What the F*ck is a Garment Technologist?
Scenario 1
Your sample arrives. It looks like it was made for a different species of human you’ve never met.
You try it on and discover you can’t even squeeze both boobs in. You manage to get one arm into the sleeve but you can’t bend your elbow. You’re fixed in place and feel sick at the thought of maybe having to ask the postman to help you get out of it.
Panic. You’ve spent $250 on a sample and you don’t even know where to start fixing it.
How do I get out of this garment?
Why didn’t they follow the tech pack?
You finally peel off the tiny garment and frantically check the measurements but they make no sense.
What is an X-front?
What is an HSP??!!
Scenario 2
Sampling was a breeze. Easy peasy. A total dream.
Factory says they work with everyone.
All approved. Production done. What was the big deal?
Shopify’d, Insta’d, TikTok’d - all sold out. Done.
…Ping. Ping. Ping.
‘Size 16/18/20 doesn’t fit properly.’
‘It’s see-through.’
‘It’s a weird length.’
‘It looks like my bum is eating it.’
If either of these sound familiar, welcome to the secret underground world of a Garment Technologist.
We are the IYKYK part of the industry.Everyone knows what a fashion designer does. Everyone knows what a factory does.
But the big, messy, absolutely critical bit in the middle is where a Garment Tech lives.
Spotting one in the wild is easy: look for a tape measure draped round the neck like jewellery and listen for the signature call, a guttural scoff triggered by things like ‘£180 for a polyester jacket?!’
If you hear that sound, a Garment Tech is nearby.
Fit. Construction. Fabric. Quality. Testing. Feasibility. Production. Compliance. Care labels. We’re clothing engineers. The oracles of clothes.
Sometimes, unfortunately, we are also the fun police.
If you’re trying to develop an innovative product and have no idea where to start, we are your people.
If you need to reduce cost without losing the integrity and design of your product, a Garment Tech will find a way.
If you have production problems we will bare-knuckle-fight your factory to fix them.
So what does a Garment Technologist actually do?
The Tech Pack: Your Fashion Brand’s Bible
Your tech pack is the holy scripture of your garment.
When your factory is lost and confused, they should be able to turn to the tech pack and find the answer.
I’ve been in the biz a long time, kid. Trust me, you never want a factory guessing what you want.
A good tech pack isn’t just drawings and measurements. During the process of creating it, a proper Garment Tech is:
assessing feasibility
simplifying construction
reducing costs
spotting quality risks
Using a lightweight silk and planning to overlock the seams on the sleeves?
Absolutely not. That garment is going to shred on the first wear.
Product Development: For the Weird, the Wonderful, and the Wearable
Maybe you want a sweatshirt with two head holes.
An upside-down dress for someone who walks on their hands.
Trousers that feel like sleeping bags.
Or, more realistically, you’re making a beautiful dress and want the spec and quality to match the price point.
Garment Techs love to get stuck in with some Product Development, advising on fabric, quality and construction to make things happen.
If anyone reading this does want to develop something weird, obviously you need to loop me in immediately.
Fit for a Queen: Mastering Garment Fit and Sizing
If you’ve ever bought something that fits horribly (you have), you’ll understand how difficult it is to get fit right.
Garment Techs look at fit samples, we take lots of pictures and write down loads of comments. We draw wiggly lines and massive arrows all over the photos, we tell you whether you can proceed or whether this sample is so catastrophically wrong that the only sensible next step is to give it a respectful funeral and never speak of it again.
Sometimes the measurements are perfect, but the garment feels off.
It might be the shoulder pitch. The sleeve head. The rise.
Do you know what those things mean? If not, you probably need professional help.
We create blocks, set tolerances, benchmark competitors. All these things make your size range feel consistent, professional and trustworthy.
Grading: The Technical Bit You Definitely Shouldn’t Guess
Grading is very technical.
Please do not guess it.
Please do not blindly accept the factory’s version.
This one deserves its own post (and I’ve written one — link).
Quality Control, Compliance, and Textile Testing
Ah yes…testing. The bit every fashion brand owner dreams about when starting their brand.
Do you want customer complaints because your jeans dyed their sofa/car seat/children blue?
Do you want Trading Standards knocking because your fibre composition is wrong?
I’m going to guess that you said no to these questions, therefore, you will need proper testing protocols.
A good Garment Tech can:
read lab reports
explain failures
advise on solutions
reject fabrics when necessary
guide you through AQL inspections
act as QC for smaller productions
And with the EU’s Digital Product Passport looming, you’ll need certificates for everything: fibre content, care, claims such as recycled/organic/made on the moon.
Your friendly neighbourhood Garment Tech can help you organise it so you don’t drown in paperwork.
I’ve written a post about Digital Product Passports in more details here.
Fluent Factory Communication and Production Management
I’ve spent my entire career in factory-language lessons and I am now fluent.
Instead of 5 confusing emails that end in mutual chaos, a Garment Tech can pinpoint the actual issue, phrase it in a way the factory understands, and move the project along.
This alone can save you weeks.
Production Prep: The Final ‘Don’t Screw This Up’ Checklist
Before we let a factory cut your precious fabric, we run through The Checklist™:
final fit comments
grading finalised
fabric handling notes
construction risks
tolerances confirmed
Only then do we say: yes, proceed.
Do you need a Garment Tech?
Does my cat Darren keep weeing in one of my plant pots??
(Yes)