Frances Walker Email & Phone Number

United Kingdom

Creative/design direction, hands-on design and product development for brands including:- YMC / You Must Create - Stuart Trevor- N. Peal- Private White VC- Liet mfg Canada

Group Creative/Design director - Brands owned by The Blue Thread Group include Thomas Pink, Community Clothing, T.M. Lewin, and yet to be relaunched, Kilgour and Bernard Weatherill

Worked alongside the founder David Keyte on the seasonal creative and product direction. Sourced fabrics and designed across the range expanding the knitwear offer and creating an extensive catalogue of new designs for future ranges

• Creative and Design Consultant for luxury and premium men's and women's clothing and accessories. Seasonal creative vision, brand and design direction, alongside hands-on design and product development. Introduced new.
• Private White VC ["Modern British Luxury Clothing" made in their own Manchester factory]
• Basic Rights ["Uniform for Creatives" founded by Freddie Cowan of the band "The Vaccines"]
• Jaeger Menswear
• L’Estrange
• Drakes

St Agnes, Cornwall, United Kingdom

Working alongside the passionate and inspiring founder Tom Kay, devised a 3 year Design and Product strategy in line with the brands pioneering sustainable credentials and ambitious business objectives. Alongside the development of new technical outdoor product and surf gear, lead Design in the creation of a broader core offer of easy, brand-distinctive.

London, Greater London, United Kingdom

• Defined the creative concept and product direction for the seasonal collections working alongside buying/merchandising to ensure collections successfully balanced easy, enduring core product lines with seasonal heroes
• Designed across all clothing and accessories helping to improve consistency in the overall fit of the clothing.
• Introduced new capsule ranges of Luxury product, Golf and Swimwear along with likeminded expert suppliers
• Presented ranges to the Mr Porter Managing and Buying Directors for final sign-off and Collaborated with the dynamic Mr Porter style, creative and marketing teams, to continue distinctive and consistent brand identity.

London, United Kingdom

• French Connection - Creative/Design Consultant for Menswear and all Global brand Licensed product
• Community Clothing - Design consultant working with founder Patrick Grant
• Kra’ge - Womenswear luxury start-up. Working on strategy-sourcing-design-development with the founder Frida Rednapp

• Re-established a Menswear Collection for Jigsaw after a 13 year hiatus. The Collection launched in Spring 2012 reaching a £10.5million turnover by early 2016
• Reporting directly to the CEO, responsible for creating a distinctive and relevant new Creative Brand vision for Menswear inclusive of branding, product and imagery.
• Responsible for devising the initial Brand Strategy including market research, price architecture, product categories, range/buy plan and a programme for the reintroduction of Menswear.
• Built a tight, like-minded, "silo" Menswear team across Design, Technical, Production and Merchandising within the Jigsaw business
• Introduced and built strong relationships with premium expert, European Menswear manufacturers for all clothing, footwear and accessories.
• Hands-on approach to the design and development process working directly with pattern cutters and garment technicians in the factories to continuously improve block-fits, optimize any new techniques and ensure the best.

• Following graduation and a Paul Smith Design award, joined Nicole Farhi as Head Designer to launch a Menswear collection to sit alongside the successful Womenswear range. Over 22 years worked closely alongside Nicole.
• In addition to Menswear, designed Womens mainline knitwear 1989-1996, the womens second line Diversion 1991-1996, and Golf and Childrenswear capsule ranges 2002-4.
• Sourced and established lasting relationships with expert Italian, Portuguese, UK and Far East Menswear manufacturers for the clothing, accessories and footwear
• Collaborated directly with prestigious European mills in the creation of exclusive seasonal fabrics including prints and embroideries, for both the mens and womenswear collections
• Gained a Comprehensive technical knowledge and passion for knitwear and unstructured tailoring and outerwear in particular
• Presented collections to the wholesale, retail and export teams to ensure a cohesive and aspirational representation of the collection