Aaron Thomas Email & Phone Number

Boston, Massachusetts, United States

Huntington Beach, Ca

• Established a new visual design language and creative direction for footwear, reconnected the brand image with iconic aesthetics and design principles, defined seasonal design stories across all categories, ensured originality and authenticity• Established brand driving Heritage, Performance, Lifestyle, and Essential franchises with innovative designs and methods of construction, authentic product, creative direction, and key marketing stories.• Partnered with Marketing to Identified emerging trends, established multi-season/product strategies. leveraged brand athletes and ambassadors for greater market impact.- Cultivated and inspired the team’s creativity and encouraged them to be proactive and consistently bring new ideas/innovative concepts into the design process and product reviews.- Held designers to higher standards and practices in sketching, design and innovation, target margins, and consumer comprehension. Pushed and challenging their abilities to expand their range.- Supported and built an environment that inspired creativity, collaboration, and trust in a fast passed atmosphere.- led the team in generating brand-defining product, category expanding, innovation, and storytelling for long and short term strategies.- Organized and Led design presentations and reviews involving designers, developers, sales, and marketing. Presented design concepts and finished product to key stakeholders, senior leadership, and cross-functional teams in final design reviews, pre-line, and sales meetings.- Collaborated with global regions, ensured opportunities are met through key footwear styles and designs. - Supervised product reviews at key stages throughout the development cycle to ensure manufacturability, quality, detail, construction, technical design development, solutions, and accountability.- Managed design team factory trips, oversaw proto reviews, and revisions. Promoted collaborative teamwork between design, development, and factory counterparts.

Huntington Beach, Ca

• Designed and developed pinnacle to essential products across all categories and genders. Established creative vision and design direction specific to each category while maintaining brand cohesion through authentic design language and aesthetics inspired by brand history and DNA• Collaborated with brand athletes to design and develop performance pro signature models, identifying key functional and style demands within their sport to enhance footwear and athlete performance while ensuring design integrity and brand authenticity.• Established a return to original DC design principles and aesthetics. Designing key styles that have achieved success as performance and lifestyle products setting the tone for the look and feel of future DC footwear creative direction and vision.-Led and inspired the design team throughout the creative process from concept to reality while offering technical guidance and mentoring of junior footwear and CGM designers.-Worked closely with product managers to ensure creative brief translation into brand authentic designs, and product that resonates with core consumers and inspirers loyal and future consumers. -Created and explored innovative opportunities in and outside of the design season, generated concept design briefs, while contributing to business strategy and creative initiatives.-Applied consumer insight and brand perspective to emerging technologies and construction methods to achieve enhanced performance capabilities in fit, durability, support, comfort, and functionality. – Maintained design discipline to fulfill designated project costs and margins while applying innovative construction methods and design language to achieve visual value and attractive aesthetics.

Huntington Beach, Ca

• Established the creative vision and design direction for DC Snowboard boots. Designed and engineered innovative performance-tech concepts, integrated heritage aesthetics, and detailing to create visually authentic designs and market originality.• Designed and developed brand-defining innovation(s), focused on advanced concepts to enhance user performance and comfort through fit, closure, warmth, moisture management, flexibility, traction, and impact protection. Including Aerotech, Park Series liner system, BOA Lacing systems, EVA/Gel toolings, and last.• Partnered with the category manager to ensure athlete and consumer feedback translation into the product offering and assortments specific to key riding styles and performance demands. Created strong seasonal themes of innovation, design, color, material, and applied graphics.-Developed a comprehensive understanding of consumer demands and trends through researching static and emerging trends at conventions, demos, and mountain interaction to ensure design alignment with key consumer needs and values.-Partnered with development and factory teams to explore and create new methods of construction (traditional lace/ BOA) to improve functionality, performance, and quality. Developed and tested prototypes addressing specific and common issues. -Organized and Built detailed tech-pack providing design and development information for over-all design and aesthetic, material placement, color, applied graphic print and trim, innovative elements of construction, technical drawings for toolings, and modeled parts- including cross-section views with detailed construction notes and measurements. -Effectively revised and adjusted pattern design, elements of construction, and technical drawings to achieve performance and aesthetic alignment with concept design.

Huntington Beach, Ca

• Focused on market growth opportunities in Action Sports Lifestyle and Essentials categories. • Design and developed key category expanding models and statement essentials focusing on building connections with aspiring consumers influenced by product experiences driven by brand athletes, action sports events, sport participation, and brand values. • Designed and developed a wide range of key styles that have achieved continued market success, expanding market penetration and brand footprint into BMX, Snow, MotoCross, and Rally consumer markets. Models include Frenzy, Decibel, Stack, Union & Union High, Stag, Clutch, Rival, and Driver.-As a designer I and II, my responsibilities include Design and developing footwear across multiple categories and genders including Men's, Women’s, Youth, and Kids. Providing a wide range of experience in design and consumer insight. -Managed workflow and projects through all phases of the design/development cycle, including: ideation sessions, initial concept design, and sketches, renderings, prototype testing, and supervision, guiding the design through factory development and engineering stages of revisions and construction to finished product and presentation.

Huntington Beach, Ca

• Owned and developed category creative vision and design directions specific to key account SMU programs and product offerings. ( i.e. Journey’s, Famous Footwear, Pacsun, Zumiez, and Tilly’s). • Designed and developed exclusive models for key account SMU programs, increasing category/brand revenue, and expanding the SMU style offering and unique quick-strike capabilities.• Designed and developed the “Net” a continued top annual seller to date.-Identified brand inspired consumer traits across all categories ( e.g., Skate, BMX, Moto, Surf, and Snow) to inform the creative direction and build customer loyalty among the inspired essentials consumer.-Generated original graphics for print application to footwear, print types included single image application to repeating patterns for print or textile development.-Created art for graphics by hand, Illustrator, and photoshop. Built and provided tech-pack layouts, color Pantone selection, trim lines, and print orientation for accurate factory/vendor development. -Expert understanding of the printing process, color interaction, sequence, and material/substrate interaction and effect. Experienced in sublimation and Screen printing applications, single to multiple colors. -Managed the development process to ensure accurate design execution and integrity throughout manufacturing, oversaw lab-dips, and strike-off reviews to ensured print and color accuracy, proper graphic alignment, and color registration upon shoe assembly and production.

Creating expanded bodies of personal work for gallery exhibits and sales. Affording additional experience in creating themed collections and series, time management, creative vision curation, and expression of personal values and concepts. It is still a continued passion of mine and a means for alternative creativity outside of my product design career that continues to build and strengthen my skills in the creative process.

Greater Los Angeles Area

Produced freelance editorial illustration and graphic design projects. Translated briefed concepts and ideas into tangible visual elements communicating, emotion, depth, movement, and message through composition, graphic arrangement and use of color and texture. Generated clients and produced illustrative paintings and digital art for use in editorial print in magazine and newspaper publications, e-commerce applications, print, and apparel graphics.

Buena Park, Ca

• Designed and generated art and graphics by hand, Illustrator, and Photoshop for various industrial printing machines and processes on stationery, labels, plastic containers & lids, boxes, and apparel. Responsibilities included logo, typography, and layout design, Infographic design, and final print set-up and technical layout with color sequencing.-Formated and prepared client artwork/graphics for print pre-production development including graphic clean-up, color registration, polymer printing plate production, and trimming.-Clients included: 99¢ Store, Big Lots, Target, Kmart, QVC, Coca-Cola and Pepsi products, In ‘n’ Out, McDonald's, Burger King, Carl’s Jr., Hardee’s, Generic Brands, Awesome Cleaning Products, Various Food and Drug, King Plastics Printing, Cebal Plastics & Printing.