Summary
Overview
Work History
Education
Skills
Websites
Core Competencies
Timeline
Generic

Vinessa Utrera

Summary

Fashion Designer with experience in design, CAD, forecasting trend, color, product development, and merchandising. Strong drive to gain new skills, experience and growth within my career. I am very passionate about fashion and design, therefore, very eager to show my creativity, skills, work ethic and drive to expand my knowlege in order to make the company successful.

Overview

7
7
years of professional experience

Work History

Associate Fashion Designer

Forever 21
10.2019 - Current
  • Contributed to below top selling seasons for Forever 21's small categories - lingerie and sleep/lounge (only contributes to 4% of ttl company):

-Spring: Sleepwear/lounge was +21% to LY and generated $550K in stores. Lingerie was +15% to LY and generated $334K in stores.

-Summer: Sleepwear/lounge was +12% to LY and generated $750K in stores. Lingerie was +18% to LY and generated $410K in stores.

-Fall: Sleepwear/lounge was +32% to LY and generated $1M in stores. Lingerie was +21% to LY and generated $960K.

-Holiday: Sleepwear/lounge was +48% to LY and generated $3.2M in stores. Lingerie was +30% to LY and generated $1.2M in stores.

  • Trend forecast. Cater to seasonal trend concepts and also seek misses that may cater to the season and customer and incorporate those misses into the line.
  • Comp shop to seek what our competitive retailers are bringing into the stores. What new fabrications they are trying, color palette, prints, bodies and how they are merchandising them in stores. Also, keeping in mind what styles are best selling on their site and what styles are on sale or markdown in order to understand what customers are buying.
  • Identify key fabrication and trims for every season.
  • Communicate with merchandisers to evaluate key takeaways from a season and incorporating those ideas when designing into the new season. Making sure to identify what fabrications sold the best, which bodies the customer likes, as well as colors and prints. Analyzing what styles sold the worst and constructively creating reasons why it did not sell and keeping those reasons in mind for future designs.
  • Communicating with merchandisers in hearing their wants and needs for the new season. Receiving a line plan and ensuring to meet their numbers.
  • Communicating with product developers in sourcing new fabrications and trims. Identifying which vendors to proceed with once fabrications are confirmed before tech packing.
  • Requesting lab dips and print strike offs from product development team for the core groups of the category to make sure merchandisers are well prepared once they have to go through the merchandising process.
  • Collaborating with print/graphic team and showing my ideas/inspiration for prints and graphics for future designs. Collaborating with color and scale.
  • Collaborated with merchandise team and designed a panty program. For every season, CAD panty styles with updated colors, prints and graphics for merchandisers to visualize.
  • Design over 150 styles for peak seasons and over 90 styles for the remaing seasons.
  • CAD color and print options for reorder and core bodies for a better visual for the merchandisers.
  • Create detailed tech packs for every style that includes CAD of body, trims, construction, fabrication, vendor information, inspiration photos and fit specs.
  • Create style #'s for every style on PLM. Filling out vendor, fabrication, colorway and printways.
  • Attend fittings and assist with technical fits and trims.
  • Collaborate with merchandisers in approving print strike offs and color dips.
  • Organize design sketches for presentation meetings and a visual aid for merchandisers via physical boards and Miro.
  • Create physical fabric and trim boards and binders.
  • Present sketches and proto samples to design directors and merchandisers.

Associate Merchandiser

Forever 21
05.2017 - 10.2019
  • Merchandise product and fill numbers for every month of the fiscal calender.
  • Successfully ran cost pending, selling, order reports on weekly basis as well as month end reports. Analyzing how well the company did regarding sales for specific categories and using those learnings for upcoming buy assortments for each season.
  • Check for any quality control of garments.
  • Pull inspiration for trends and color for head buyers and designers.
  • Review and approve lab dips and trims.

Merchandising Coordinator

Forever 21
02.2017 - 05.2017
  • Create and organize styles of a seasonal line into a spreadsheet
  • Communicate changes in fit and colors to production team.
  • Submit legal forms for prints
  • Trend forecast
  • Assist designers with tech packs and CADs. *This was the beginning of how I discovered my true fashion in design. The head merchandiser saw this and allowed me to help with the designers whenever I met my deadlines for merchandising.*



Education

Product Development

FIDM/Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising
Los Angeles, CA

Skills

  • Microsoft Office Suite
  • Illustrator
  • Photoshop
  • Indesign
  • PLM
  • Miro

Core Competencies

  • Design apparel for seasonal lines. Designing for lingerie, sleepwear and loungewear are my strengths but I am open to new challenges and growth in other categories.
  • Strong visualization and having the ability to take in or imagine a concept that is given and bring it to reality.
  • Select and manipulate new fabrics, trims, colors and patterns for garments.
  • CAD
  • Tech packs
  • Trend forecasting (style, color, print and fabrication)
  • Market research
  • Product development
  • Textile
  • Assist and lead fittings and ensure fit, color and trims exceed its meets
  • Merchandising
  • Color theory - great at reviewing lab dips and print strike offs
  • Evaluate customer demand for styles/trends. Analyze the brand's customer profile(s). Seek what are best and worst sellers throughout every season and taking that knowledge into consideration when designing into the new season.
  • Organization
  • Multitasking
  • Time management
  • Communication - meeting the needs from the teams of manufacturers, product development, merchandisers and visual marketing. Presenting to creative directors and merchandisers.
  • Adaptability - willing to take on risks and challenges and try new things in order to make the company and myself grow. I am both adaptable when in comes to changes within the company structure and industry, as well as in terms of designing - changes in trends.


Timeline

Associate Fashion Designer

Forever 21
10.2019 - Current

Associate Merchandiser

Forever 21
05.2017 - 10.2019

Merchandising Coordinator

Forever 21
02.2017 - 05.2017

Product Development

FIDM/Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising
Vinessa Utrera