Caroline Bates

201 Main Road, Duston, Northampton, NN5 6RD m 07957378571 e caroline@batesdesigns.co.uk

Personal Statement

* Versatile Print Designer with over 18 years experience working for various brand identities within retail & supply. * A varied background of jobs in the fashion industry that compliment each other & add to the knowledge I have gained in the design & technical side of womenswear. * Diverse expertise in Photoshop & Illustrator, digital manipulation, hand drawing & painting. * Great understanding of printing with Indian/Chinese factories & suppliers, travelled to Delhi twice yearly whilst full time at Debenhams.* Good retail understanding & true commercial eye, high hit rate of best selling prints.* Trained different levels of competence in Photoshop from basic to advanced.

Career History

Freelance Print Designer - London & UK. Sept 2011 to present

* Recent freelance roles include New Look core wovens, Bonmarche jersey & Debenhams womens.* Beyond the Skies - Designing contemporary trend driven prints for the Manchester based studio from digital prints to hand drawings, printing onto silk habotai, prints sold in the UK and worldwide. * Debenhams - Design 12 colour screen/digital print ranges and colour palettes. Rework digital prints for swimwear, this includes retouching, manipulating, layering, colour separation, recolouring etc for Swim & Accessory brands such as Butterfly by Matthew Williamson, Reger by Janet Reger, Gorgeous, Ultimate Beach, Beach Collection & Principles by Ben de Lisi.* Jon Adam - Developed prints for the young fashion market such as Star by Julien Macdonald, Miss Selfridge, Forever 21 & DP.* Maxella - Reworked & manipulated bought hangers into factory ready fabric lengths.* Courtaulds - Prints for M&S.* Print Design at Monsoon - Daywear wovens & Jersey, Smartwear & Beachwear. Designed new prints, recolours, reworked bought hangers & vintage prints. Converted digital prints into 12 colour screen prints. * Stuart Peters - Developed trend driven prints for knitwear working with Far East factories for M&S and supermarkets.* Embellishments & Embroidery Designer for Monsoon Accessorize* Debenhams Childrenswear prints.* Debenhams Womenswear such as Ben de Lisi, Julien Macdonald, Maine & Casual Club.* Print Design at Dewhirst, developed new ranges for both casual & formal brands at M&S. Worked in a fast-paced environment to tight deadlines and specific briefs. * Various studio ventures including Made in Brighton & Jack Jones.

Print Designer - Debenhams London. March 2005 to late Aug 2011

* Sole print & embellishment designer for Rocha.John Rocha range within Debenhams.* Drove strong global print trends within casualwear & created brand-focused trends that react to global trends yet retain brand identity.* Full responsibility for range building prints, producing hero, sister prints & ditsy prints to create a dynamic succinct print range.* Repeats, recolours, colour separation using Photoshop & Illustrator.

* Worked closely alongside the designer to ensure the print & garment work well together.* Utilised my embroidery skills to create new jersey details & unique manipulations for the Rocha jerseywear & occasion range* Designed modern placement prints with additional creative applique & embellishment treatment.* Managed diverse, heavy & challenging workload on multi brands. Product areas covered were casual jersey, wovens, organics & occasionwear.* Worked towards strategy meetings & critical path deadlines for production in India, HK & Turkey.* Travelled to India with buyer & designer to work alongside Debenhams supply base, clear briefing sessions & fast paced designing. Sourced new beads, sequins & trims.* Large emphasis on catwalk analysis, delivering key print messages to buyers, designers & suppliers. Direct buyers/designers towards categories suitable to their brand.* Took leadership of the print team to co-ordinate print & catwalk trends.* Good relationship with a number of print studios. Briefed & commissioned freelance print designers.

Designer - J-Two Inc. NY. Feb 2003 to Dec 2004

* Designed cotton ramie knit sweaters for a leading manufacturer of ladies hand-made sweaters in the USA, theme based sweaters were featured on The Home Shopping Network.* Heavily embroidered & embellished designs. Specs were drawn accurately to quarter scale with detailed packs containing stitch notes, colour references, bead & trim samples, button designs.* Sourced all beads & trims in NYC & ordered large quantities to specific price points & time restraints for production in China.* Sales results were reported back to the team after each TV appearance, total sales per sweater & sales per minute were identified.

Textile Designer - European Textile Collection (Studio) NY. Sept 2002 to Feb 2003

* Solely responsible for building a portfolio of fabric embroidered designs. * Researched into current fashion & textiles trends & created artworks for the American womenswear market.* Specialised in machine & hand embroideries, appliques, beadworks, vintage re-works & hand-painted conversationals, all of which sold at a good rate.

Print & Textile Designer - Tom Cody Design Studio NY. Oct 2000 to Aug 2002

* Designed print & embroidery hangers for the contemporary womenswear market.* Responsible for working to specific design briefs with tight deadlines.* Worked in a variety of media including hand & machine embroideries, appliques, beadwork, fabric dying & heat press techniques.

Education & Qualifications

University of Northumbria at Newcastle 1996-2000 BA (Hons) Fashion. 2:1

Oldham College 1995-1996 BTEC Diploma. Foundation Studies in Art & Design