JACKIE AYRES
Westerville,OH
Summary
Creative Business Owner with exceptional background spent in the fashion and accessory industry. Proven leader with an engaging demeanor and success working in most demanding environments. Successful ability to manage a concept from ideation to execution in all areas of concept, design, sourcing, and budget through final delivery. Talented in training and mentoring successful teams.
Overview
23
23
years of professional experience
Work History
Business Owner & Designer Dyetology
Dyetology LLC
Westerville, Ohio
07.2015 - Current
- Dyetology is line of women’s hand-dyed apparel and accessories made from premium natural fibers made in Westerville, OH
- Devised and deployed sales and marketing tactics to drive strategic growth and support the achievement of revenue goals
- Built social media presence on Facebook, Instagram, and Tik Tok by daily posts, and live videos to engage and educate followers on how products are hand-dyed as well as product attributes
- Grew online sales 510% as a result of successful brand building through social media and live sales, email campaigns, and Facebook/Instagram ads
- Design, development, and product lifecycle management of all products
- Studied market to determine optimal pricing of goods and capitalize on emerging opportunities
- Focused on limited size runs, pre-sales, and leveraging fabrics across styles
- Website design and maintenance of all pages and products on-site including photo styling of products and imagery on-site, costing in the system's backend.
Design Director
Thirty-One Gifts
03.2017 - 08.2017
Senior Design Manager
Thirty-One Gifts
02.2013 - 03.2017
- Motivated and lead a team of 8 to design a dynamic product assortment of handbags, accessories, home, thermal, and utility products that supports the brand vision and achieves business results
- Responsible for the selection, development, and retention of team members including 7 new hires (full-time positions, interns, and full-time freelancers) and the promotion of 4 team members.
- Established and set clear performance objectives, mentor, monitor workload, and appraise performance
- Lead the aesthetic execution of product to include: color, fabric and finish standards, trims, and print and pattern
- Responsible for consistency of design across all product categories to ensure a cohesive brand identity
- Collaborate with Technical & Product Development teams to enhance product execution, construction, and functionality as well as meeting cost targets. This included overseas travel to factories with key Technical and Product development partners to finalize products for production and work on new development
- Manage the Design department budget to include all expenditures such as freelance support, print, and graphic purchases, travel, and samples.
Creative Designer
Bath & Body Works
09.2012 - 02.2013
- Accessory design, to include: cosmetic bags, novelty socks, eye masks and sponges
- Designed prints and characters for socks, eye masks, and sponges
- Created and presented trend boards
Senior Designer
Lane Bryant
04.2007 - 05.2012
- Responsible for seasonal and core assortment for Denim and Casual Separates which generates $110-115 MM/annually (approximately 13% of total company's sales volume). This includes designing all denim silhouettes, trims, and building tech packs. Directed Denim and Casual Separates fabrics, wash, styling, and fit
- Managed multiple categories, to include: Denim Separates, Casual Separates, Casual Woven Tops, Active Wear, and Outerwear
- Lead and mentored a team of 3 (associate designer and freelancers), managing creative process of all Denim and Casual Separates from concept to development. Supervised employee workloads and followed the calendar to ensure all deadlines were met
- Made key fit decisions for product, also collaborates with Technical Design partners to develop key Blocks for responsible areas
- Shopped for competitive samples throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia to identify market trends and to determine design direction for each season
Senior Designer
Bath & Body Works
12.2000 - 04.2007
- Managed multiple categories, including: True Blue Spa, Botanical Nutrients, seasonal gifts and accessories, and core accessories
- Collections included: soft bags, accessories, baskets, and hard goods
- Communicated daily with vendors regarding product development and sample tracking through the development cycle
- Built excellent relationships with overseas factories, partnering with them to meet deadlines and deliver products
- Traveled frequently to Hong Kong to develop samples for collections and execution of seasonal and core items with vendors
- Shopped competitive samples and patterning throughout the United States, Hong Kong, London, Paris, and Milan.
Education
Bachelor of Fine Arts - Fashion Design
Columbus College of Art And Design
Columbus, OHBachelor of Science - Corrections And Juvenile Services
Eastern Kentucky University
Richmond, KYSkills
- Apparel & Accessory Design
- Product Development
- Process Improvement
- Strong Communication and Interpersonal Skills
- Team Building & Collaboration
- Staff Development
- Organization,Time, & Detail Management
- MS Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook)
- Adobe Illustrator
Accomplishments
- Grew Dyetology online sales 510%
- Genius Fit” Denim Launch: Designed and developed silhouettes, design details, back pocket deco, and trims used on jeans. Program used new INVISTA Dual FX technology denim. Upon launching, sales were +40% to plan (Lane Bryant)
- Redesign of Core "Right Fit” Denim program: Developed and implemented new washes: “Ink” wash generated $12.5 mil/400k units. Core Right Fit program accounts for approx 40% of sales of total denim assortment (Lane Bryant)
- Designed and developed shape-wear denim jean- T3 (Tighter Tummy Technology). Expanded washes and leg silhouettes for T3 program based on initial success. "Current” wash generated $2.2mil/51k units; "Wayne's World” wash generated $1.3 mil/29k units. T3 increased to be approx 30% of sales of the total denim assortment (up from 18%) (Lane Bryant)
- President's Awards received in 2011 for: Denim, Casual Separates, Active, Outerwear. Denim & Casual generated $9.9 mil in May 2011, an increase of 13.8% from the original plan (Lane Bryant)
- Implemented detailed photo wash comments to vendors to give both technical and creative direction for denim wash improvements. This resulted in more accurate wash resubmissions and better understanding from vendors on desired aesthetic (Lane Bryant)
- Received 2 "Reflection Awards” for designing top selling Holiday collections and for multiple Hong Kong development and approval trips to ensure deadlines and deliveries were maintained (Bath and Body Works).
Timeline
Design Director
Thirty-One Gifts
03.2017 - 08.2017
Business Owner & Designer Dyetology
Dyetology LLC
07.2015 - Current
Senior Design Manager
Thirty-One Gifts
02.2013 - 03.2017
Creative Designer
Bath & Body Works
09.2012 - 02.2013
Senior Designer
Lane Bryant
04.2007 - 05.2012
Senior Designer
Bath & Body Works
12.2000 - 04.2007
Bachelor of Fine Arts - Fashion Design
Columbus College of Art And Design
Bachelor of Science - Corrections And Juvenile Services
Eastern Kentucky University
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