Christy Vacondios, Experienced Senior Designer-Active, Golf, Tops, Knitwear and Dresses. in Sarasota, FL

About

Senior level Active & knitwear designer and PD manager with a technical expertise in knitwear.

Manager and team leader with 20 +years of experience designing multiple lines and product classifications of women’s sportswear, while developing talent and managing cross-functional teams. Success in delivering Trend, brand vision, design within a price point, streamlined processes and increased profits. Merchandiser, Product Manager, Designer with strengths in

Private Label Direct Product Development, Women's Design & Trend.

Merchandising expertise designing for regional assortments, especially Southern, West Coast and Resort zones.

Experience in Branding and brand re-positioning, Designing at high taste level at every price point.

Strengths include building a line plan to a financial strategy. Merchandising & Designing commercially salable & profitable women's apparel, with a technical expertise in Knitwear & Sweater Design, All with a dedicated work ethic.

Proficient in Photoshop, Illustrator, Nedgraphics, WebPDM, PLM.

Experience in start up organizations, building design teams, launching new labels.

Education

BFA

MOORE COLLEGE OF ART AND DESIGN

1993

Experience

Ladies Private Brand Designer

BEALLS INC

2017 - 2022 (5 years)

1. Private Brand designer for Ladies Tops, Ladies Active, Yoga & Golf Brands for Bealls Stores and Bealls Outlet in 36 States. Responsible for Design from concept thru to Pre-Production. Responsible for 50MM in planned sales. Lead design and art direction for 5 brands, collaborate with Merchant and Sourcing teams to deliver 12 deliveries annually.
Freelance Designer

VACONDIOS DESIGN SERVICES INC

2010 - 2018 (8 years)

3. Freelance Technical and Design Services from initial concept, fabric, sourcing, design tech packs, for various Contemporary Knitwear wholesale & vendors. Clients included KAS, Leon Max/Max Studio, XCVI, Good American, Eleven by Venus Williams.
Product Development Manager

STEIN MART

2016 - 2017 (1 year)

2. Responsible for direct product development of all categories of Peck & Peck Private Brand. Developed and directed product development for all categories with 5+ private label vendor partners. Created product for regional specific assortments. Fiscally responsible for sales, markdowns and managing a 50MM annual brand with a 47% Margin.
Senior Knitwear Designer

CHARMING SHOPPES INC

2008 - 2009 (1 year)

Fashion Bug 4. Sweaters (50MM) Active (45MM) and Sleepwear (20MM) Responsibilities included yarn and fabric sourcing, securing quarterly bulk fabric strategies, design concept, silhouette, print & pattern development for sweaters, active, and sleep categories. Designed concept, silhouette, and stitch development for all lifestyles of sweater assortment-weekend casual, business casual and dress up categories. Created downtime knitting production calendar, process and strategy, increasing IMU, saving 1.2MM annually. Merchandising active assortment, back wall presentations and monthly tee table programs. Collaborated with textile designers to create print and pattern assortment for each delivery, created initial designs and technical specs, directing technical designers from development thru final fit. Worked in partnership with Sourcing team and Asia office to develop, expand and upgrade vendor base.
Senior Design Manager

CHICO'S FAS INC

2008 - 2009 (1 year)

Sweaters/ Knit Tops/Active/Golf 5. Responsible for product management function from development, tech design, through pre-production of 3 categories. Directly responsible for designing Knit tops 125M, Active 50M, sweaters 75M, the number one performing category against LY plan. Streamlined core & fashion yarns, focused Vendor matrix in each category, leveraging mill direct resources and fabric positions. Utilized or resolved over 5MM in yarn & fabric liabilities during my tenure. Direct reports: 2 product managers, and 2 product developers 6. Designer Responsibilities included designing sweaters and knit tees, from concept, Yarn & silhouette, researching new fabrications and up-trending program categories. Streamlined the core yarns & fabric programs and executed seasonal tests for new silhouettes & new fabrics in core. Create initial designs and tech packs, Responsible for all design, spec creation. Partnered with product management and directed technical design from approved proto thru final fit.
Senior Designer

Kohls

2006 - 2008 (2 years)

Croft & Barrow Ladies brand- Missy (450MM), Women's and Petites. Responsible for transforming a Missy sweater and knit top department from 350MM in 2006 to 450MM lifestyle brand in 2008. Head Designer responsibilities included color, print & silhouette direction, researching new fabrications and up-trending product categories. Created initial tech packs, directed fittings thru production. Partnered with product managers to create initial line plans and monthly product assortment. Directed a team of textile artists print themes by delivery. Managed design team.
Senior Knitwear Designer

QVC

2006 - 2008 (2 years)

Designer for 5 Brands: Denim & Co.: Designed and executed knit tops & sweaters (90MM) for 210 MM business, QVC's #2 proprietary brand. Sport Savvy: Designed 2pc athleisure brand (60MM.) Modern Soul: Designed knitwear lifestyle brand (20MM) Precious Fibers: Designed Fall cashmere sweater program (5MM) Multiplicity: Created Brand, Launched & Designed key item sweater line Design responsibilities included: designing initial concepts, sourcing new yarns & fabrics, drawing CAD sketches, creating and executing technical specs and layouts, utilizing Style Manager, Free Borders design software and Matrix One web PDM, led production fittings, and daily communication with agents and vendors in Asia. Designed stripe, and pattern color ways on Ned Graphics CAD. Created and taught "Sweater 101" class to the technical design staffs. Trained technical designers in knitwear and sweater construction. Created & facilitated seasonal training classes, arranged factory and manufacturer tours.
Sweater Designer

MAY MERCHANDISING

2001 - 2003 (2 years)

Sweater designer for Best Performing category in sales and volume for Karen Scott. Developed Line plan seasonally in partnership with Market Reps. Created assortment for 7 regions, 14 department store divisions. Presented Color, trend, program & silhouettes to senior management 3 times a season throughout the development cycle. Traveled to Asia twice a season for yarn and stich development, created proto samples and specs in factory, returning to review protos, edit the line & present to senior management. Created specs from proto & managed thru final production, ran production fittings.
Knitwear Designer

NINA LEONARD

1998 - 2001 (3 years)

Designed Sweater and knit sweater dressing, line sold to Nordstrom, Bloomingdales and specialty retailers. Sourced yarns, created stitch development, created initial specs and ran fittings thru production. Directed Print studios for exclusive print creation. Traveled to Europe and Asia twice a year for yarn and sweater Development. Managed Assistant and Interns.
Knitwear Designer

ADRIENNE VITTADINI

1993 - 1998 (5 years)

Chiefly responsible for Vittadini Sport, 20MM. Designed all classifications of bridge collection, with a focus on Sweaters and Knitwear. Accounts included Neiman's, Saks, Bloomingdales. Responsible for Concept, Design, Yarn and Swatch development, Spec creation thru 1st fit. Managed Assistants and Interns. ANNE KLEIN DESIGN STUDIO, Intern, 1992, Designed accessories and swimwear for Anne Klein Licensed Product. Assisted Sp/Su 1993 Collection under Louis Dell'Olio on the Sp/Su 1993 Collection. Assisted Start-Up team for A Line on the Resort & Spring 1993 Collection.
Design Intern

ANNE KLEIN DESIGN STUDIO

1992 - 1992

ANNE KLEIN DESIGN STUDIO, Intern. Designed accessories and swimwear for Anne Klein Licensed Product.
Assisted Sp/Su 1993 Collection under Louis Dell'Olio on the Sp/Su 1993 Collection.
Assisted Start-Up team for A Line on the Resort & Spring 1993 Collection.

Industries

Apparel

Skills

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Christy Vacondios

Industrial Design Project Manager (Fractional / Part-Time)

Sr. Industrial Designer