Sarah Powers-Gross
Technical Designer Activewear · Fashion Nova
Redondo Beach, CAIn My Own Words
Experienced Technical Designer with a demonstrated history of working in the apparel and fashion industry. My background is diverse, consisting of: Fashion Design, Fine Arts: Sculpture, Art Education, Illustration, and Graphic Design. Skilled in Trend Analysis, Textiles, Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator, Activewear, Seamless, Swimwear and Knitwear. Strong arts and design professional with a Bachelors in Fine Arts (B.F.A.) focused in Sculpture and minor in Art Education from Otis College of Art and Design, and Associate of Arts (A.A.) focused in Knitwear Apparel and Textiles from FIDM/Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising-Los Angeles.
Work Experience
Technical Designer: Activewear
Fashion Nova2021 – Present
Head Technical Designer for the Nova Sport Activewear Line
Technical Designer
TechStyle: Fabletics2013 – 2017
• Assembled tech packs from development stages through production. • Developed technical specifications including measurement specs, grading and construction details. • Worked closely with designers, head technical designer, production and executives as well as import and domestic vendors. • Attended all fittings for 1st samples through production and recorded accurate measurements and fit notes on spec sheets. • Facilitated the transition of apparel styles from design concept / first prototype to a final, production-ready sample offering solutions to correct fit and construction for challenging styles. • Corresponded daily with import factories sending and tracking comments and followed up on prototypes. • Worked with tight calendar time constraints prioritizing workload to meet fast approaching deadlines with a sense of urgency. • Created library of block patterns to maintain fit consistency within product categories. • Updated tech packs after each fitting illustrating pattern corrections and style comments using PLM, Excel, Illustrator and Photoshop. • Acted as point of contact for vendors answering fit, spec, pattern, trim and construction questions.
Technical Designer
Beyond Yoga2013 – 2013
• Technical Designer for women's athletic line • Created and updated technical specifications for all samples from Proto through SRS to Bulk production. • Attended fittings with the head designer to create thorough technical packs in Excel based upon fit comments. • Constructed detailed sketches of designs, specs, and grading for technical packs. • Communicate with patternmakers, production and design.
Associate Designer
Kellwood2012 – 2013
• Associate Designer for women's contemporary woven and knitwear lines. • Created comprehensive library of CADs in Illustrator for flat designs and line sheets. • Completed technical specifications including measurement specs, grading and construction details. • Created color charts for new development lines. • Worked with in house production team to dye and source all fabrics, yarns and trims for development. • Prepared cut tickets Completed PO's for production fabrics and trims. • Worked closely with head designer, in-house sewing and pattern production and vendors. • Imputed tech packs into Web PDM and prepared cut tickets for in-house patternmakers. • Facilitated the transition of apparel styles from design concept/first prototype to a final, production-ready sample offering solutions to correct fit and construction for challenging styles. • Worked with tight calendar time constraints prioritizing workload to meet fast approaching deadlines with a sense of urgency. • Updated tech packs after each fitting illustrating pattern corrections and style comments.
Designer (Sweaters)
Belldini2010 – 2012
• Worked closely with designers, technical designers, production and executives as well as import and domestic vendors. • Communicated, coordinated, and tagged samples to ship to salesman. • Attended weekly design meetings to share and analyze future styles per season. • Assisted in fittings and recorded measurements and fit notes on spec sheets. • Developed designs for lines such as: Kids, Junior, Outlet, and Black Label. • Identified and alerted design, technical, and production teams about potential production, quality and costing issues and made recommendations to insure brand integrity was maintained. • Continually researched competition in the market for various design and construction techniques, new technology, trends and fit.
