Khadija Ahmed

Major: Apparel, Merchandising, and Design
Company/Organization: Kohl's
Company/Organization website: https://www.kohls.com/
Destination: Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Timeframe: Summer 2021
Advisor/Coordinator Email: briaj

Responsibilities

My responsibilities are to help the men's active team called Tek Gear with design sketches for the upcoming 2022 season. I would sketch up 6-10 images of jacket styles or even completed looks for my team to see, then we decided which ones to do. Then I would make the tech flat for my design and create a board for the outfit color, trend, and season. I would also schedule meetings for the production and design team to meet and talk about the product we are making.

Accomplishments

My greatest accomplishment would be designing a retro tennis jacket from start to finish. I came up with the idea to have a retro jacket for the fall/BTS and showed it to my team. They loved the idea and continued to work on it by meeting up and handing it off to the technical design team. Picking out the fabric, and color was all my idea from start to finish. I really had control of how I wanted this jacket to look. It is in-store for fall 2021 and online.

Learning experience

I learned that taking constructive criticism was something I would have to learn and work hard to put the feedback into my work. I also learned that it is important to show that I am really listening in meetings by taking notes and putting the work into my designs.

What advice would you give?

I would say be open to learn new things don't get discouraged about the small detail or wrong mistakes you do. Everything you do is a learning opportunity and you grow from your mistakes. Don't try to be perfect on the first day take things one step at a time and that shows you really want to learn and you are present in everything you do.

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