Abstract:
The purpose of this study was to develop an understanding of the quality of school uniforms being produced by small scale fashion entrepreneurs in Zimbabwe towards the designing and development of digital patterns. Zimbabwe has become home to fashion entrepreneurs with most of them embarking on the production of school uniforms due to the decline of most large clothing industries. Most of the small scale fashion entrepreneurs are failing to produce standard quality school uniforms. The study is underpinned by the prescriptive design theory. The study was carried out in Mashonaland west province of Zimbabwe among 20 small scale fashion entrepreneurs, 10 learners, 10 guardians and 2 school authorities who were the school uniforms consumers. Data was collected through questionnaire, interview, and observation. Thematic analysis was done on the qualitative data while quantitative data was analyzed using descriptive statistics. The study found out that the quality of the school uniform being produced by the majority of small scale fashion entrepreneurs were of low quality, which ranged from the uniforms with parts which were not proportional, uniforms which were too tight or too loose on the learner, some with crotch lines poorly shaped. The study also revealed that most of the small scale fashion entrepreneurs lacked expertise in pattern making which resulted in the production of ill-fitting school uniforms. The study revealed that the parents who were school uniform consumers were buying the school uniforms from the small scale fashion entrepreneurs because of the cheap prices which were way below the price of school uniforms in retail shops. The study concluded that fashion entrepreneurs have challenges in pattern making and grading for them to make good quality school uniforms. The study recommended the fashion entrepreneurs to have access to low cost digital patterns for school uniforms. As a recommendation a set of school uniforms patterns were designed and prototyped ready for commercial production.
