Freelance Fashion Designer's Handbook

Acknowledgements xiii

About the website xiv

Glossary xv

Part 1 Setting up as a Freelance Designer

Chapter 1 The Reality of Life as a Designer 3

1 Will freelance work be suitable for you? 4

2 Experience, qualifications, skills and abilities 9

3 Working alone, self-discipline and motivation 13

Chapter 2 Getting Started 17

1 Selecting a location 18

2 Working from home or in a studio 20

3 Buying equipment, IT and furniture 23

4 Creating your company profile and CV 25

5 Planning your portfolio 27

6 Choosing a working wardrobe 28

7 Identifying pitfalls and customer issues 30

Chapter 3 Getting Work and Getting Paid 33

1 Where to look for work and how to get it 34

2 Professional organisations 36

3 Sales techniques 38

4 Calculating your rates and expenses 39

5 Interview tips 43

Chapter 4 Estimates and Invoices 47

1 Calculating an estimate or quote 48

2 Invoicing clients 51

3 Travelling abroad with and for a client 53

4 What your client expects from you 54

Chapter 5 Financial Matters 57

1 Choosing an accountant 58

2 Finance and bank accounts 59

3 Income tax 60

4 Bookkeeping and accountancy 61

5 National Insurance contributions 69

6 VAT – do I need to register? 69

7 Pension provision 70

8 Employing staff 70

9 Health and safety 71

10 Insurance 71

Chapter 6 Legal Aspects 73

1 The importance of contracts 74

2 Writing a contract 74

3 Intellectual property rights, copyright and design rights 76

4 Keeping yourself safe from prosecution for breach of copyright 77

5 Confidentiality 78

6 Keeping up to date with UK and EU law 79

7 How to find an expert on law in the fashion industry 79

Chapter 7 Getting Paid 81

1 Chasing outstanding invoices 82

2 What to do when a client fails to pay 82

3 The small claims court 83

Chapter 8 Planning Your Time 87

1 The working day 88

2 Your freelance diary 89

3 Holidays and your year plan 89

4 Interruptions and distractions 90

5 How to stand your ground when unreasonable demands are made 92

6 Computer timesheets 94

7 Backing up 100

Chapter 9 Training and Education 101

1 Extra training 102

2 Seminars and training courses for the self-employed 102

3 Part-time teaching 103

Part 2 Preparing Work for Production

Chapter 10 Design and Development 107

1 Research and trends 108

2 Working to a design brief 109

3 Concept and design, style or shape 110

4 The PANTONE® colour system 111

5 Colour palettes 113

6 Branding 114

7 Tickets and labels 114

8 Preparing roughs 115

9 Presenting your ideas to your client 115

Chapter 11 Presentation and Finished Designs 117

1 Using drawing software for presentation CADs 118

2 Phases of a project 118

3 Phase 1: Preparing presentation roughs 119

4 Preparing a CAD template for a client 122

5 Preparing a colour palette 123

6 Phase 2: Preparing presentation-standard A4 CADs 125

7 Phase 3: Preparing detailed garment specifications 133

8 Compiling the full technical package 141

9 References 142

Chapter 12 Sizing 143

1 Sizing issues 144

2 Access to current information 145

3 Why sizing is different for different companies 146

4 Charts for specific sizing issues 147

5 Creating Excel size charts 148

6 Flat measurements 150

7 Grade increments 151

8 Pre-production sampling and size sets 152

9 Tolerance 153

10 Creating a ‘to fit’ body measurement size chart 153

11 Creating a garment size chart 155

12 References 164

Organisations and Useful Information 165

Index 169