Tricia Hoke

A designer at heart, with the acumen of a product manager, I began my journey as

one does...a young designer with creative dreams just wanting to express myself.

I started a custom knit wear company, a company that re-imagined clothing with

textile waste, and a company that made minimalistic, transformable designer apparel from

common materials. Each company solved a problem, and each company is still relevant today.

I fell hard for the apparel industry, and was hell bent on achieving my dreams.

Crushes aside, there was work to do. With my knack for problem solving and

my penchant for function before form... I found my way to a technical designer/ product

development career in the active-wear / outerwear industry in Boulder, Colorado.

I learned valuable lessons in merchandising, timelines, marketing, sourcing, production, etc.

Everything about making clothing excited me. The process, and the business became

the source and the fuel for the creativity. “ What is this?” and “Why?” went into my vocabulary

while a “We can do this better and faster” became my obsession. I went out on my own to

solve the small batch manufacturing “problem” and began working with others who were

just like me. Consulting start up designers was as rewarding as working

for larger companies. Each one sought me out to set up systems, solve problems, and create

something unique to them and their business. All of them, searching for a better way.

After years balancing my creativity in fashion design, with my technical and production skills,

I found myself in an unlikely place. I was at a plastic desk, in the Boulder Colorado Tech Stars office,

sitting across from a similarly minded woman who also had a penchant for building things (via code)

that were beautiful, useful and that helped people.

It was just us, a very large white board, and an idea.

It was my own personal “hello world” moment where I realized the magnitude of just what

can be accomplished in the world via technology. Many, many wireframes later... and a unique

talent for breaking code... (I'm telling you, If your engineer builds it, I can break it.)

I had found my place in this world.

I love fashion... but I’ll tie myself to the train tracks for technology.

“When you are in love...” | trexwilleatyou.com