Fashion Design - 3 Categories You Should Know About

If you wish to pursue fashion designing you must know that not all clothes are made equal. Clothes and accessories are made for different consumers, and accordingly the approach and execution has to be different too. Right from the type of fabrics used to the process of manufacturing employed, depends on the target market.

As a fashion designer you must have the complete understanding of these forms and must know how to approach the three main categories of fashion design.

*Mass-market: Anything that sells in high volumes cannot be ignored or undermined in any industry. The fashion industry enjoys maximum sales from the mass market. As the name suggests, this category is targeted at the everyday consumer, and is widely available. The fabrics used are cheaper and made using simple machine processes. Such clothes are made available in a number of standard sizes and put on the market in large quantities. But do not think that such clothes are of poor quality, for that is not the case. The process simply cuts cost on expensive fabric and elaborate manufacturing processes. Otherwise the clothes are in sync with the on-going fashion. What makes them stand out is that they are mass-produced at lower costs.

*Ready-to-wear: Ready-to-wear clothes sit somewhere between mass-market and haute couture. They are set apart from mass-market clothes on the basis of their exclusivity. They are manufactured in restricted quantities so as not to become too common. While ready-to-wear clothes too are made according to standard sizes, the fabrics used are more expensive. Also greater attention is paid to the cut and design of the fabric that is used. You can catch these creations on the fashion week, where various fashion houses present such collections.

*Haute couture: Most of you must have heard these words. But if haute couture has to be defined in a single word, the word would probably be 'customization'. Haute couture involves creating custom fitted clothing specifically for a customer. These creations are made by the most experienced minds and hands in the business. A lot of attention is paid to every aspect of the creation. Expensive fabrics are sewn using elaborate processes, and at times made by hand. The creations are for special occasions and not designed for daily use.

Now that you know the 3 categories in fashion designing, you will also understand how much time to invest for the different forms, with mass-market requiring faster 'turn-around' times and spending more time as you move towards haute couture.