AWAKE NY
Men’s Design Director August 2022 – Present
Men’s senior designer December 2021-August 2022
Works directly with Design Director & Founder Angelo Baque (formerly of Supreme) to develop collection, core & collaborations for the Awake NY brand. Items such as apparel, accessories, footwear and collectors items (cups, record disc mat, rugs, racing helmets) are designed and produced in house. Seasonal artwork is created in collaboration with artist such as Phade, Stephen Meier & Sam Friedman. Each collection begins with a presentation consisting of vintage tears and market samples to establish the foundation of the collection. Details are reviewed and allocated to new & existing styles to further the brand design language. Items such as jackets, woven tops, woven bottoms, hoodies, crew necks, sweaters, cardigans, sweatpants and t shirts are further designed into for the 1st round of sketch review. Each collection consists of 3 rounds of sketch reviews and finalized with our in house wholesale rep. Once the collection is finalized a line sheet is created to present to wholesale accounts. Tech packs are created as the line sheet is reviewed with wholesale accounts. Each tech pack consists of a full breakdown of the style from construction callouts, colorways, spec sheets and bill of materials. The tech packs are submitted to our factories in Korea, Portugal, Peru & Los Angeles and followed by zoom, email and message apps to review any call outs or concerns. Protos are spec’d and fitted on our in house model and comments are sent to the factory to proceed into a TOP for campaign shoot. Campaign ideas are discussed with our head of social media and are actioned as a team. Awake NY is a small company designed to have overlapping roles due to its brand philosophy of team work, community and POC empowerment.
CONSULTANT
Men’s senior designer
September 2020 – September 2021
Consulted directly with the Creative Director and Founder to establish a street wear oriented boys line from the ground up. The brand brief was to focus on sustainable fabrics, wash and production methods but to showcase in a street wear format to connect with a Gen Z demographic. Season 1 was developed through rounds of concept and inspiration to establish the brand through identifiable silhouettes, design language and branding. Graphic t shirts were designed each season to consist of logo flips similar to Supreme and Palace Skateboards and also consisted of graphics to further the brands sustainable practices similar to Online Ceramics, Advisory Board Crystals, Story MFG & Bode. Each collection was reviewed with in house buyers to fulfill financial and calender requirements. During season 2 the line was expanded to a 40% increase in top tier stores and has now grown to a 60% store increase. Sell through for season 1 & 2 remained high with minor discounting to make way for additional deliveries/drops to sustain momentum.
KITH
Men’s designer
July 2018 – May 2020
Collaborated cross functionally with Founder Ronnie Fieg, VP of men’s design, Director of merchandising and the Director of product development and production. Designed collections for Kith Classics (formerly Kith 101), in line collection and collaborations with Adidas, Versace, Tommy Hilfiger, New Balance, Russell Athletics, Coca- Cola and Mastermind Japan. Each in house collection was produced utilizing vintage tears, market samples and mood imagery for color stories. Each collaboration was produced by visiting the brand archive pulling iconic items along with a deep dive from vintage sellers, social and blog accounts. Collections were produced with factories in Italy, Portugal, China & Vietnam.
J. CREW
Men’s designer
February 2015 – June 2018 Women’s associate designer June 2012 - February 2015
Worked closely with the Design Director to develop in house prints, patterns and yarn dyes for each collection. Interfaced closely with print and pattern vendors to purchase and commission custom artwork. Traveled to London, Hong Kong, Los Angeles & Boston for market research and factory development trips. Established on going relationships with vintage dealers across the globe to acquire unique samples to design into for the collection. Worked closely with mills in the UK, Italy, France, Asia and North America to develop custom fabric.
EDUCATION:
Fashion Institute of Technology August 2010 - May 2012
PROGRAMS:
Creative Suite, PLM, Microsoft Suite, 3-D CAD