ABOUT ME
As a child, my grandparents owned a lingerie business and my mum was a very talented seamstress, working with clients such as Saks Fifth Avenue and the fabulous British designer Jenny McDowell, clothing was not just in my blood, it was in my DNA.
In 1990, following my completion of further education, I started my career as a pattern cutter, I quickly became interested in the grading and more technical side of the role and within 2 years I was promoted to a senior sealer and grader position, back in the days of grading on card, which was very satisfying to see the sized pattern pieces perfectly stacked up.
In the mid 90’s the now everyday CAD/PLM platforms came into the clothing world, this new technology was fascinating to me and I quickly became a PLM super user.
Over the next 27 years my skills set transferred over into a variety of middle management/senior roles within the clothing business sector including Quality control manager, Technical Design manager, Product Development manager and Production manager.
Working with live models on women’s, men’s and children’s wear, fit became an integral part of the success of the brands I worked for.
My Experience
Spanning over 35 years
My roles have led to working both in and collaborating with numerous near and offshore suppliers, including the regions of Turkey, Romania, Morocco, Egypt, Sri Lanka, Cambodia, Vietnam & China.
I have managed and mentored teams of 4 up to 16, supporting their personal development and the growth of the businesses using successful process implementations both internally and with supplier bases.
In 2017, I took on the role of Product Development Manager at Dimensions (a Mi-Hub brand) and I entered the corporate uniform world, were we developed entire bespoke uniform wardrobes for clients’ employees. Products ranged from polo shirts to 3-piece suits and everything in between, within 4 years I achieved promotion to Head of Product Development.
Within this role I increased the number of right 1st time proto samples by over 50%, reduced required sealing samples by 30% and I took the shipping sample KPI up from 34% to 87% in just over 8 months, not just by implementing new processes but by working with what the company already had in place and improving them to increase these efficiencies.
Working in a corporate clothing environment throws out very different challenges to the fashion retail world, durability and functionality are serious considerations when risk assessing the development of all new uniform designs, but key to both sectors success will always be fit.
In a world of matte,
let JRB make your brand shine out from the rest
What can JRB Technical Services provide for your company?
The aim of JRB is to support supply chains for both retail & manufacturers in the clothing business (fashion & corporate wear) when they have a shortfall in staff, or as a supplement to their existing teams with the following services.
Product Development
This is our full-service package, we will take your designs from beautiful flat drawings through to a 1st sample, utilising either your sample room or factory.
This service includes a product briefing session, a face-to-face risk assessment & production method review, complete tech pack writing (see Tech Pack Writing service for full details) sample ordering, follow through & full documented garment inspection on sample arrival.
Block Library Development
We will create a go-to library of factory friendly, full tech packs, this could be a whole silhouette library or just a specific product category. By creating a block library, you are not only creating a starting point for designers and future Product developers, speeding up sampling, but you are also safeguarding the integrity of your brands fits/sizing.
Process Assessment
Have you ever wondered why your design boards look better than the finished garments, even after multiple emails and calls with your factory, sampling is slow and you’re just not seeing the fabulous samples you were expecting?
Processes are often the key to right 1st time samples, let us take a systematic review of your design to production processes, following our assessment a full report will be provided highlighting areas for possible process realignments, along with a roadmap to making improvements.
Tech Pack Writing
Using your designs, we will create full, factory friendly tech packs with colour and black/white illustrations, our TPs contain detailed/annotated flat drawings, highlighting all feature areas with enlarged annotated illustrations, a fully graded size chart with a Points of Measurement illustration, a Bill of Materials, care instructions, labelling and packaging details.
Remember – the more detailed a tech pack = the more accurate your factories quotes will be, skimping on not supplying your factory with a great tech pack will cost your business more in the long run.
Fitting Sessions Support
Fit sessions are key in the development of any apparel item, we can cover any fit session for you, either onsite at your premises or offsite at your client’s offices.
Detailed fit comments with supporting photos will be provided within 1 working day of each fit session.
3rd Party Production Inspections
Inline inspections & finished bulk production AQL inspections are vital process for ensuring your brands goods meet all the criteria set out in the tech packs & approved seal samples.
We can provide support in both areas, covering local and offshore factories, all inspections are carried out to ISO/IEC 17020:2012 standards
Client Feedback Gathering
This is a very specific service, targeting wearer trails, which feature mainly in the corporate uniform world and can take your teams across design, fabric and development away from their day jobs, sometimes at business-critical times.
Following a product briefing session with you, we will visit your client’s business sites and speak with the trail wearers to ascertain their feelings and comments on the products being trialled. Covering subjects such as - fit, fabrics, functionality/practicality, styling, care of the wearer trail garments.
A full detailed report, including supporting photos will be provided within 1 working day of each site visit.
Pattern Cutting/Grading (Gerber)
Whether you require 1st patterns or a fully graded size set, look no further, with over 20 years’ experience in creative digital pattern cutting & grading JRB is your businesses digital pattern solution.
All patterns can be either supplied on a pen drive or sent digitally directly into your Gerber user inbox.