Indie Designer Spotlight: Brittney Gray

As the impact of 3D continues to grow across the fashion industry, it’s exciting to see how talented individuals have worked to bring it to the forefront. We recently chatted with 3D designer and Browzwear Indie Program member, Brittney Gray to gain insight into her unique journey with 3D and how it has led her to be where she is today.

From a young age, it was clear that Brittney had a flair for fashion and creative design and was determined to pursue her career in the industry. In 2015, she began her studies in Consumer Apparel and Retail Studies at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, where she first launched into the professional world of fashion. Throughout her bachelor’s degree and master’s program, Brittney was able to gain hands-on experience in several aspects of fashion design from sewing and pattern-making, to showcasing garments in fashion shows which were debuted at the North Carolina Museum of Art and later showcased at the Crabtree Valley Mall, North Carolina. She first came across the concept of 3D apparel and Browzwear’s 3D design software, VStitcher while completing the pattern-making specialization at university and later on in her senior year project. “When I was first introduced to 3D at the start of my degree, I have to admit I was reluctant toward the idea and slightly skeptical… little did I know how quickly it would turn out to be such a fundamental part of my career,” says Brittney.

As Brittney familiarized herself with the software, an opportunity to be the first 3D Technical Design intern at Walmart Corporate came her way through the university. Thus, with no time to waste, she began to dive deeper into the software, driven to master it before starting the position. Brittney spent just under two months expanding her knowledge and gaining a deeper understanding of some of the more complex aspects of VStitcher until she felt that it had become second nature. “Before setting out on my internship, I would practice using the software almost every day, starting with concepts like avatar and block creation and then experimenting with existing blocks to create new designs until I was able to build my own designs from scratch,” says Brittney.

Throughout her internship experience at Walmart, Brittney gained a strong sense of the fast-paced sampling process from creating and altering digital garments to building fabric libraries using Browzwear’s Fabric Analyzer. “When working with VStitcher, you have the ability to focus on the important parts of the garment, and see how the fabrics interact with the body. Now with the animation workspace, I am able to see the outfits I create in motion, not just in a still pose. There is so much more room for flexibility in comparison to the traditional design process,” says Brittney. After completing the internship at Walmart and reaching the end of her studies at Greensboro, it was clear that Brittney’s talent in 3D fashion design opened up endless possibilities in terms of her career, and that the demand for a 3D skillset was certainly growing throughout the industry.

She soon began to work as a freelance 3D designer for several apparel companies and joined the Browzwear Indie Program alongside to take her skills to the next level. “When recently I joined the Browzwear Indie Program, it was incredible to see that 3D has so many different avenues. It’s exciting to be a part of a community of 3D designers, and have the opportunity to learn from each other, collaborate, and grow,” says Brittney. “For me, working with VStitcher can actually be a lot of fun, I can essentially create designs that I like to wear without limitations, make adjustments to a pattern and gain instant gratification through a fast and seamless process,” she adds.

Now, as a 3D technical designer at The Moret Group’s High Point Design division, Brittney both teaches and applies her knowledge in VStitcher and Lotta to her day-to-day, creating fabric and block libraries, designing virtual renders for client approval cycles, and using her skill to expand the 3D market. “ Although 3D apparel design can be intimidating to learn at first, I have learned that there is a place for everybody. In fact, 3D has changed people’s perspective of what a designer has to be. Once you learn how to maneuver and trust the software, you can make decisions over the digital garments and ultimately have a finished product in one day – the opportunities are endless, ” says Brittney.

If you are an independent designer looking to enter the world of 3D, apply for Browzwear’s Indie Program