Linsy Baker Email & Phone Number

Water Orton, Gb

Warwick, England, United Kingdom

Freelance costume assistant and project maker

Birmingham, England, United Kingdom

I have been lucky enough to be selected to assist with the making of the costumes for the ceremonies at the Commonwealth games 2022. I have re-kindled my creative urge and hope to carry this on in some way beyond the games.

Birmingham, United Kingdom

Buyer for the Non-Book division. Departments brought/developed included-all art and craft products, both everyday and seasonal in adults and children’s ranges for both retail outlets and ecommerce. Previously here I covered confectionery, diaries and calendars, cards and wrap, Xmas cards and wrap and seasonal product. In my final 3 years my primary responsibility was the rapid expansion of the craft department, to the extent we opened the standalone ‘Craftworks’ stores as a new format. I was responsible for all of this chains product range, with the exception of book range. I was also heavily involved with the web tutorials, promotional campaigns and ‘the craft club’ for Theworks.co.uk

High Wycombe

Buying/sourcing/Developing handbags and other fashion accessories to supply to boutiques across the UK, France,Spain,Germany, Switzerland and Belgium.I was brought into this young business to develop a new handbag division of the business from scratch. Other responsibilities included-Managing tradeshows and sales targets for theseLiasing with factories in the Far EastShipment tracking, co-ordinating of containers etcCustomer ServiceWebsite product listings and copy writing to optimise salesWorking with the Marketing Manager to design a new product range suitable for the boutique fashion market

Birmingham, United Kingdom

This was a temporary position supporting various short staffed depts. I covered seasonal product along with fashion accessories and footwear doing everything from range building to product analysis. For the last 5 months I was acting as Buyer for the Personal Accessories dept which includes stationery, keyrings, toys, phone accessories, licensed product and room accessories. Turnover on this dept is €20million+. The role included managing an Admin, strategy planning, working with other depts.(UK and Internationally) as well as product sourcing to meet margin targets, intake dates etc

Manchester, United Kingdom

I was brought on board at Japinda to design/develop and Account Manage fashion bags and purses. After 1 year I also introduced other accessories to the product offering- including hair accessories, jewellery, belts, scarves, baby change bags and gloves. I worked on everything from shipments to range development for many High Street stores from M&Co to Next. The role here was extremely varied working with Far East suppliers and the retailers themselves to offer the best product, at the best price. Travel was a big part of the Job, around Europe to see customers/trade fairs and to the Far East for sourcing and development. In March of 2010 Japinda was purchased by Ultimate Products, where my role changed to Buyer. In July 2010 it was decided to close the Fashion Accessories Dept. within Ultimate Products so I chose to take redundancy rather than move depts.

Wilmslow

Here I was responsible for the global image and range of all non-soccer footwear and accessories for Umbro PLC. This involved managing a team of designers, developers and technologists to cover product to cater for every territory Umbro franchised out. The role involved extensive travel due to the large area covered, working with each country and their needs. Conference planning was a big part of this as range presentations and sales had to be bi-annually presented to 400 delegates from the various countries. Whilst here I worked with high profile designers such as Kim Jones (currently creative director at Louis Vuitton), Dirk Bikkemberg and Phillip Treacy on High end sports collaborations and shows/exhibitions.

I started at Claire’s as an Assistant Buyer for all accessories- gradually working up through the ranks to eventually be in charge of trend prediction and development/design for Europe and Japan- as well as working hand in hand with the US team for their design and development division. My role here covered various accessories/novelty areas from cosmetics to scooters! I learnt a huge amount about everything from testing to visual merchandising as my time there covered so many areas and the product was constantly changing.

I.I.S.Theath And Fitness Teachers Diploma

Hnd In Art (Textiles/Metalwork And Ceramics)

Fashion Promotion And Illustration, Uncompleted

Fashion & Design

Level 2 Fitness Instructor

Level 2 qualification for gym based fitness instruction