Freelance Fashion Designer's Handbook

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Do you have the passion and the creativity for fashion? Why not earn a living from it?

The Freelance Fashion Designer's Handbook is your essential guide on how to go it alone, covering what to expect, making sure you get paid, planning your time, keeping up with your accounts, compiling technical packages for garments. It is your portable mentor, equipping you to work independently.

Part 1 covers all the information to becoming a freelance designer such as creating a basic freelance contract, invoicing, how to find work, tax returns and much more. All supported with case studies.

Part 2 contains the technical aspects of being a designer - including how to compile full technical packages for garments to be manufactured abroad.

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

• About the author (p. xi)
• Acknowledgements (p. xiii)
• About the website (p. xiv)
• Glossary (p. xv)
• Part 1 Setting up as a Freelance Designer
• Chapter 1 The Reality of Life as a Designer (p. 3)
• 1 Will freelance work be suitable for you? (p. 4)
• 2 Experience, qualifications, skills and abilities (p. 9)
• 3 Working alone, self-discipline and motivation (p. 13)
• Chapter 2 Getting Started (p. 17)
• 1 Selecting a location (p. 18)
• 2 Working from home or in a studio (p. 20)
• 3 Buying equipment, IT and furniture (p. 23)
• 4 Creating your company profile and CV (p. 25)
• 5 Planning your portfolio (p. 27)
• 6 Choosing a working wardrobe (p. 28)
• 7 Identifying pitfalls and customer issues (p. 30)
• Chapter 3 Getting Work and Getting Paid (p. 33)
• 1 Where to look for work and how to get it (p. 34)
• 2 Professional organisations (p. 36)
• 3 Sales techniques (p. 38)
• 4 Calculating your rates and expenses (p. 39)
• 5 Interview tips (p. 43)
• Chapter 4 Estimates and Invoices (p. 47)
• 1 Calculating an estimate or quote (p. 48)
• 2 Invoicing clients (p. 51)
• 3 Travelling abroad with and for a client (p. 53)
• 4 What your client expects from you (p. 54)
• Chapter 5 Financial Matters (p. 57)
• 1 Choosing an accountant (p. 58)
• 2 Finance and bank accounts (p. 59)
• 3 Income tax (p. 60)
• 4 Bookkeeping and accountancy (p. 61)
• 5 National Insurance contributions (p. 69)
• 6 VAT - do I need to register? (p. 69)
• 7 Pension provision (p. 70)
• 8 Employing staff (p. 70)
• 9 Health and safety (p. 71)
• 10 Insurance (p. 71)
• Chapter 6 Legal Aspects (p. 73)
• 1 The importance of contracts (p. 74)
• 2 Writing a contract (p. 74)
• 3 Intellectual property rights, copyright and design rights (p. 76)
• 4 Keeping yourself safe from prosecution for breach of copyright (p. 77)
• 5 Confidentiality (p. 78)
• 6 Keeping up to date with UK and EU law (p. 79)
• 7 How to find an expert on law in the fashion industry (p. 79)
• Chapter 7 Getting Paid (p. 81)
• 1 Chasing outstanding invoices (p. 82)
• 2 What to do when a client fails to pay (p. 82)
• 3 The small claims court (p. 83)
• Chapter 8 Planning Your Time (p. 87)
• 1 The working day (p. 88)
• 2 Your freelance diary (p. 89)
• 3 Holidays and your year plan (p. 89)
• 4 Interruptions and distractions (p. 90)
• 5 How to stand your ground when unreasonable demands are made (p. 92)
• 6 Computer timesheets (p. 94)
• 7 Backing up (p. 100)
• Chapter 9 Training and Education (p. 101)
• 1 Extra training (p. 102)
• 2 Seminars and training courses for the self-employed (p. 102)
• 3 Part-time teaching (p. 103)
• Part 2 Preparing Work for Production
• Chapter 10 Design and Development (p. 107)
• 1 Research and trends (p. 108)
• 2 Working to a design brief (p. 109)
• 3 Concept and design, style or shape (p. 110)
• 4 The PANTONE® colour system (p. 111)
• 5 Colour palettes (p. 113)
• 6 Branding (p. 114)
• 7 Tickets and labels (p. 114)
• 8 Preparing roughs (p. 115)
• 9 Presenting your ideas to your client (p. 115)
• Chapter 11 Presentation and Finished Designs (p. 117)
• 1 Using drawing software for presentation CADs (p. 118)
• 2 Phases,of a project (p. 118)
• 3 Phase 1: Preparing presentation roughs (p. 119)
• 4 Preparing a CAD template for a client (p. 122)
• 5 Preparing a colour palette (p. 123)
• 6 Phase 2: Preparing presentation-standard A4 CADs (p. 125)
• 7 Phase 3: Preparing detailed garment specifications (p. 133)
• 8 Compiling the full technical package (p. 141)
• 9 References (p. 142)
• Chapter 12 Sizing (p. 143)
• 1 Sizing issues (p. 144)
• 2 Access to current information (p. 145)
• 3 Why sizing is different for different companies (p. 146)
• 4 Charts for specific sizing issues (p. 147)
• 5 Creating Excel size charts (p. 148)
• 6 Flat measurements (p. 150)
• 7 Grade increments (p. 151)
• 8 Pre-production sampling and size sets (p. 152)
• 9 Tolerance (p. 153)
• 10 Creating a 'to fit' body measurement size chart (p. 153)
• 11 Creating a garment size chart (p. 155)
• 12 References (p. 164)
• Organisations and Useful Information (p. 165)
• Index (p. 169)