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

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.

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.

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.

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.