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Many fashion graduates and people who are taking sewing lessons are getting scammed everyday and they just don’t know it because they don’t really take the time to do their homework. Check the facts and conduct research! Sometimes, people receive bad advice from unqualified people who don’t work in the fashion industry, such as high school sewing teachers, high school/college counselors, fashion school admissions directors, friends, relatives, and parents. So having said all that, Vancouver Sewing Classes (VSC) will explain to you the things you should do, when it comes to your fashion design trade skills training and sewing. The more you know, the more money you will save, and the less likely you will be scammed.

It is absolutely nuts, crazy, insane, unbelievable, and absurd whenever I meet fashion graduates coming from elite fashion schools, where they have already spent $45,000 to over $320,000, who are asking Vancouver Sewing Classes (VSC) to help retrain them from the beginning. As shocking as it seems, I have also met other graduates, in recent years, who have spent as much as $500,000 to $1,000,000 to obtain a fashion degree from the United States or Europe.

As bizarre as it sounds, many of these fashion graduates coming from these elite fashion schools are incapable of drafting a pattern from scratch, nor can they sew and complete an entire garment in three hours. They don’t even know how to grade commercial patterns in different sizes or drape a piece of cloth on a dress form. What the heck are they learning at these fancy, artsy design schools? In addition, I have seen their fashion illustration drawings that look more like the little stick people you drew when you were in Grade 2! It is so shocking that people think that, when they pay a lot of money, they will get a better education. Unfortunately, the reality is that they have been duped and conned big time by these established fashion design institutions. The saddest part in all of these stories is that these fashion graduates didn’t even realize they were being scammed! They were completely clueless and blindsided! The biggest problem in a lot of these cases is that people don’t invest the time to do their research, fact check and ask tough questions!

What exactly are you getting for your fashion education, when you are paying these huge, premium tuition fees ranging from $45,000 to $1,000,000?

Ask yourself this simple question… can you get a job that pays as much as $45,000 to $1,000,000 the minute you graduate from your design school? If not, why would you want to pay these outrageous tuition fees in the first place… for what? Will your design school guarantee you a job that pays as much as $45,000 to $1,000,000? Do you have any money left to start your own fashion or e-commerce business when you graduate from your fashion school?

I truly believe that a high school education today doesn’t teach you the essential tools and life skills you need to succeed in this world. Now that I am a lot older, I realize that none of my high school teachers and counselors had a clue about a fashion design education or the fashion industry. Furthermore, none of them actually went to any fashion design school, and none of them had any actual training or experience working in a garment factory setting. So, the question everybody should ask themselves is… why are these unqualified high school teachers and counselors allowed to preach, teach and mislead their students about the fashion industry, when they don’t have any expertise, training, knowledge, experience or credentials in that field? Why are they repeating these falsehoods? From what I understand, high school teachers and counselors are encouraging students to take on massive student loans, so they can attend elite fashion schools and get a fashion degree. This is the absolute worst advice and guidance you can give to any high school student. Do you really want to start your fashion career with huge student debt hanging over your head for the next 10 years or more?

Most people have no idea of the actual final cost of their fashion education, when they enroll at a fashion design institution. Today, we will break down all of these costs. The biggest cost you will incur is the tuition fees, which usually range from $20,000 to $50,000 for a one-year fashion design diploma program. These shorter fashion design diploma programs are a total rip-off because you will spend the majority of the time learning fashion merchandising, instead of fashion design, so when you graduate from these design schools, you will most likely end up working as a salesperson at a retail store or in a clothing department (which has nothing at all to do with fashion design) because the schools don’t teach you enough technical skills to become a fashion designer. If you are spending between $45,000 and $500,000 for a two to four-year fashion degree, these ‘elite’ fashion institutions will teach you a lot of fine art, business marketing and trash courses, instead of fashion design. There are many other hidden costs that the school won’t tell you about: your sewing tools, drafting tools, art supplies and textbooks, which can range from $5,000 to upwards of over $10,000. Furthermore, they don’t even tell you that you have to purchase your own unbleached muslin, fabrics, linings, interface, shoulder pads, boning, bra cups, threads, twill tapes, and so on. The costs for these can range from $5,000 to upwards of $20,000. And, of course, these schools also don’t tell you that you will need to buy your own sewing machine, serger, cover stitch sewing machine, dress form, iron, ironing board, and so on, which you will need to do your homework. Many fashion design institutions these days only have one dress form, one serger, one industrial iron and one ironing board for all of their students to share in one classroom. If one of these items breaks down, the students will not be able to complete their assigned project. Many students end up purchasing all of their own dress forms, sewing machines and ironing equipment, which can easily cost up to $15,000. Finally, although fashion design schools charge you a lot in tuition fees, they also won’t provide you with unlimited Manila paper, plotting paper, photocopy paper and drafting paper; instead, you have to pay these additional hidden costs yourself, out of your own pocket. Last, but not least, you will also have to pay your entrance registration/application and student fees, on top of your tuition fees, and these can range between $500 and $1,000 for the entire program.

Vancouver Sewing Classes (VSC) has been around for over a decade. Our success is built purely on quality one-on-one lessons and structured hands-on skill training. Unfortunately, many fashion universities, colleges and sewing studios focus far too much on artistic drawing, paintings, fashion merchandising and academic courses, instead of on teaching you all the essential, technical hands-on skills you would use everyday as a fashion designer. Not only are these design schools teaching outdated courses, but they are also extremely and inefficiently slow, when it comes to teaching garment construction, which means, in the end, you will get to learn a whole lot less, but you will have to pay a whole lot more in tuition fees. For example, generally, it would take these fashion schools and sewing studios two weeks to three months to complete one garment, while, at VSC, we train and teach all of our clients all of the tricks of the trade, so they can start and finish an entire garment in three hours. We have also seen cases where fashion graduates from elite fashion institutions take six months to complete two garments. Do you want to learn very few techniques from these fashion design schools and sewing studios, where the pace of learning is as slow as a sloth?

Sewing and pattern drafting skills are the two most important technical skills that you need to master, if you want to become a fashion designer or a fashion entrepreneur. So, if you are not passionate and excited to learn how to sew and pattern draft, this is the wrong hobby or career choice for you. Every garment that is designed and produced always requires two essential components, which are sewing and pattern drafting. Without these two key elements, fashion design wouldn’t exist in this world. At Vancouver Sewing Classes (VSC), we focus 100% on hands-on learning of sewing and pattern drafting skills at our fashion design facility. Ours is the only organization in the world that specializes in teaching and training our clients how to become highly skilled technical sewers and patternmakers. We give our clients FREE bonus gifts, which consist of the best, high-end industrial sewing and drafting tools, sewing machines and equipment, so they can learn all the tricks of the trade, and create professional-looking garments to sell online. Each week, at their own pace, our clients learn new technical sewing and drafting skills making new garments to sell, so they can make income at the same time as they learn. Because our clients spend a lot of time honing their sewing and drafting skills, they gain immense practical experience, which is something you cannot buy. Our clients’ vast experience comes from many hours of instructional sewing and pattern drafting lessons, as well as out-of-classroom practicums. Sadly, today, all fashion institutions spend less than 10% of their time teaching fashion students hands-on sewing and pattern drafting skills, which is why many of their fashion graduates are unable to draft, cut and sew a garment in under three hours. Shockingly, many graduates of these ‘elite’ fashion institutions don’t do well in sewing or pattern drafting job interviews because they don’t have any technical sewing or pattern drafting skills, or any practical experience, to impress potential employers. As a professional fashion designer, when you don’t have these two most basic and essential technical skills firmly under your belt, you risk having your reputation tarnished, your brand and label unrecognized or distrusted, and your career and business jeopardized.

During this pandemic, we have seen suffering and death all around us, which makes us realize how vulnerable we all are. We all have expiry dates; however, for some of us, our expiry date may be sooner rather than later, and Mother Nature may be unforgiving this time around. Having said that, we do know that there are elements we can control and things we cannot control in this world. As depressing and discouraging as it all seems, we all have choices, and we all have some power to control our own fate and destiny. Don’t let others control your life and your finances. You should never deprive yourself of the things that make you happy. Life is short and you certainly don’t want to live out your life with regrets. Don’t sell yourself short. You shouldn’t procrastinate or waste time and lose all of those golden opportunities that are right in front of you; instead, you should make changes NOW! You need to pull the trigger, go for it, and just do it!

I left my job many years ago to become a fashion entrepreneur because that was the only thing that I could control in my life at the time. I have worked for many small businesses and large corporations throughout my life, and I found that all of my employers had one thing in common, “they were full of crap”.

Procrastination is cancerous to your life and career. As we age, time is our worst enemy. We start to reflect on the things we accomplished and the things that we didn’t do when we were younger. If you ever want to start a fashion business or change your career, do it now before it is too late. Our body and mind start to deteriorate as we get older; therefore, you may want to get ahead and make these changes early in your life. As you get older, everybody knows how hard and challenging it is to get out of bed every morning, and it is going to get a whole lot harder, especially when you get into your 40’s, 50’s and 60’s, because your level of energy, excitement and enthusiasm may not be the same as when you are in your 20’s and 30’s. The ugly truth is that, when you get older, you become jaded and, unfortunately for most of us, we may have already lost that motivation and inspiration. Due to all of the rough years of stress and hardship in our lives, we may become less optimistic, and, with all of the wear and tear on our bodies, we are bound to feel less driven and ambitious, and may become more pessimistic, uninspired and undisciplined. As a result, a person may become a procrastinator and begin to feel stagnant in life. The bad news is that nothing will happen or get any better if you just sit on the sidelines, killing time, and doing nothing about it. Opportunities do come and go, but they won’t stick around forever and wait for you. Don’t sell yourself short! You need to give yourself the space to make a life-changing decision. You don’t want to waste all of your youthful years and gain nothing. If you want to achieve success and happiness in your early retirement years, don’t procrastinate and wait for something to happen. You need to take immediate action, start the change NOW, before you lose that spark and passion!

Everybody wants to be successful in the fashion industry, but what does it take to achieve that? Success requires a lot of practice, self-discipline, sacrifice, and resilience. Success is never achieved easily; otherwise, it would be meaningless. Fashion design requires a lot of sewing, pattern drafting, French draping, pattern grading and Tec Pack preparation. Unfortunately, if you don’t make the time to practise and master these technical skills, your fashion design career will come to a dead end, and fashion design will prove to be the wrong career choice for you. Furthermore, you will not be able to handle all of the stress that comes with this business. Self-discipline is an important quality that you must develop very early on in your fashion career, so you can meet all of the contractual deadlines and commitments. Not only do you have to be self-disciplined, but also you have to be detailed in everything you do. People often make mistakes in the fashion business, and, whether the mistake is big or small, it will cost time and money. So, if you want less stress in your life and want to maximize profits in the apparel industry, you must pay attention to all of the little details. Finally, you will have to make many sacrifices during your fashion design career – costs that will help you to better appreciate and cherish your success.