Erika Opalski: Founder/CEO in Huntington Beach, CA
Work experience
Hybrid Apparel
Senior Designer | 07/2021 - Current
www.fourfourco.com
Give.One.Back.
4.4 children enter the foster care system in the U.S. every day and usually end up carrying their belongings from place to place in trash bags. 4.4% of all proceeds go towards our Give.One.Back. the mission which helps donate bags to children in foster care.
Made For Every Day:
Our products combine sharp designs with practical details to help you stay current and organized on all your journeys.
O'NEILL
Designer | 09/2019 - 06/2020
Responsible for designing knits, jackets, fleece, & walk shorts. Manage styles from
Concept to SMS, approve fabric, lab dips & strike offs. Work closely with design
Director and developers to create a strong sellable line that is true to the O’Neill brand.
TravisMathew
Product Manager | 08/2017 - 08/2019
Maintained line plan and ensured accuracy throughout the season while adhering to
the calendar deadlines. Analyzing sales figures, customer reactions, and market
trends to anticipate product needs of the consumer. Built calendar for design
and merchandisings key dates that align with the company goals
TravisMathew
Designer | 02/2014 - 08/2017
Responsible for designing full men’s lifestyle collections (polo,shirts,shorts outerwear,
wovens & capsules) where I continued to push the brand forward. Worked
directly with the design director & president to create the seasonal color palette & prints.
Designed our top key styles in the company history resulting in several vendors adding
multiple color-ways on replenishment orders for major box retailers such as Nordstrom.
Hybrid Apparel
Production Coordinator | 07/2013 - 02/2014
Functioned in a unique position where the crossover between development and
production merged. Maintained constant communication with account managers
and factories to ensure lab-dips, strike-offs and all samples were approved for quality
and arrived on time for key accounts with Kohl's, Walmart & Target.
The Walt Disney Company
Development and Manufacturing Costumer | 01/2011 - 07/2013
Part of a multi-functional team, which designs, develops and manufactures costumes for Disney parks worldwide
• Grew the tech design team into a full department in order to establish consistent samples and SAP documentation
• Assisted the designer with storyboards, fabric development & prints and attending fabric trade shows for sourcing
• Kept in constant contact with our vendors for delivery dates, lab dips, shipping, strike-offs and customs clearance & PO’s
• The biggest achievement was redesigning and developing the fabrics for all the princess in the parks worldwide
Cleveland Golf
Design and Merchandise Assistant | 06/2010 - 12/2010
Part of a dynamic and creative design team that specializes in men’s active wear golf apparel
• Executed designs, color-ups of existing artwork as well as original print patterns with direction from VP of Design
• Responsible for creating all tech packs/mill sheets and supported the design process to ensure we hit specific directional goals, target pricing and deadlines
Naked Zebra
Designer (womens) | 01/2008 - 06/2008
Part of design team creating a young contemporary line for a wholesale fashion company
• One of the head designers responsible for launching the first collection & store opening with proven sales in best selling styles
• Executed designs from inception to completion. Also responsible for tracking samples, lab-dips and artwork approval
• Traveled to China to communicate with factories, source fabric and trims, and follow up with new and current production