More Information

Heather M. McKenzie

styleportfolios.com/HeatherMcK
cargocollective.com/HeatherMcKenzie
etsy.com/people/OneOnlyOne

Experience
Ralph Lauren, Blue Label/POLO,
New York, NY
February 2013 – February 2015
Cut and Sew Knit Design Freelance
* Coordinating with design team, directors, illustrators, PD, factories, CAD team, trim department, tech designers to develop a completely new division, Women’s wear POLO.
* Researching and developing for five conceptual seasons, including pulling tears, shopping the market, pulling relevant vintage pieces, choosing fabrics.
* Working with local sample makers to affect changes to showroom samples within short time limits
* Tech Packs: including measurement specifications, Illustrator flat sketches, trims, finishing details.
* Working with Illustration team to capture the attitude and render color and fabrication of each design within the line.
* Building patterns from vintage garments and relative retail samples.
* Developing lace and crochet patterns, embroiders and beaded embellishments.
* Daily communication with overseas offices and factories
* Participating in twice weekly proto fittings, working directly with technical designers to perfect fit and construction.

White House | Black Market,
Fort Myers, FL
August 2012– January 2013
Concept Design Freelance
* High Level product and color concept design strategist with ability to build evolve and innovate the brand DNA.
* Successful impact in trend right concepts with focused research, execution and vision.
* Monthly conceptual development focusing on lifestyle and mood defining a clear outline of the brand with how elements evolve and update.
* Designed color, concept and trend research with focus on mood, color, fabrics, prints, design details, lifestyles and outfitting, to give the design teams and merchants a clear direction on monthly collections.

Ralph Lauren, Blue Label,
New York, NY
January 2012 – July 2012
Freelance Knits Designer
* Managed entire FOA, FOE, FOJ and CYO collections under Blue Label.
* Improved tech pack set-up; construction details, front and back sketches and critical spec measurements for design pass-off to production within calendar deadlines.
* Collaborated with design director, SVP and other teammates in preparation for meetings.
* Researched various venues for design inspiration and constantly looked through RL heritage library working closely w/men’s department for a collaborative collection to help injected new ideas concepts into blue label basic mesh programs.
* Attended all weekly fittings helped fit direction, color, esthetics and placement of artwork.
* Developed relationships with buyers and merchants to develop more cost efficient product.
* Illustrated cohesive design pieces to reflect trends and aesthetics of the Polo Ralph Lauren Brand, under director’s direction.
* Prepared tech packages, line sheets, presentation boards updated them throughout the seasons.
* Assisted in coloring and pass color to Production and Merchandising team upon director’s approval.

Calvin Klein Jeans,
New York, NY
November 2011 – January 2012
Cut and Sew Knits / Sweaters Design Freelance
* Maintained and managed cut and sew knits through coordinating with PD, tech, merchants and graphic design for preliminary line planning.
* Developed concept, color, fabric and details to all development for presentation meetings.
* Helped develop and inject new designs into cut and sew knits and sweaters; while managing the layouts, design sketches, fabric LD’s, handlooms, fittings and all the preliminary development stages for samples.
* Managed designs through WebPLM and executed all hand drawings in Illustrator.

ADJMI Apparel Group for Skechers,
New York, NY
June 2011 – November 2011
Woven and Knits Design Freelance
* Developed key market trends for Skechers Infant, Toddler, 4-6x and Tween markets.
* Managed design and market research by developing benchmarking trends, buying competitive silhouettes, selecting great embellishments, prints and graphics.
* Worked closely with VP of Merchandising and Design, Graphic Design team for assortment.
* Maintained and managed quality of samples through constant fittings.

Aéropostale,
New York, NY
March 2011 – June 2011
Lightweight Knits Design Freelance
* Collaborated with knit director to design trend right product while maintaining the financial goals of the brand.
* Coordinated design meeting with the knit’s director to get key item boards prepared for high level review, color/concept and sketch review meetings.
* Designed illustrating and developing design detailed work sheets and added continual updates of competitive design ideas with key market silhouettes.

Express LLC,
New York, NY
December 2009 – March 2011
Assistant Designer RTW Cut and Sew Knits
* Developed a strong partnership within a cross functional team of cut and sew knit merchants, production, graphics and tech teams.
* Performed the following daily functions; pass off’s, fittings, fabric and trim meetings, development emails, designing/sketching, WebPDM tech packs, and illustrator sketches/layouts.
* Responsible for development from concept to production pass offs; daily communication for new fabric/yarn developments, trim development and garment construction.

Banana Republic,
New York, NY
August 2009 – December 2009
Sweater / Cut and Sew Knits Design Freelance
* Worked in women’s design hand sketching for all categories; knits, sweaters and soft accessories.
* Managed deadlines in accordance with three design categories while working within the corporate calendar for multiple design/merchandising meetings.
* Developed pattern layout and placement embellishment with all new designs per each category.

J. Crew; Madewell LLC,
New York, NY
March 2009 – August 2009
Cut and Sew Knits / Denim Design Freelance
* Designed women’s prints, stripes and pattern layouts in Illustrator and Photoshop.
* Hand sketched and created tech packs for daily pass off to tech design and production.
* Produced exclusive, designer denims, including; washes, various distressing and painting techniques.

Heatherette,
New York, NY
May 2007 – August 2007
Couture Dress Design Apprenticeship
* Gathered trend right design prints and recreated them in Photoshop to have printed fabric created for New York Fashion Week ’08, while hand sketching dress ideas and help sewing different embellishment layouts on each dress.
* Hand constructed garments with creating and correcting patterns, sewing up samples/mock-ups and helped review fit samples with daily in house fittings.

Warnaco Inc. Swimwear Group for Nautica,
Los Angeles, CA
June 2006 – August 2006
Swimwear Apprenticeship
* Created look books for Spring ‘07 Collection and collaborated with design director, designers and divisional merchandiser for Assortment Planning.
* Illustrated Swimwear collections for design competition and collaborated with in-house pattern maker and sample sewer for 1st proto.

Prestige, P.K.N. International,
Los Angeles, CA
October 2002 – January 2005
Designer
* Designed entire men’s collection for seasons from ’03 to ’06. Created, developed and produced all knit and woven divisions.
* Collaborated with sale representatives for Assortment Planning and Flow of Goods for MAGIC.
* Global business travel: France for PV and Texworld, China for development and QC in woven and knits, Las Vegas for MAGIC, New York for print shows including Print Source and Direction.

Michael Brandon, B.J.D.,
Los Angeles, CA
August 2001 – October 2002
Assistant Designer and Pre-Production Development
* Designed men’s private labels; BACHARACH and Linea Dome for Nordstrom’s.
* Assisted in overseas communication for samples and production of MB private labels.
* Worked in design team executing design sketches, graphics, fabric developing though Gerber Easy Knit and Easy Woven programs with season right colors.

Qualifications and Personal Attributes
Computer Skills: Excellent knowledge in WebPLM, WebPDM, Excel, Illustrator, Photoshop, Adobe Bridge, InDesign, Microsoft Word, Power Point, Gerber Easy Knit and Easy Woven.

Hand Skills: Attention to detail; sketching, illustrating, knitting, embellishing, sewing, draping.

Business: Successful in achieving my own housing businesses both the West and East coasts.

Retail: Leadership ability, sales trainer for Esprit and BCBG for over three years, contributing to store layout, visual display and maintaining all weekly sale goals for key item sales.

Graphic Design: Graduated with a Professional Certificate in Graphic Design, designed in programs using; textile layout, multimedia design and multiple programs for sketching/Illustrating.

Education
Otis College of Art & Design, Los Angeles,CA June 2005 – May 2008
Bachelor of Fine Arts, Fashion Design
Mentors: Juicy Couture, Libertine, La Blanca, Trina Turk

Pasadena City College, Pasadena, CA
January 2005 – July 2005
Course Work: Life Drawing, Model Drawing, Art History

University California of Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA September 2002 –March 2005
Professional Designation Certificate, Graphic Design

The Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising, Los Angeles,CA
June 1999 – June 2001
Associate of Arts, Fashion Design

Leadership Activities
• Arts Day LA, UCLA - Volunteer Work
• Student Activities Award
• Phi Theta Kappa (honor society) - Mentor Program and Tutoring
• The MODE (school newspaper) - Staff Leadership Role
• FGILA (Fashion Group International of Los Angeles) – Weekly Meetings/Gatherings/Networking
• DECA/DEX (Delta Epsilon Chi) - State Conference and National Career Development Conference