One of the occupations in the textile industry is upholsterers. Upholsterers fix, restore, and cover furniture in fabric to a desired condition. Antique furniture may suffer damage over the years and require some restoration. Upholsterers may help the client select a pattern or type of fabric they would like to see on the furniture. People tend to have their old furniture restored rather spend a significant amount of money buying brand new furniture.
Becoming an upholsterer requires no formal training and many learn while doing. Some upholsters start by doing refurnishing as a hobby and make it a career if they choose to. Since there are many types of furniture, training can last many years for upholsters to refine their skills. Those with exceptional skills may open their open upholster shops but this field is highly competitive. Machines can't reupholster furniture so manual labor is needed.
Another type of textile occupation is sewing machine operators which sew the aspect of the garments together. In general, sewing is a valuable skill that can lead into other textile occupations. This could not be done without the fabric and pattern makers. These textile workers convert the designer's original idea to an actual pattern in separate parts to be laid out on the desired fabric. Pattern makers may alter the design making the necessary adjustments for buttonholes and zippers.
Textile bleaching and dye machine operators dye the fabrics to desired colors. If they didn't do this then we would have the same color fabrics and clothes. None of this would be possible without the textile machine operators who are at the ground level of the textile industry, because they prepare all forms of natural and synthetic fibers. Textile machine operators must clean the fibers from filaments. After the fibers have been extracted from all the unnecessary filaments, they combine different fibers to achieve the desired texture. Then by doing this, textile operators can draw out yarn. Now, the yarn and threads are ready to be made into the next fashion trend.
The textile industry is expected to decline over the next decade because many companies out source and import goods from other countries. New technologies are able to produce textiles at much faster speeds, but on the other hand many textile companies limit the use of machines because the delicate nature of the textiles themselves. These textile occupations that are set to show little or no decline are those in the tailoring industry. Since we can't out source tailor made clothes this will be a reliable profession for those interested in altering clothes. Even with the decline in the economy, people still need their clothes altered for things such as suits and for a wedding. Typically those who do work as tailors have the highest level of skills in apparel.
Those who do work in the textile industry should be able to perform repetitive tasks throughout the day. Years ago factories were not very well ventilated and many injuries would occur from unsafe working conditions. Now, textile factories have improved their working conditions making them safer with many cautionary procedures.
Despite the decline of textile occupations, textile jobs are still available for those who seek a textile career. Those who do work in the textile industry such as machine operators for example, may be interested in textile management. There are generally two types of textile management which are first line and project management. First line management relates to leading a team, problem solving skills, performance evaluation, and time management. Project management relates to monitoring the plan until completion.
Depending on which type of textile field one is in, salaries vary. Textile occupation wages can range from $8.00-$15.00 per hour. Those who work in the fabric and pattern maker field stand to make the most on average.
There are certifications available in the textile industry such as EKO Sustainable Textile Certification and the Organic Exchange Certification given by the Global Organic Textile Standard. Other organizations for education and training are the Textile Centre of Excellence, and The Textile Research and Training Institute.
