My role at Richard Nicoll Ltd initially was to assist in the product development and production of all areas in the brand. As I am knitwear trained, I have introduced my skills and successfully built up a very strong knitwear collection, that is continuing to grow each season.Alone, I am responsible for managing the knitwear aspect of the business; starting from the initial design right through to production. I work directly with Richard on the initial designs and am responsible for… Show more My role at Richard Nicoll Ltd initially was to assist in the product development and production of all areas in the brand. As I am knitwear trained, I have introduced my skills and successfully built up a very strong knitwear collection, that is continuing to grow each season.Alone, I am responsible for managing the knitwear aspect of the business; starting from the initial design right through to production. I work directly with Richard on the initial designs and am responsible for sourcing yarns, and researching ideas for stitch and garment silhouettes that are fashion forward and within budget. I create all design and technical specification packs for each style, and liaise daily with suppliers in both Europe and the Far East to ensure samples are correct and ready on time for shows / sales appointments. Once sales orders are complete, I am responsible for organising and carrying out the pre-production fitting of the knitwear collection, and expiditing all fit amendments to ensure the collection is production ready. My management is then continued right through to delivery, ensuring the production is delivered within the critical path.Alongside my knitwear role, I also provide assistance to the Production Manager across the whole collection. Here, my role includes:- Creating all technical specification packs for each style within both women's and men's collections using Adobe Illustrator - Uploading styles into our web data base Zedonk, and assisting in pricing each style - Organising pre-production fittings, working closely with the pattern cutters on fit amendments for production- Getting production patterns out to grade- Liaising daily with factories in the UK, Europe and Far East from development through to shipment- Visiting suppliers- General admin Show less

Express allowed me to be part of a small and specialised knitwear design team, within a very large and successful high street fashion brand. I learnt beneficial industry skills such as:- Seasonal trend research- Market research and comparitive shop reports- Preparing technical packs for knitted garments to send to factories in the Far East- Liaising daily with the factories in Hong Kong via email and video call- Sending packages worldwide- Designing commercial… Show more Express allowed me to be part of a small and specialised knitwear design team, within a very large and successful high street fashion brand. I learnt beneficial industry skills such as:- Seasonal trend research- Market research and comparitive shop reports- Preparing technical packs for knitted garments to send to factories in the Far East- Liaising daily with the factories in Hong Kong via email and video call- Sending packages worldwide- Designing commercial knitwear for specific trend groups and seasons within a target price- Creating line sheets for styles put into work each season- Liaising daily with the buyers to ensure the designs are within budget- Designing stitch and embellishment ideas for knitted garments- Specification drawings for technical packs using Adobe Illustrator and by hand- Knitting fabrics for garment ideas and mood boards- Selecting fabrics at swatch / fabric appointments for garment ideas- Attending design fit sessions- Creating technical spec sheets for the fit team to send to the factories using Web PDM- Measuring garment samples back to specification- Dressing the showrooms for the buyers- Working closley with the production team to ensure styles arrive within the critical path- Working closely with all women's wear teams on creating the designs for the shop floor- Attended store days to speak with customers and the shop employees- General design admin Show less

My internship as a knitwear swatch designer involved many aspects:- Trend research- Creating seasonal mood boards for all the designers- Yarn and colour research- Yarn ordering- Designing / knitting fashion forward swatches to sit within the seasonal trends - Designing / knitting swatches specifically for projects set by clients such as Marks and Spencer- Designing / knitting show pieces for trade shows- Swatches would be knitted on a range of machines such… Show more My internship as a knitwear swatch designer involved many aspects:- Trend research- Creating seasonal mood boards for all the designers- Yarn and colour research- Yarn ordering- Designing / knitting fashion forward swatches to sit within the seasonal trends - Designing / knitting swatches specifically for projects set by clients such as Marks and Spencer- Designing / knitting show pieces for trade shows- Swatches would be knitted on a range of machines such as Domestic and Dubied hand flat machines in gauges from 3gg - 14gg- Ensured that we hit our target of a five swatch collection per week- Ensured that my collection was fashion forward yet still commercial I was also given the opportunity to travel to Paris for Premier Vision trade show, to assist in selling the collection. Many of my swatches were sold to brands such as Calvin Klein, Next, La Coste and Express to name a few. Show less