Senior Garment Technologist. Children's wear /Children's Brands. Multi product/ GiftingInitially freelance until offered the position of product technologist as part of the senior management team at Shop Direct. As the technologist on Freespirit and Dem, Shop Directs own brand children's fashion ranges I worked alongside Buyers and Designers to develop and manage own brand product range, focusing on due diligence, product quality and returns management.After a reshuffle of the technical departments I was reassigned to the role of Product technologist on children's brands, this department covered all of children's branded loathing and gifting including Nike, Adidas, Ralph Lauren, Hugo Boss and Mamas and Papas, responsibilities for this role included product reviews, safety assessment, quality management, packaging review, this was a role with a broad range requiring much multi product knowledge and excellent communication skills. Along with working with blue chip brands we often aided development with growing brands guiding them through fit sessions, quality and safety requirements through to collaborative product reviews and detailed returns reports.

Manageing the implimemtation and development of the quality and technical department. * Management development and training of technologists * Strategic Consulting, including business strategy development.* The introduction, sourcing and management of new and existing factories both UK and Asia.* Creation and implementation of supplier manuals Code of conduct.* Block and pattern development.* Cross functionality with input on range building and design.*!Manage sealing process, fit meeting schedule and on-time delivery of pre-productionsamples.

Freelance work setting up production and quality procedures to ensure the future success of the brand, including testing, approving/ commenting on sealing and production samples, creating initial specifications, setting up grade rules and excel workbooks for fit logs and critical paths, researching commercial standards of production to create a supplier manual and working with overseas suppliers to ensure factories meet with ethical and safety requirements.

Reporting to the QA manager, covering all older girls wear ages 4- 16 yrs to ensure quality and safetyEmployment ended early due to company in administration.

Ladies soft separates and occasion wear• Working on Ladies wear and Teen wear accounts• Main product area was mid to high end ladies embellished woven’s and jersey• Retail customers included ASOS.com, Jane Norman, BHS, Tammy, Peacocks and Ethel Austin.• Working with Factories and Suppliers in China, Hong Kong, Turkey, India• Covering accounts in the absence of Children’s wear Technologist• Managing the fitting of garments from prototype to gold seal,• Supplying technical specifications and clear diagrams/ instructions are sent and fully understood by factories• Working closely with the design team to experiment with new construction and trim techniques to develop new styles• Responsible for creative pattern cutting • Executing spot checks following AQL reports at warehouse to ensure quality • Instructing on care label requirements and approvals• Organizing and traveling to meetings with customers and suppliers• Ensuring all fabrics and garments are tested to meet each retailers quality standard • Producing initial technical specifications• Ensuring critical path is followed• Producing graded specs

Luxury bespoke Ladies occasion wear and tailoring • Working with customer and design specifications to produce couture garments • Checking garments to ensure size and quality• Recognizing fabric suitability and compatibility• Working with designers and clients to meet specifications• Calculating expenditures and quotations• Responding to any quality issues customers may raise and reviewing customer returns• Responsible for producing first patterns from design specifications• Pattern cutting and grading• Working with first prototypes through to production

Men's and ladies bespoke tailoring• Block Adaptation to produce a bespoke fit• Fittings from rough to completion• Learning and applying techniques of traditional bespoke tailoring• Organizing and prioritizing personal clientele and workload• Fabric, lining and interlining selection• Building strong customer/supplier relationships• Organizing high street deliveries and maintenance of store accounts