While no single operation can be said to be given over entirely to one sex, the cutting and pressing is done almost exclusively by men. Men who work in the garment trades may be generally divided into designers, sample makers, cutters, machine operators, hand sewers, pressers, and examiners. In the following paragraphs the brief descriptions given of these principal occupations have been summarized from Bulletin No. 183 of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and from the bureau’s publication “Descriptions of Occupations.”
PLAN No. 1239. DESIGNING
In large plants there is often a man separately charged with the designing of garments. He must create the designs, make the models, and choose the materials for the designs. His chief responsibility is choosing the materials for the style of garment he wishes to produce and co-operating with the sales department in producing designs which will sell and also be economical to cut. This is a high-grade position for a man with artistic ability. Only men are employed.
Qualifications include high-grade intelligence and a knowledge of drafting. Although designing is a question largely of artistic sense, the designer should have had some experience in connection with the making of garments, and especially with the laying out of patterns and the cutting of cloth.
PLAN No. 1240. CUTTING
In all of these industries cutting is done almost exclusively by men, and consists of marking, laying up, and cutting textiles in accordance with specific patterns. It is the most skillful and responsible of all the occupations for the reason that upon the quality of the cutting depends not only the appearance of the garment, but also, to a considerable extent, its cost, inasmuch as the ability of the cutter to lay out economically his pattern determines the amount of cloth that is consumed. Cutting is the only occupation of the garment trades in which an apprenticeship is required.
Considerable intelligence, accuracy, and a steady hand, with ordinary strength is required for the work.
PLAN No. 1241. SAMPLE MAKING
Sample making is done by men and women, and consists of making samples of new garments from models furnished by the designer. This work calls for tailors (males, usually, in the cloak and suit industry) and operators (usually females, in the other industries) of rather exceptional ability and skill. Sample making occupies a small number of workers for a short time at the beginning of each season, the makers of samples being recruited temporarily from among the more expert tailors and operators.
The sample maker must have ordinary strength and ability, and must be an all-round tailor.