Josh Vester Email & Phone Number

Seattle, Wa, Us

Seattle, Wa, Us

As the Creative Director and Lead Product Designer at Coal Headwear, I lead the concept, design and overall direction of the brand’s creative vision. In this role, I’m responsible for creating a consistent and authentic brand voice across all product touchpoints. I work closely with cross-functional teams to ensure that the creative direction aligns with overall business goals and objectives.- Design and execute the overall creative direction for the brand, including seasonal color stories, artwork packages and headwear styles.- Lead the creation of brand guidelines and ensure consistent execution across all touchpoints.- Support the Development phase of all product designs, including hats, beanies, accessories and apparel/outerwear.- Collaborate with cross-functional teams to ensure that the creative direction aligns with overall business goals and objectives.- Manage multiple projects simultaneously, ensuring that all deadlines are met and all deliverables meet the highest standards of quality.- Develop and implement a cohesive creative strategy each season that aligns with Coal Headwear’s overall brand vision and business goals.- Collaborate with both internal and external partners, including photographers, videographers, marketing teams and other creatives, to bring the brand vision to life.- Build and maintain relationships with key stakeholders across the company, including senior leadership, product development and sales teams.- Foster a culture of innovation and collaboration within the product team, encouraging experimentation and risk-taking to drive new ideas and solutions.- Stay up-to-date on emerging trends and technologies in the fashion and outdoor industries by visiting trade shows, investing time in social media and trend shopping.- Act as a brand ambassador, representing Coal Headwear in my personal life and at industry events, building relationships with key influencers and partners.

Seattle, Wa, Us

- Owned the design of headwear collections, driving the creative process from concept to production.- Designed seasonal product lines, including hats, beanies, and accessories, ensuring they aligned with brand vision and market trends.- Collaborated closely with cross-functional teams in marketing, production, and sales to deliver cohesive product stories and meet business goals.- Supported material selection, prototypes, and product testing to guarantee quality and functionality in every design.- Managed multiple design projects, focusing on delivering innovative, trend-relevant, and functional headwear pieces.- Played a key role in maintaining the brand's authentic voice through product offerings, with a focus on outdoor and snowboarding-inspired designs.- Regularly presented design concepts to senior leadership and incorporated feedback to refine product strategies.

Los Angeles, Ca, Us

- Designs and develops backpacks and bag items- Conceptualizes new products- Works in conjunction with the Design Team, Technical Team and overseas personnel- Ensures that all sample designs are engineered for production efficiency- Prepares all technical specifications and drawings for overseas sample development

Seattle, Wa, Us

• Lead designer for Men's, Accessories and Packs/Bags.• Provide design/concept boards to communicate design and seasonal direction for apparel graphics and textiles.• Create artwork that illustrates design concepts and tell stories to the Marketing, Merchandising, and Sales teams.• Create and maintain all art files and transfer correct information to cross functional teams.• Compile tech packs and other materials to handoff to Development for sampling and manufacturing.• Lead fit sessions and product reviews for all prototypes, photo samples, size runs, salesman samples and pre-production samples to ensure quality and fit that meets design standards and overall brand objectives.• Demonstrate expert-level knowledge of current trends, color, technology, and other design influencers.• Partner with apparel and accessories designers to ensure that graphics stories and individual graphics/prints enhance the product aesthetic and fit with the overall design.

Seattle, Wa, Us

• Contribute to designing a line that reflects the aesthetic of the company, based on overall creative and seasonal direction and a good understanding of the market and the business.• Shop the market and trend resources for design inspiration (materials, color, silhouettes, etc.).• Create seasonal design presentation and product boards for meetings with senior members of design, and keep them updated with product developments throughout the season.• Collaborate with Merchandising and Development to ensure accurate and timely sample development, quality, and meet price objectives.• Prepare tech packages for the Development team that includes construction details, sketches, fabrications, trim sheets, and colors.• Attend fittings and provide fit comments to the Development team.

Seattle, Wa, Us

Playing an important role within the product team by creating high performance and top tier quality athletic products while maintaining strong, collaborative relationships between in house designers, developers and PLM's, as well as our international product team.• Review product samples against spec packs including all prototypes, salesman samples, pre-production, and photo samples to the highest level of accuracy to their specifications. All of this while working along side with the design team to ensure that design direction is met, and with the costing team to maintain FOB consistency and hit season targets.• Attend and organize multiple fittings while efficiently documenting product and material/trim updates including fit changes, fabric/trim updates, and any comments in updating the product. BOM updates are made and document in an organized fashion for both product and design teams to reference.• Work side by side with both design and materials team in the picking, choosing, and testing the quality and characteristics of material and trims. High levels of attention are also given strike-offs and lab dips, and comparing them to the company and season standards.

Contract position as Designer, Developer, and Patternmaker - working side by side with the owner for overall design changes and decisions.• Create a one of a kind, customizable apparel pattern for use in custom outerwear manufacturing. Pattern block was created and fitted through multiple fitting sessions in attempt to acheive the perfect 'freeride' fit for customers.• Headed up the overall design process from sketches to final garment design. Silhouettes, features, and trim functions were designed to accomodate riders during use, as well as the ability to be fully customized.• Developed spec packs and visiting factory on a regular basis to work through the prototype stages. Problem solved with fabric/trim availability as well as the overall capabilities of the factory.

Snoqualmie Pass, Washington, Us

Building and testing features in the Terrain Park while maximizing fun and safety!• Inspected, maintained, and opened the terrain park in the mornings. Each feature was inspected and deemed rideable and safe before it was open to the public.• Tested features to ensure they were riding properly, were not damaged, and that the overall measurements and angles were correct and safe.• Assisted Ski Patrol in reporting and assesing injuries that occured within the Terrain Park while taking the proper steps to asses the feature in question before it was reopened to the public.

Seattle, Wa, Us

Design Intern focusing on Soft Goods and Outerwear, and a slight focus in Binding Development.Main focus was with the sub brand Ride Snowboards.• Assisted in product photoshoots for Ride Snowboards catalogs, focusing on styling and overall continuity between piece to piece.• Built swatch libraries with all current fabrics and trims while recognizing the aesthetic of fabric choices for Ride outerwear.• Compared received garments with their corresponding tech packs that were sent out with them; my first introduction to working with factories directly overseas.• Attended sales meetings as a fit model and participated in the reveiw of new styles, fabrics, and features in upcoming outerwear styles.

Aas, Apparel Design And Development

Associates, Art/Business