Work history
Senior Designer & Design ManagerBoden
Garment & Textile Design Manager | Boden, 114 - 120 Victoria Road London NW10 6NY | Dec 2004 – March 2015
Design Manager - Manage and train a team of designers to support the department needs and develop them to understand the Boden handwriting & lifestyle.
Built a strong team by inspiring and nurturing the development of all team members | Support and encourage brand strategy, goals and vision through positive leadership
Strong management that provided both support and clear direction for the team | Regular review process to continually drive improvements and to ensure maximum efficiency and high performance
Organised the design season by planning the department diary juggling all three department critical paths, planning and implementing the best approach
Ensured there was a strong and consistent pattern & product direction | Defined & communicated a clear vision for the future and translated it into understandable goals and targets
Acted as key point of contact for seasonal collection and design briefs ensuing the smooth flow of work is delegated to the team
Identify new pattern and product opportunities as they emerge in the market
Collating and presenting ranges including range planning process, range building, strategies & pattern to product collaboration
Ensure all pattern & product is working within budget & still communicates a clear vision of the brand
Work closely with Johnnie Boden, Directors, Buyers, Merchandisers, Garment Techs & other Designers to ensure everything is communicated, products are innovative, relevant & commercial
Choose suppliers for production based on performance levels
Attending weekly trade meetings and reacting to sales information.
Menswear Shirting Garment Designer – Research, design and development of menswear shape & textiles for shirtings through to production
Aware of market trends through regular comp shopping, and vesting international trade shows.
Compiled trend research, mood boards, researching and developing new ranges while also covering core basics.
With a critical eye drawing new styles, components and trims as fashion sketches in Illustrator | Choosing, sourcing & developing new fabrications, qualities, yarn counts and trimmings
Proficiently and accurately translated designs to packs and spec sheets for sampling and production, carefully picking each trim to work with the garment and fabric
Relating to the customer through shopping, focus groups, sales & attending weekly trade meetings
Experience with shape, performance, costing, fabric types, weights & finishes, garment dyes & creative wash techniques | Work within the critical path when possible to improve lead times
Worked closely with Tech to ensure all development, sealers and production are correct | Made sure the overall fit and finish of samples is correct with developer before style goes into production. Responsible for the performance of my range | Responsible for developing & producing best selling styles
Presentation - Present with authority & professionalism to Johnnie Boden, Directors and the teams
Senior Menswear Textile Design - Researching, designing and coordinating all of the menswear textile patterns across products such as: casual and formal shirts, boxer shorts,
swimwear, jackets, trousers, socks, t-shirts and knitwear. Creating designs from research to development to production. Compiling palettes, research & moodboards
Menswear Print Design – Designs include geometrics, spots, funky and traditional florals and Hawaiians, taking into consideration scale, proportion, drape & placement. Building these designs to
repeat, to textile industry measurements on Tex Design & Illustrator. Strong understanding of print process, textile bases & application of colour. Regularly visit design studios and archives.
Menswear Colourwoven Design – Ginghams, tattersalls, tartans, end-on-ends, dobbies, butcher stripes, deck and ticking stripes on a multitude of fabric bases.
Building these designs on the Tex Check design soft-wear, strong understanding of weave structures, fibres, finishes, scale, proportion, drape & placement
Tweed Design & Heritage Textile Research and Development - Work very closely with British and overseas mills to design and develop Boden tweed fabrics to be used across the ranges.
Comprehensive knowledge of heritage textiles, technicalities and categorisation. Lead a project to oversee the study and classification of historical mills archives, using sensibility and inspiration from ancient working practices with the application of modern technology and design. Excellent understand of tweed fabric usage & performance
Jersey & Knit Design - Research & develop jersey layouts and colourways across all Boden ranges
Colour - Excellent understanding and application to re-colouring designs to create collections.
Concept and Palette - Creator and predictor of seasonal project stories and palettes
Womenswear Textile Designer - Research, designing and coordinating all the tweed, check and stripe pattern work for womenswear across products such as: shirts, jackets, dresses, skirts,
shorts, jersey, swimwear. Creating designs from research to development to production. Compiling palettes & moodboards
Childrenswear, Baby & Teen Textile Designer - Research, designing & coordinating all tweed, check and stripe pattern work across the ranges. Compiling palettes, research & moodboards
Development Trips, Supplier Liaison - Boden ambassador, traveling to factories, print houses, mills and dye houses in the UK and around the world to engage in personable relationships
with all manufacturers, giving me fantastic In-depth knowledge of supplier capabilities. Collaborated with suppliers on sampling & development, taking samples through to the final product,
making sure that selected techniques and bases are achievable, within budget and in-keeping with the brand essence.
Production - Created supplier packs with in-depth instructions for fabric qualities, yarn counts, finishes, processes, techniques, screens, scales & colour seperation for sampling & production.
In-depth knowledge of the fabric / garment approval process. Mentor & lead team with the approval process
Trade Shows, Research Trips - Global design, buying & development trips
Archiver - Creator of a vast archive, catalogue complete collections with precise attention to detail & researching classifications
Retail - Regularly visited and worked in the Boden shop, visual merchandising, understanding the Boden customer profile, attentive to customers needs, style advice, monitor sales,
review colour stories, stock replenishment & keeping store tidy
Textile Designer
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Textile Designer | Idaho Design Studio, London | Sept 2003 – Sept 2004
Designing menswear formal fashion fabric on the Prima Nova CAD system, to be struck off for commission by key commercial high street brands such as: Topman, Burtons, Debenhams, Next & River Island
Designs included printed and woven - geometrics, checks, ginghams, paisleys, stripes, micro designs, spots, florals, dobbies and jacquards, taking into consideration scale, repeat & performance.
Often visited the brand HQs to sell work with director, to be briefed on projects and to deliver samples.
Worked as part of a small team and also on individual projects. Designed projects for corporate entities
Created supplier packs with in-depth instructions for fabric qualities, sampling & production
Compiled trend research, extensive customer profile research & presentation mood boards.
Also was in charge of general office administration
Skills
- Fashion
- Print Design
- Art Direction
- Woven
- Presenting
- Brand Identity
- Design
- Fabric
- Illustration
- Management
- Product Development
- Creative Direction
- Illustrator
- Indesign
- Photoshop
Education
BA(Hons) Textile Design
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Fashion & Textile