B.S. Apparel Technical Design Students Challenged with Real-Life Work Scenario for Final Exam

In an effort to simulate a real-life work situation, FIDM Instructor and veteran fashion designer Rebecca Eliason challenged students in her Trim Development & Application Class (MPDV 4200) to design a garment incorporating “excess inventory” for their final exam.

She told the students that this could be situation they face in the future, that the company they work for has excess trim in their inventory that needs to be used up. They could be given instructions to incorporate that trim into a design for an upcoming season, in order to use it up and get it off the shelves.

Rebecca gave each students a young men’s t-shirt from H&M (that they could reconstruct in any fashion), several yards of velvet ribbon, and a $5 budget to purchase extra trim in the jobbers section of Downtown LA’s Fashion District, just blocks from the FIDM campus.

With these materials, they were asked to create rough prototypes of a new design. Student Mikayla Patterson, who used the ribbon trim to construct a functional design element into the front of the shirt, said she learned that creativity and sustainability went hand in hand in the challenge.

Other students created empire waist ruching, trim around the sleeves and v-neck, halter neck tie, decorative detailing on the shoulder. Jazz, a student in the Apparel Technical Design Bachelor’s program, used the ribbon structurally to reinforce an unfinished jersey edge on her design.

All students were required to present their designs to the class along with a cost sheet.

Categories:  Apparel Technical Design Los Angeles Campus