hereafter.co
Product Strategy, Concept and Product Design, UX Research, Testing, Product Development
Breathable, silver-tech engineered garments kill 99.9% of odor-bacteria.
Wear them 3+ times before washing and enjoy them for years while protecting our planet.
• Directed end-to-end research, design, and production of eco-friendly activewear, overseeing the market launch of 5 products and the development of 7 beta-tested products.
• Spearheaded material exploration and creation using graphene, driving product innovation.
• Led UX research to define target market segments, enhancing product-market alignment and optimal fit for inclusive size range.
• Cultivated and enhanced relationships with executive-level partners, North American and International vendors, clients, and customers, enabling access to top-tier resources and subject matter experts.
• Contributed to the vision and strategy behind a CX-driven company rebrand, resulting in increased sales, a stronger brand image, and heightened customer satisfaction.
Production, Testing
Frankie Collective is a women’s streetwear brand, dedicated to innovation and sustainable practices. We take inspiration from 90’s staples and rework vintage garments to push the boundaries of contemporary style.
Frankie designs are centered on salvaging vintage garments that would otherwise end up in a landfill.
On the production team, I worked direcly with in-house designers, pattern makers and studio manager to receive materials (salvaged garments), create plan for cut-and-sew, develope manufacturing procedures and monitor manufacture of designs to improve operations and product quality and communicated production deadlines and goals to lead and team members to increase team productivity.
Frankie Collective has produced reworked garments with Supreme, Adidas, Nike, Louis Vuitton, Prada and Tommy Hilfiger, and has collaborated with Complex, Hypebeast and Adidas for MLS.
More about Frankie Collective here.
Design-Led Research, Product Design
CloTHING(s) as Conversation, is a research-based initiative to address the challenges connected to contemporary design, wearable technology and the fashion industry’s move toward sustainability.
My role as a design researcher on the team during five-year initiative was design-led research, product design, concept development, user-experience, usability testing, and white-paper writing.
During the final research-design-test phase, 26 modular garments were distributed around the globe to 26 research participants for a 12-month usability study.
I led, produced and conducted conventional and non-conventional research methods, such as interviews and cultural probes, analysis and synthesis of data, translating findings and insights into data visualizations, reports and presentations.
The result was a viable proof-of-concept for modular garment, innovations of clothing-fasteners with domestic 3D printing, insights into wearable technologies and globally networked knowledge.
CloTHING(s) as Conversation is a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada funded research initiative at Emily Carr University of Art + Design.
I am co-author on the paper Yes(+), And, Maybe… published and presented at Cumulus Conference, In this place, in Nottingham, UK, April 2016.
Our research team hosted a participatory Liminal Labs inside the XXI Triennale di Milano: 21st Century. Design After Design, July 2016.
Improv + Design is a generative design methodology and tool for fashion designers in the early stages of design. This workshop creates a platform for rapid ideation, iteration and working with Zero-Waste Pattern Cutting to play with risk and shift conventional systems of fashion design practices.
Improv theatre techniques create the conditions for practitioners to embody the design space through collaborative action, as a generative tool which provides structure through constraints in the creative process for designers.
I ran a series of workshops with design teams at Lululemon HQ and Lululemon Lab in Vancouver, BC, Canada.
Read the literature review published in Current Journal here.
See more of the project here.
Creative Direction, Product Strategy, Product and Experience Design
Conditions of Wear is unisex capsule collection of concious clothing.
Committed to designing timeless, playful, functional clothing, all while reducing unnecessary waste. Each zero-waste garment is designed strategically using every piece of material cut from the fabric bolt.
As the founder, I am responsible for the creative direction, concept, designs, pattern making and construction.
Situation / Challenge:
At the height of rapid consumer culture and environmental degradation, the fashion industry is built on efficient standardized processes that avoid risk and perpetuate issues of waste within the consumer and garment lifecycle.
Opportunity:
Zero-Waste Pattern Cutting (ZWPC) is an alternative cutting technique that addresses material waste at the design stage in the garment lifecycle.
Result:
Design is collaborative. My designs aren’t just focused on the outcome, but the process. Conditions of Wear investigates on-going opportunities to incorporate innovative techniques into the design process, such as improv theatre. In 2016, I worked with the design team at Lululemon Lab, as a generative tool for fashion designers in the early stages of design. This method creates a platform for rapid ideation, iteration and working with Zero-Waste Pattern Cutting to play with risk and shift conventional systems of fashion design practices through co-design.
Working to Wear is an investigation into the making of a zero-waste jumpsuit. Zero-Waste Pattern Cutting is a sustainable approach to conventional fashion design practices that eliminates the 15% of waste produced by ‘off-cuts’.
Through hand-labor, actions become artifacts in this heuristic inquiry which centres the importance of human activity in increasingly automated landscapes. 2020 marks the centennial of the original jumpsuit the “TuTa” by Italian Designer Thayaht in 1920. The zero-waste jumpsuit will become a probe for further research.
The fabric used for this project was headed for the landfill. I volunteered three hours of labour at a textile recycling warehouse to acquire, redirect and repurpose this fabric that would have otherwise been waste.
This practice-based research is part of a collaboration with Dr. Timo Rissanen.
Model and Styling, Hansel Huang.
Photography, Natalie Tillen.
Read more about the Jumpsuit through Hansel Huang’s words on his blog, “I’m a Model Now”.
