ABSTRACT
Fashion design comprises artistry, craft and manufacture, but the disregard for ‘making’ contributes directly to some of the difficulties the designers experience in their attempt to build up sustainable small businesses. This inattention to the fine details of manufacture also produced difficulties in the study of fashion itself. I wanted to know how the designers produced their collections but they were reluctant to discuss the relationships they had with the Cut, Make and Trim (CMT) men who took their orders and then farmed out the work to a long and labyrinthine chain of producers.1 This was a sensitive issue. It seemed as though the various production deals struck by designers with the Cut, Make and Trim men who offered their services either through advertisements in trade magazines, or locally, or through word of mouth, were closely guarded trade secrets. There was a degree of secrecy because good deals were hard to come by and designers were scared of losing out to competition. It was important to find a manufacturer or supplier who would guarantee that the order would be done in time and to the right specifications. Alongside this were issues of cost and payment. The designers were always worried that somebody else would slip in an order that would either be easier to make or more profitable, they would lose their place in the queue and the order would be late getting to the stockists. They knew that the CMT men played the market promising the designers that theirs was the only order they were taking on, while knowing that they had said the same to at least three others.
