I am an experienced Outerwear and Leather Apparel Designer with proven skills in successfully building and implementing commercial ranges for both men and women. Having spent over 8 years in the industry across full-time and freelance roles, I have extensive experience in orchestrating all aspects of design alongside trend forecast translation, analysing consumer behaviour, product strategy and development and vendor management. With an instinctive eye for identifying winning trends, colour palettes, silhouettes and innovative materials, I am adept at utilizing all the range building tools and translating the same into crowd pulling collections. I strongly believe that it takes a team to achieve a goal and thus strong communication holds prime importance. With my experience and skills , I started a design consultancy named Studio Zero Nine ( https://www.instagram.com/studio_zero_nine/ ) offering clothing startups end-to-end design and brand identity solutions as well as working with established brands on their outerwear categories. I am an avid reader and a travel enthusiast with a penchant for learning new cultures and exploring new things - helping me to give substance to each of my designs and keeping me thrilled for any challenge that comes my way. I love painting a picture with each of my collection and I like to think what I offer is an experience to the wearer.
- Work collaboratively with design, buying and pattern teams of the client from concept to completion in line with the project brief. - Ensure the development of the collection as per the signed-off line-up. - Offer product interventions in line with the latest trends and market demands to accelerate sales and reach a larger audience. - Constantly evaluating trends, consumer behaviours , micro / macro sentiments and identifying selling opportunities. - Continuous R&D into innovative and sustainable materials , shapes, surfaces, detailing to identify and propose new ranges and prospective products. - Aide with sourcing from different vendors. Show less
Brands worked with included the following : 1. Mash Accessories ( Australia II December 2018 - September 2019 ) : Product categories included soft accessories for women and men. - Successfully developed the Spring Summer range a product display at Reed Gift Fair February 2019 leading to securing retail spaces at three outlets. 2. Beulah London ( UK II September 2018 - November 2018 ) : Capsule ranges for Light Outerwear and Summer Bags 3. BluCactus ( Netherlands II January 2017 - December 2017 ) : Product categories included leather accessories for men and women - Spearheaded and took the lead on the conceptualising and development of the first range of products to launch the brand across Europe. Show less
Buyer Portfolio included the following : - Germany : Esprit, Jean Paul, Breuninger, Peek and Cloppenburg, Glaw Berlin, Zalando, True Religion Europe - UK : Next, Bolongaro Trevor, House Of Fraser, Kenneth Cole, Preen, Hush, Asos, Joules, Debenhams, SuperDry - Netherlands : Tommy Hilfiger Europe, Arma - South Korea : Shinsegae - India : Royal Enfield Job Description - Worked closely with the design, merchandising and technical teams to create seasonal trend led commercial collections, from initial concepts through to finished products. - Worked hands-on, producing and presenting research, sketches, drapes and concept samples for collection development and product intervention, ensuring newness and offering true choice to the buyers with a 90% hit rate. - Together with merchandising, drove product development while considering sales analyses, buyer insights, contemporary brands’ study and the creative vision. - Led the preparation and coordination of product meetings with the buyers via showroom set-ups encompassing concept samples, surface mocks, fabric research and design sketches. - Travelled quarterly to meet all the buyers in Europe for product presentations and successfully concluded conversion of styles, materials and surface developments. - Researched runway shows, trend forecasting websites, high-street, fashion magazines, colour stories, silhouettes and innovations to create inspiring mood boards, trend bulletins and colour palettes and communicate the same to all relevant functions ( buyers as well as in-house teams and vendors ). - Produced detailed tech packs with all specifications for product development by the vendors. - Maintained a sampling tracker for all design records, including technical data sheets and other relevant details. - Liaised with the vendors to ensure deadlines are met and information was communicated accordingly throughout the development process. Show less
- Assisted the leather and outerwear team on design and other general day-to-day tasks.
- Assisted the leather accessories design team with day-to-day tasks.