EHC – Couture requires specialized skills

The survey says:

To meet needs of growth trends for custom work and alterations,in businesses surveyed – 56% required expert hand sewing skills, 33% custom pattern making skills, 89% custom fitting skills, 56% customer service skills, 33% required Design and styling skills, and only 22% need machinist skills.

What does that mean? These businesses are in need of professionally skilled workers who are able to produce high standards of hand sewing, can custom design original patterns, a whopping 89% could really use expertise in fitting skills, a good handle on excellent customer service, can design and style garments, and can operate machines.

Only 22% said they saw a increased need for skilled machinists, however, skills in traditional couture sewing are hard to find. Many young people are misinformed about the business of professional couture sewing, and as a result are reluctant to get into a field of fashion design that they think is just monotonous and slavishly laborious – picture sweat shops now closed in Canada, but alive and booming in overseas countries.  In fact, couture sewing and design is very creative and fulfilling, and yes, the hours are sometimes long, but each piece that you work on is different from the last unlike production work.

Appeal and glamor is the face of television and fashion media, however true career satisfaction from comes from within and the recognition of a job well done, along with the financial rewards. And while haute couture appears quite sensational on the surface, it is just like any business that requires education, experience, dedication and investment to be successful.

Oh yes, today was the first day of Fall Term – join us in the journey….

EHC’s fourth year couture class – first day