Apparel Workers Career

Career as apparel workers is an interesting career for those who like creative and artistic work. Clothing is one of the most necessary things in a human life. Especially youngsters and women need fashionable and trendy clothes and outfits. Thus, the apparel workers play an important role in our lives by transforming cloth, fur and leather into a fashionable clothing product. Thus, apparel workers help in keeping us in keeping warm, comfortable and trendy. The main job of these workers is to cut fabric and other materials and finally sew them into clothing and related products.

Tasks:-

Career as apparel workers is an interesting as well as a challenging career. The tasks that are carried out by the apparel workers are as follows:-

• Apparel workers' main job is to produce, maintain or repair clothing and other consumer products that are made from cloth, leather and fur.
• Tailors, dressmakers, and sewers make custom clothing, alter and repair garments for the individuals
• The production of garments begins after the designer's samples are approved by the retail buyers
• The pattern is fixed as per the sample, and then the pattern sizes are designed on computer. This work is handled by the fabric and apparel pattern makers. The pattern is then ready for mass production
• Cutters and trimmers take the patterns and cut the materials as per the standard specifications. In some of the industries, this work is performed by computer controlled machineries
• Sewing machine operators join the pieces of garments together and attach buttons, hooks, zippers and other accessories. After the entire product is sewn, other workers remove the extra and loose threads and then pack the garments

Qualification:-

Career as apparel workers is a highly competitive career. Therefore, the candidates need to posses certain qualification and training. The qualification requirement is as stated below:

• A high school diploma or equivalent courses is the minimum requirement
• Certifications or training programs in apparel work is also beneficial
• Experience in apparel production, design and alteration is also beneficial
• On-job training is provided by most of the employers

Other necessary skills:-

Career as apparel workers is a challenging career as it involves a lot of artistic work. The individuals should possess certain skills to get their dream jobs. They are as follows:

• Excellent interpersonal and written skills
• Exceptionally creative, analytical and logical skills
• Good observation skills and detail-oriented
• Outstanding ability to work in all type of situations

Place of work:-

Working conditions in the apparel industries vary by the establishment and type of job. The career as apparel workers is demanding as the need to dress up well has caught the fancy of most people. The apparel workers work in apparel industries where the workers performing similar tasks sit together.

The apparel workers generally work for 35 to 40 hours a week. Working for longer hours is common in this profession. Most of the apparel work is based on piecework and involves teamwork. That is why; apparel workers need to work closely in teams.

Job Opportunities:-

There are tremendous job opportunities that are available in this career as apparel workers. There are many areas of specialization of work that are available in this career. They are listed as follows:

• Tailors
• Dressmakers
• Sewers
• Fabric and pattern pattern makers
• Cutters and trimmers
• Sewing machine operators

Most of the apparel workers are employed by the textile manufacturing plants. Most of the tailors, dressmakers and sewers are self-employed. While others work in mills or cloth manufacturing units.

Remuneration:-

The salary in the career as apparel workers vary according to the industries and occupations. The salary is comparatively good. Especially, the cutters are highly paid. The industries that are the highest paying industries are as follows:

• Knitting mills
• Miscellaneous fabricated textile products
• Women's and children's outfits producers

The benefits provided by reputed apparel industries include health and life insurance coverage, paid holidays and childcare.

Job Progress:-

Career as apparel workers facilitates fewer chances of promotions. However, with years of experience, the apparel workers may handle more skilled jobs. Additional training courses may be advantageous to acquire supervisory levels. To enter the cutting department, one usually starts as a fabric spreader and then advances to machine cutting. Thus, it takes many years of experience for the entry-level workers to gain mastery in specific task in an apparel industry.

Employment forecast:-

The employment in the career as apparel workers is expected to decline in the future. The increased imports, use of offshore assembly, and increased productivity due to automated machineries in mills are the main reasons for the decreased number of apparel workers. However, the apparel tasks are complex to perform on machineries. Especially the sewing tasks need to be performed by workers. Therefore, there many job opportunities for those who are talented in specific tasks that are tedious and require more skill.