Bike

Moto & Powersports

Outdoor

Streetwear

Health & Fitness

Design Director | Performance Apparel | Innovation | Consultant | Adidas Innovation | Terrex | Oros | Montane |

Specialist & Consultant

Process Enabled Design

A brief overview of the creative steps I follow during my design process & projects. The process may adapt & change, but it always starts with the consumer.

Brutal Velocity

Collaboration between innovation design, athletes & the TLD brand - to build performance apparel beyond the norm.

Tokyo Surf

A personal project exploring how surfing could show up at the 2020 tokyo Olympics.

OROS apparel

Creative work behind the FW22 OROS Collection

As a design leader with expertise in creating cutting-edge, user-centered apparel products that redefine performance, enhance the consumer experience and elevate brand identity. My work is rooted in understanding the unique relationship between consumer experience, a brand’s values, material innovation, and design to discover product opportunities. From these opportunities, I can explore creative solutions across yarn, material, construction, silhouette, and color. Through my creative process, I aim to align ideas of brand value proposition, consumer desire, and design excellence to create innovative and authentic product concepts. Then holding the red thread between product and brand to help shape initiatives at high levels for global brands and start-ups alike. Crafting narratives around products, communicating concepts, and collaborating with stakeholders to create both longevity and internal/external impact. From working on global brand initiatives for adidas, focusing on projects such as women’s bras, as well as the Clima Chill and Clima Warm franchises. To creating the visual identity and product language for the start-up Oros Apparel, ensuring alignment with their unique brand promise and market position. My goal is to leverage the positive impact that design can have on a brand's bottom line. Expertise:Apparel Design Design Strategy Concept Design Consumer Insights Consumer-Centric Design Creative Direction Leadership &amp; Mentoring Manufacturing Processes Material Innovation Product Development Product Roadmaps and Strategy

I am a freelance performance sportswear designer with experience designing for a variety of product categories such as outdoor, sportswear, running, bike, and moto, for both genders. As an experienced cross-functional collaborator and design leader, I provide product vision, creative direction, collaborative innovation tools, and product design services to brands. I am familiar with working in small, self-motivated start-up environments as well as established design cycles typical of larger brands.

My focus is on consumer-centric design through consumer insight, observation, and empathy to identify needs that fuel innovative product solutions through design, detail, garment construction, and material selection.

Design Consultant | Performance Apparel | Innovation

Creative lead responsible for the design aesthetics and direction of the OROS apparel line, through a multi-year and seasonal lens. Starting by leading the work to define the target consumer, enabling greater product focus and identification of range expansion opportunities to meet the business growth goals.

_ Key stakeholder in building a collaborative go-to-market process, delivering a clear creative direction and product vision enabling the marketing teams to build compelling consumer-facing stories.

_ Created seasonal impact through the use of relevant key trend and colour information, to increase brand awareness amongst the OROS target demographic leading to greater sales.

_ Led multiple rounds of concept development, product development and collaboration which resulted in an innovative approach to applying insulation throughout the garments. Creating clear visual storytelling and reinforcing the unique reason to buy the product for the consumer.

_ Managed the collaboration process with snowsport athletes which resulted in a new pinnacle collection + and product offering for the OROS brand. The women’s bibs from the collection being recognized by OUTSIDE magazine in their ‘best new gear’ selection.

Design Director | Apparel | Softgoods | Creating + leading product vision

Led the creative exploration and concept development of advanced apparel projects for the Adidas global brand. Collaborating cross-functionally with Engineering and Sports Science teams to identify areas of research to fuel the design of impactful innovative concepts for the brand globally.

_ Collaborated on building the first framework for women’s apparel innovation roadmap, bringing a consumer-focused and cultural lens to the discussion.

_ Led the Women’s initiative for a year during a gap in project management. Organizing meetings, defining the process, and ensuring that all stakeholders had clarity and relevant information. 

_ Defined areas of interest and project scope with university research partners, to build a better understanding of the relationship between breast shape, tissue, and movement.

_ Designed multiple innovative bra concepts, including one at a highly commercial price point which went on to be the global sales leader, creating more confidence in the brand's ability to deliver innovation in this category.

_ Developed strong relationships with horizontal teams across the adidas business, working with stakeholders to understand pain points,  aiding the transparency around project direction, and facilitating adoption during handover. 

_ Ideated on the future application and aesthetics of key cross-category brand technologies ‘Heat’ and ‘Chill’, working closely with the materials innovation team and in-line partners. Leading to a successful material offering, and increasing adoption by individual business units.

_ Worked with smart materials [Bi-component alloys] to create adaptive garment concepts for runners in harsh conditions. Pushing the boundaries of what the brand thought of as possible in apparel innovation.

_ Developed an innovative agile tooling technique for creating composite 3D footwear pieces, providing the opportunity to create formed shoe uppers with different material benefits embedded. Patent for the technique in 2020.

Senior Designer, adidas Future team | product innovation | consumer insight | creative leadership

Responsible for the ideation and concept development of high-impact designs. Collaborating with innovation teams to bring together insights from; biomechanics, material innovation, consumer studies, and global brand needs.

_ Worked with consumer insight teams and athletes to create an understanding of the culture and needs of urban runners. Creating a design perspective that was adopted by the in-line team and heavily influenced their creative direction.

_ Ideated and designed a unique approach to athletic impact protection, revitalizing the protective category for Basketball and American Football business units.

_ Evolved the brand's ‘Powerweb’ franchise design language and functionality into a full-body suit. Validating the benefit to the athlete of enabling quicker reaction times and providing inline teams with a visual direction for commercialization.

_ Led the design of apparel informed by motion capture, to allow greater freedom of movement for the wearer. Resulting in a groundbreaking collaboration between Troy Lee Designs and Adidas for the co-branded motocross team.

_ Worked with university partners and internal engineering teams to create and validate aerodynamic interventions to increase Olympic-level sprinters. Ideating through placement on the body, material choices, construction techniques, and gathering athlete feedback.

_ Mentoring junior designers and leading co-mentoring initiatives with in-line design teams to deepen relationships and collaboration.

Designer, adidas Futures team | apparel innovation | consumer insight | concept development

Leading design for Premium Trekking, Trekking and Mountain seasonal ranges, 150 plus styles [including carry-over styles]. Conceiving apparel designs in line with overall Adidas performance design language and Outdoor product line management needs.

_ Leveraged my experience into elevating the quality, construction and design of Outdoor products. Creating a greater sense of authenticity and purpose within the product line.

_ Oversaw the evolving design language of the ‘Super Trekking’ collection - which resulted in the Down pieces becoming sales leaders for the business unit.

_ Mentored junior designers, enabling the design team to deliver at a high level across all ranges.

Apparel designer for adidas Outdoor | apparel design | seasonal trend | technical design

Working in a small team to deliver world-class ‘fast and light’ products for the new brand in the UK outdoor market. Closely collaborating with marketing, sales and athletes to build a product that aligned with the brand’s ethos. 

_ Designed and co-created some of the world’s lightest garments, at the time. Including sub 70g windshirts and sub 200g waterproof jackets.

_ Developed range extensions and new categories of products for the Montane brand, enabling the authentic diversifying of sales into run + bike categories [increasing sales].

_ Awarded numerous ‘best-in-test’ accolades by gear publications as we developed best-in-class solutions for garment construction and design.

Design | creative direction | performance apparel | product innovation

Alistair Hather: Design Director | Performance Apparel | Innovation | Consultant | Adidas Innovation | Terrex | Oros | Montane | in Portland, Oregon

Alistair Hather

University of Derby

University of Liverpool