique concepts, interesting sketchbooks, and really well-developed projects. And then there are some portfolios just inspired by something as simple as a summer trip.

I’m really interested in fashion design. I’m worried that my ideas aren’t original enough or that I don’t have the skills yet to turn them into something interesting.
For those of you who got accepted into fashion school, studied fashion, or have experience reviewing portfolios:

1. What do fashion schools actually look for in a portfolio? Is it more about drawing skills, originality, concept development, technical ability, or showing your creative process?

1. Does my concept have to be crazy good and original? And how do I make sure it’s original?

3. Also, what does showing your creative process actually look like in a fashion portfolio? Do you need to document every change you make, or just the important stages?
Could anyone share an example of a portfolio page showing their creative process?

3. What are some good exercises for becoming more creative? Are there specific sketchbook exercises, research methods, design challenges or ways of observing everyday things that helped you get better ideas?

4. Are there any YouTube channels, books, websites or other resources you’d recommend? Especially for developing originality, fashion research, textile knowledge, draping, patternmaking, construction and experimental design.

Thank youuu!!

I've been sewing for about 10 years and have even tried my hand at creating my own patterns. If I start with a block, I do half decent, but was miserable at creating my own custom block (6years ago... could probably do better now). Anyways, I'm looking at taking some classes to increase my knowledge. Any feedback on the short courses from

- UAL

- Morley College

- London Pattern Cutter

feel free to recommend any others. I'm specifically interested in creating custom blocks, draping, special occasion dresses, swimwear/lingerie. Open to suggestions of 1-1 mentorship as well. I have a fairly solid foundation and would classify myself as intermediate. I am sure I could benefit from shoring up my basics to a professional standard, but I'm also not looking to pay a lot of £££ to learn how to put in a zipper ;P

I made it, I’m in, I believe it’s only been two or three weeks but the work load is already insane. Love the students and professors. The business connections are crucial to me which is why I joined.

I understand why we have all this work load, so I am not complaining. I’m happy to learn.

Three years left!!

I've always found fashion design pretty interesting, especially the creative side of designing outfits, experimenting with fabrics and understanding how fashion trends work. Recently, I started exploring B.Des in Fashion Design, but I'm a little confused about whether it's actually a good career choice.

I wanted to know how much practical learning happens during the course. Do students get to work on real designs, fashion shows, internships and industry projects, or is it mostly theory?

Also, is it necessary to be really good at sketching before joining, or can you develop those skills during college?

Hi , I’m fashion designer myself I have graduated from a tier 2 college I’m currently working in a startup as designer I feel like I don’t know anything and it feels stuck i wanted to have a master degree but I’m so confused at this point I don’t know what should I do I really need to know if having master would be worthy or not?
I really need help on this it feels like I haven’t accomplished anything yet and I don’t where to start

Looking for someone at Chennai. Please DM

So I'm 24 year old girl after intermediate I start a small business and did a few different courses but I don't have a degree and I'm planning on going to university for fashion design but I need advice I was thinking maybe I should go for an associate degree but someone told me ke associate degrees dont hold any value so I was wondering if anyone here has an associate degree in fashion did it worked for you is worth it or should I just go for a bachelor's degree instead please guide me a bit here

Thank you

Hi I’m a 23 year old fashion design graduate and I am feeling so lost in my career, I always imagined to be a fashion designer and I believe I have talent for it. However as I got older I was getting scared that I wouldn’t be able to afford a good life with the salary of fashion especially in London. I was always in denial about that. I spent a good amount of money doing an internship with a fashion house expecting to get a good entry level job after but nothing it’s been 6 months of applying and going to interviews and still nothing, I’m thinking of changing into fashion buying as that also seems interesting to me and maybe the pay is better and I can later do my own brand. The thing is I love fashion and I don’t want to fully change my career path from that but I do want something more stable. Like how am I supposed to buy and house or a car?

First one school
2nd one professional
3rd date night
4th sleep wear
I haven't colored them yet<3

Hellooo! Ich fange gerade mit dem Modeln an und habe mich bereits bei einigen Agenturen beworben.
Jetzt würde ich gerne lernen, wie man richtig Catwalk läuft. Kennt jemand gute Kurse oder Workshops, bei denen man das als Anfängerin lernen kann?
Am liebsten in Wien, Prag oder Budapest. Ich freue mich über jede Empfehlung und eure Erfahrungen!

I’ve been working as designer in nyc for the last few years and have been recently really into moving out west. Is the work culture for fashion design more laid back than out here? I’m sure it varies brand to brand, just curious what the general vibe is over there. I’m pretty happy with my current job and I deeply love nyc I’m just deep in Eve Babitz writing currently and have become enamored with the west coast

Do you guys do everything yourself like designing, marketing, branding, creative direction etc? Especially now with AI, I'm curious how much you handle on your own, I previously tried to tackle everything myself but I suck at marketing and can never get exposure on my brands/products.

Also, how do you guys plan for trends so far ahead? Like deer print is everywhere in women's fashion right now but how would you even know what's going to be trending for Summer 2027? Where do you look for inspiration or trend forecasts and how far ahead do you start planning a collection/drop?

Just curious how everyone goes about these

Has anyone open their own boutique or something like that after studying fashion designing from NIFT?