Heather Martin:

Owned and designed all kid boy apparel collections. Worked closely with design directors on concept, color pallets, fabric/trims, and print/graphic direction. Rendered technical garment sketches using Illustrator and Photoshop. Created and maintained technical information packages. Successfully worked cross-functionally with merchandisers, technical designers, and production designers to develop compelling collections. Managed assistant designers to keep them on task. Completed all projects on time, within budget, and in an organized manner.

As a Fashion Design Instructor at the Academy of Art University, I taught BFA and MFA students every aspect of apparel design from concept, to fully illustrated (portfolio ready) fashion collections. This includes the development of sketchbook inspiration with fabric, color, mood, silhouette, texture, styling, and garment construction. Students learned to hand draw color fashion croquis displaying fabric, texture, styling, silhouette, and construction details. I also taught them to render flat technical sketches, and how to create mood boards.

As the owner, buyer, and designer my responsibilities covered a broad landscape. I developed a monthly open to buy plan for all men’s/women’s/clothing/accessory categories, creatively merchandised inventory, built inspiring window displays that drove foot traffic, managed inventory levels, attended industry trade shows for purchasing goods, trained and managed a successful sales team, developed strong working relationships with vendors and sales reps, created marketing events, publications, and advertisements, executed payroll and all accounting responsibilities, balanced the budget, maintained a monthly profit and loss report, and created a working environment that was inspiring and supportive. In addition, I designed and produced a private label collection that offered women’s dresses, blouses, accessories, and men’s graphic tees.