Freelance apparel design services for men's, women's an children's product from concept through top of production. Services include all aspects relating to: Graphic Design, Textile Design, Apparel Design, Technical Design, Sourcing, Quality Control, Fit, and Grading.Accounts include: Ahead, Kate Lord, Page and Tuttle, Pro-Compression, Tamagear, Tehama, Izod G To learn more go to: www.thefashionelement.com

Design direction for men's and women's linesSupervision of creative and technical designsInteraction with the sales force on line presentationMerchandising and establishing price pointsPhoto shoot managementViist: http://www.aheadweb.com/

Designed, merchandised and sourced four mens and ladies fashion sportswear lines plus one corporate line each year under the Tehama, Izod G and Arnold Palmer labels. Trained and supervised a staff of five to ten design employees at any given time which includes Designers, Assistant Designers, Technical Designers and CAD Artists.Reviewed tech pack accuracy and distribution to overseas vendors.Conducted fit sessions for both men's and women's product lines to insure cohesiveness of fit. Determined SKU assortment each season as well as wholesale costs. Negotiated raw material costs as well as calculated finished good costs of domestic and overseas product. Superior communication skills with overseas vendors.Overseas travel; and Peru to check on current production as well as research new fabrications or products.Conduct twice yearly seasonal board reviews with licensees.Assist the production department with inventory purchase projections and rebuys.Organize and administer product presentations for sales meetings and trade shows twice yearly.Travel with Sales Reps to accounts nationwide on a as needed basis.Mentor design interns from various Colleges and Universities each Spring and Summer.AccomplishmentsProduct line increased company sales from $6 million to over $47 million in 9 years. Introduced the Izod G's ZONE:FX product launch that yielded $2 million in sales the first year.Design staff grew from two employees to ten.Overall weighted gross margin for the company increased from 53% to 58%.Established new import vendor relationships who continually bring us the most technically innovative fabrications.Streamlined design department procedures and forms as well as developed a design calendar to hit crucial product line introduction deadlines.

Design direction for the men's and women's line introductionsSupervision of Creative and Technical DesignersInteraction with the sales force on presentation of product linesMerchandising and pricing of lines

Table LinensDesigned and sourced table top products from USA, India and China.Traveled to art and fabric trade shows quarterly in the US and Germany for product development..Sourced, designed and merchandised new coordinated line introductions for three Home Furnishing markets yearly. Designed exclusive product introductions for various liscenses such as Guess Home Collection, Waverly and Debbie Mumm. Also developed private label programs for retailers such as Mervyn's, Target, K-mart and Wal-mart. Conducted product presentations to mass merchant, specialty stores and department store retailers. AccomplishmentsIncreased sales from 0 to $25 million in 2 years for table linen product line.Implemented domestic product development yields and construction specifications as well as streamlined manufacturing machinery requirements for new product lines.

FashionInvolved in all aspects of development, sourcing, styling and costing three home furnishing lines with annual sales of $7.5 millionDeveloped promotional and merchandising ideas to move discontinured inventory.Worked closely with sales, purchasing, product development, quality assurance and manufacturing to market produst at competitive price points.

Created garment styles and selected duplicate fabric, trim and special work. Directed sample makers; assisted in first pattern making; and processed all finalized duplicate garments into correct production channels.Liaison between contractors in the Dallas/Ft.Worth area, with responsibility for the inpection of garments through all stages of production.Accountable for the prompt and timely delivery of correctly constructed garments to company warehouse.