What is a Technical Apparel Designer?
Well, there is a surprising amount of overlap with software development...
Before I began my coding career, I spent half a decade working in the fashion industry as a Technical Apparel Designer.
Job Purpose & Goal:
My main focus in this role was to execute the design team's vision for each season's collection while protecting and enhancing best-in-class fit & function (read: user experience).
My work was iterative, and involved weekly research to identify user pain points: Is it warm enough? Is the pocket in an intuitive place? Can you sit down comfortably? Does it fit as expected?
From there, I would research, prototype, and test solutions to these user-focused problems before sending the best solution to stores (read: pushing to production).
Throughout the development process, I analyzed user-submitted data and led focus groups to guide product improvements. I worked within tight timelines & budget constraints, managed cross-functional team members' expectations, and tracked product development using the industry's version control equivalent.
It's All Collaboration:
In this position, I collaborated closely with internal design, sourcing, and QA teams, as well as third-party factories, to develop over 60 products per quarter.
The product I worked on was notoriously complex, and as a product expert, I led training efforts for new team members to ensure they quickly got up to speed with such a complicated product. I also developed and implemented standard operating procedures (SOPs) and best practices that streamlined workflows and improved efficiency. I provided ongoing support to ensure adherence to these standards, which contributed to improved team performance and consistency across projects.
Additionally, my role included presenting my ideas and work to both my cross-functional peers and the brand's leadership team. To facilitate this, I led weekly collaborative working sessions with my peers to align on each style. I also summarized and presented high-level key takeaways to the company's leadership team for their buy-in prior to finalizing products and customer research.
Outcome:
In this role, user experience was quantified by True To Size (TTS) ratings calculated from online reviews. I improved the user experience by 9%, achieving an average of 94% TTS.