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Assistant technical designer skills for your resume and career

Updated January 8, 2025
5 min read
Quoted experts
Samantha Osborne,
Samantha Osborne
Below we've compiled a list of the most critical assistant technical designer skills. We ranked the top skills for assistant technical designers based on the percentage of resumes they appeared on. For example, 10.2% of assistant technical designer resumes contained sketch as a skill. Continue reading to find out what skills an assistant technical designer needs to be successful in the workplace.

15 assistant technical designer skills for your resume and career

1. Sketch

Here's how assistant technical designers use sketch:
  • Sketch ideas and conceptualize new fabric techniques (Embossing / Studding / Washes).
  • Provided oversea offices with sketch corrections using Adobe CS Illustrator based on fit, construction and workmanship feedback.

2. Tech Packs

A tech pack is an informative sheet that designers create to communicate with a manufacturer all the details and components necessary to turn a product into a finished product. It also serves as a "product contract" between a person and the manufacturer throughout the sampling and production process. Typically, designers include dimensions, materials, sketches, size specifications, colors, illustrations, hardware, grading, labels/tags, construction information, and legends. The tech pack is essential for quality control and also ensures that the submitted samples meet ones specifications exactly and that one does not waste time and money reproducing them if they are incorrect.

Here's how assistant technical designers use tech packs:
  • Track all tech packs in detailed status chart & follow all samples within the seasons through development to delivery.
  • Created and submitted tech packs at the beginning of each season for showroom samples and fit samples.

3. Apparel

Apparel is anything worn especially formal clothes; outerwear; garments; attire; raiment worn on an important occasion to protect, wrap, adorn or beautify the body. Apparel also refers to clothing of a specific type that is sold in stores. Product categories include everything from basic items like underwear, badges, jewelry to luxury items. The general classification of clothing is as follows: men's wear, women's wear, children's wear, and others.

Here's how assistant technical designers use apparel:
  • Developed trim applications, trim symbols, brush strokes, washing effects & production techniques for apparel & accessory designs.
  • Assisted a number of Technical Designers specializing in Casual & Option dresses and intimate apparel.

4. Garment Construction

Garment construction is a technical skill requiring the skills and knowledge of basic sewing techniques. These techniques include seams, darts, gathers, application of stitches, pleats, and edge finishing. Additionally, knowledge of various types of seams like a flat seam, lapped seam, French seam, and slot seam along with cut and style play an important role in the appearance of any garment.

Here's how assistant technical designers use garment construction:
  • Communicate with factories overseas about garment construction.
  • Mastered technical aspects of garment construction.

5. PLM

PLM stands for "product lifecycle management." This process is the management of a product's entire lifecycle, from when the product is first conceived and developed to when the product is sold and, eventually, disposed. A company may use PLM for a variety of reasons, most commonly to reduce the amount of errors in the manufacturing process and to ensure the product is sold more quickly.

Here's how assistant technical designers use plm:
  • Utilized PLM resources for checking garment or accessory details and artwork or embroidery placement.
  • Assist with the development of our PLM system V2K.

6. Adobe Illustrator

Here's how assistant technical designers use adobe illustrator:
  • Assisted Designers in tech pack preparation (Utilized Adobe Illustrator).
  • Create technical flat sketches by hand and Adobe Illustrator.

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7. FIT Comments

Here's how assistant technical designers use fit comments:
  • Communicated fit comments to vendors/factories for approval and/or corrections.
  • Participate in Weekly fittings with live models, generate fit comments and follow up with Production on all fit clarification.

8. Patternmaking

Here's how assistant technical designers use patternmaking:
  • Gained experience in patternmaking for mass production, technical illustrations and designs, product development and supervision of sample production.
  • Designed new product lines from start to finish, patternmaking and designed sewing procedures.

9. Technical Sketches

Here's how assistant technical designers use technical sketches:
  • Assisted in technical sketches for 1st pattern cards and line reviews.
  • Created specification and technical sketches for tech pack.

10. Product Development

Product development is the complete procedure of creating a product from concept until release of the final product. Product development has many stages after which a product is released into the market. Identifying the need, creating the opportunity, conceptualizing a product, and providing a solution, all are different stages of product development.

Here's how assistant technical designers use product development:
  • Communicate updates and specification changes to contractors; provide administration support for managing the company's product development functions.
  • Assisted designers in translating designs into workable technical diagrams & in all aspects of product development through final approval.

11. Approval Process

Here's how assistant technical designers use approval process:
  • Coordinate sample approval process across multiple departments in order to maintain company time/action calendars.
  • Coordinate the product approval process for color, art, quality and trims to ensure adherence of brand integrity.

12. PDM

Here's how assistant technical designers use pdm:
  • Prepared samples for fittings; attended fit sessions; inputted specs into Web PDM system.
  • Entered data into Web PDM system and tracking chart in Microsoft Excel.

13. Knits

Here's how assistant technical designers use knits:
  • Specialized in children (boys and girls) clothing, including woven, knits and sweater.
  • Sourced fabric and trim: woven and knits (domestic and imported).

14. Construction Standards

Here's how assistant technical designers use construction standards:
  • Protected brand integrity through fit continuity, upholding construction standards and consistency.
  • Established high levels of size and construction standards for assigned woven product category.

15. Overseas Vendors

A overseas vendor normally provides an outsourced part of a supply chain. It is vital that you carefully examine potential countries to trade with and individual vendors in those countries. Understanding shipping costs, trade laws, and critical regulations is a required part of vetting overseas vendors. You must be careful in assessing overseas vendors' reliability, solvency, and commitment to product quality.

Here's how assistant technical designers use overseas vendors:
  • Developed technical illustrations to aid overseas vendors in construction expectations.
  • Communicated with overseas vendors to ensure product set dates were met.
top-skills

What skills help Assistant Technical Designers find jobs?

Tell us what job you are looking for, we’ll show you what skills employers want.

What skills stand out on assistant technical designer resumes?

Samantha Osborne

Assistant Professor of Graphic Design, Owner, Samantha Osborne Design, Eastern Illinois University

Soft skills are equally important to hard skills. Graphic designers are visual communicators. Visual communication is a universal learned skill, vs. a linguistic capability. This means that graphic designers must learn to recognize and effectively utilize mood and tone in their own visual compositions in regard to color theory and psychology, gestalt principles, and font or lettering design. Essentially a well-skilled graphic designer becomes part psychologist in working through design problems and deciphering client direction, part problem-solver in developing an effective solution to the design problem, and part artist in bringing astonishing and original visual communication and graphics to reach a solution.

What soft skills should all assistant technical designers possess?

Samantha Osborne

Assistant Professor of Graphic Design, Owner, Samantha Osborne Design, Eastern Illinois University

Three soft skills stand out most: an ability to see the big picture, an ability to "read" people, and an ability to make a convincing argument for your design solution(s).
i. An ability to see big picture: there are an infinite number of details in graphic design, whether you work in website design on the front or back end, or in print media with physical outputs. It's easy to get caught up on the details, especially when clients are making specific demands about things such as paper type. A skilled designer must be able to see beyond the details and look at the big picture for an effective design solution. For example, a client may be asking for an invitation design for an up-coming event. A skilled designer will ask questions and dig in, eventually uncovering that perhaps for a successful event, the client also needs a splash page and social media, either in place of or in addition to an invitation. A skilled designer addresses design problems holistically, rather than minutely.
ii. An ability to "read" people: designers are trained in art-specific vocabulary. Hue, saturation, pixels, gestalt...most non-art folks don't use or speak that language. When clients are describing their goals, they aren't using art-vocabulary. It's a designer's job to translate what the client is saying into an advanced and effective creative solution. They must be able to speak and understand the language of non-creative folks, as well as the language of the broader creative industry.
iii. An ability to make a convincing argument for your design solution(s): many young and inexperienced designer tend to get their hearts broken when a client smashes one of their [very well thought-out] ideas. Rather than rolling over, a designer must learn to navigate how best to build support for their idea(s). That might mean in some instances you work more fluidly with the client throughout the design process, so that they feel they have ownership in the development of the solution. In other instances it might mean that the designer is presenting options, rather than a single solution, so that the client feels empowered to make choices throughout the design process. And in some instances, it might be a matter of better explaining and presenting your idea to a client; perhaps the designer needs to push back more, perhaps they need to provide more research as to why their solution is best, or maybe they simply need to present it with more excitement and enthusiasm.

What assistant technical designer skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?

Dr. Mary ElliottDr. Mary Elliott LinkedIn profile

Instructor and Internship Coordinator, Louisiana State University and A&M College

The fashion industry is one of the largest industries in the world. According to McKinsey & Company, if the fashion industry were a country measuring GDP, it would be the 7th largest economy in the world. The fashion industry encompasses all of the processes needed to take raw product to finished textiles and then to the finished product ready for purchasing by the consumer. This diverse, fast-paced, constantly changing industry is generally divided into two categories for preparation purposes: the creative side and the business side.

List of assistant technical designer skills to add to your resume

Assistant technical designer skills

The most important skills for an assistant technical designer resume and required skills for an assistant technical designer to have include:

  • Sketch
  • Tech Packs
  • Apparel
  • Garment Construction
  • PLM
  • Adobe Illustrator
  • FIT Comments
  • Patternmaking
  • Technical Sketches
  • Product Development
  • Approval Process
  • PDM
  • Knits
  • Construction Standards
  • Overseas Vendors
  • BOM
  • Pre-Production Samples
  • Sample Room
  • FIT Sessions
  • Live Models
  • Adobe Photoshop
  • Pattern Corrections
  • CAD
  • Overseas Factories
  • Development Process
  • Bulk Production
  • Design Process
  • Design Concepts
  • Line Sheets
  • Technical Specifications
  • Design Details
  • Trend Research
  • Measurement Specifications
  • Construction Issues
  • Proto Samples
  • Quality Standards
  • Production Process
  • Technical Aspects
  • International Vendors
  • Production Stage
  • Development Samples
  • Production Patterns
  • Embroidery
  • Market Research
  • Grade Rules
  • Missy
  • Lab Dips

Updated January 8, 2025

Zippia Research Team
Zippia Team

Editorial Staff

The Zippia Research Team has spent countless hours reviewing resumes, job postings, and government data to determine what goes into getting a job in each phase of life. Professional writers and data scientists comprise the Zippia Research Team.

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