Christina Armstrong

» Responsible for the design & development of the Women & Girls Athletic Socks category as well as the entire Originals sock categories for Men, Women and Youth.
» Innovated design & brought sport forward tech to Originals socks for all categories, resulting in 55% increase in sales and 35 million dollars in revenue.
» Grew Womens Athletic socks business, hitting company goal of brining category to #1 in market, surpassing Nike & Under Armor, through innovative design, elevating color science & bringing trend silhouettes to the women’s category.
» Lead and mentor team of designers about sock construction and design, elevating their design & tech skills within their sock categories.
» Partner with category leaders to build presentations, sales assets, and GTM strategies for new product & seasonal color stories.
» Established best practices for sock category, creating AI silhouettes & swatch files, spec & fabrication spreadsheets, tech pack & colorboard guidelines, and a sample development library to streamline design and development.

» Design seasonal lines and SMU for US market collections within the established aesthetic of the brands Happy Socks and HS by Happy Socks for Mens, Womens and Kids markets.
» Collaborate with design, product, and development teams at HQ to create new product, packaging, and brand strategies to fill ‘white space’ in the US market.
» Travel monthly to headquarters office in Stockholm, Sweden to meet with key stakeholders to align US needs to global product initiatives.

» Forecast seasonal direction for Nordstrom Private Label and licensed accounts.
» Design and develop prints for menswear accessories: socks, suit accessories gift boxes: tie, pocket squares, tie pins, cuff links.

» Oversaw innovation in new silhouettes, materials, and trims for multiple lifestyle and performance categories for women’s market 24 months ahead of product launch dates; collaborating with Category Directors, Design, & Merchandising on brand strategies to create seasonal hero pieces for each category.
» Designed and developed 3 capsule collections per quarterly season.
» Traveled to China quarterly to develop innovative knit concepts with technicians.

» Designed and developed socks, accessories and bottoms, for 11 brands, approximately
1000 skus seasonally, from initial design concepts through SMS; resulting in double digit
company sales growth and increased brand penetration.
» Proven track record of identifying market-right trends for high end, contemporary and
mass-market companies, with 90% sell through in styles that I designed.
» Was quickly promoted during time at K. Bell, starting as an Associate Designer in 2010,
then promoted to Designer in 2012, Senior Designer in 2012, and finally Creative Design
Manager in 2014.
» Managed initiatives against YTD sales to course correct seasonal direction, ID growth
opportunities and create product to fill white space within various brands.
» Designed original prints, seasonal color palettes, and print colorway stories.
» Traveled to New York market week quarterly to meet with key accounts, present seasonal
mood and trend direction, attend shows and research market for upcoming trends.
» Managed Women’s tech pack development, daily vendor communication, and sample
development from first proto to SMS samples.
» Managed the acquisition of the Keds License that included product, fiber, spec and fit
analysis of all Keds’ hosiery product in the market; dual sourcing and development of
product; QA/QC to ensure our product matched existing product exactly for smooth roll
over of our production of Keds brand.
» Collaborated with cross-functional teams on seasonal material sourcing, vendor matrix,
and line plan development.

Assisted design team with creating seasonal concepts for lounge, intimates & knitwear categories, computer sketching, color pallets, and presentations.

Assisted the Global Fit Team’s Initiative to create a universal consumer fit experience by establishing variations in fit standards for different global markets.
Created a self-initiated project that utilized the EDIPT process to design a collection of apparel for girl’s team sports.