About me
Senior footwear and apparel designer and creative director, with 15 years of experience designing and directing production for major brands and for my own luxury footwear brand.
Highly experienced in design and production processes, leading and organizing design teams, forecasting trends, market research and placing brands on the market, connecting design with production, creating tech packs, and controlling production especially close with manufacturers from China and Serbia.
Permanent resident of the United States. Based in New York and willing to relocate.
Work experience
March 2022 - January 2023
Senior FTW Designer at ES Originals, New York, USA
Designing seasonal men’s footwear for Nautica, from early concepts through final production
Creating tech packs and detailing sketches and colorways, to final product realization
Providing predictions about current and upcoming trends using compelling visual imaging
Pursuing innovation strategies to improve the quality and components of products
Communicating with overseas production to support sample progress and prototype review and revision
Attending sales meetings to ensure that products match consumer demands
2018 - present
Creative Director / Senior FTW and APP Designer at BDS Trade HK, Hong Kong, China
Producing sketches and designs, storyboards, doing market research and visualizing ideas for the world market for Champion, Ellesse, Primark / Lotto, and Sergio Tacchini brands.
Collaborating on visual merchandising, marketing and licensing activities for future collections, while staying true to the spirit of the brand.
Researching trends and creating mood-boards.
Presenting collections to brand managers, merchandisers and retail teams during follow-up meetings.
Sketching and drawing footwear and apparel designs using Adobe software.
Sourcing materials and forecasting color cards.
Preparing technical drawing and technical sheets for developing first prototypes.
Working cross-functionally with product managers and suppliers through all production stages.
Frequently traveling to Asia and Europe to check prototypes and ensure consistency in collection aesthetics, design and
technical development.
Directing collection presentations: photo-shooting, creating catalogs, product training for sales representatives.
Collaborating on visual merchandising, marketing and licensing activities.
Creating special collections distributed to different markets and commercial channels.
Partnering with manufacturers from China, Vietnam, Bangladesh, Turkey, Serbia.
2009 - present
Founder / Creative Director at Vladimir Lazarevic, Belgrade, Serbia
Coordinating creative direction, design and production for my handmade luxury footwear brand.
Planning product placement for original and unique men’s and women’s collections.
Performing detailed market research, and planned custom marketing communication for specific customers.
Researching and innovating fabrics, accessories, silhouettes, and patterns.
Designing and producing shoes from a prototype to final salesman sample and final retail product.
Making presentations for a collection: campaign storyboards, marketing strategies, photo-shootings, retail catalogs, presentations for buyers and stores.
2018 - 2020
Creative Director / Head of Design at SportVision, Belgrade, Serbia
2018 - 2020
Senior Apparel and Footwear Designer at SportVision, Belgrade, Serbia
Managed and provided creative leadership for a team of apparel, footwear, and equipment designers.
Coordinated work of the team of 14 designers and supervised the process and timelines.
Organized and directed presentations from very early stages to the final product.
Created trend forecasts, mood boards, color cards, sketches and design, and market research, for the brands licensed to
SportVision (Champion, Ellesse, Umbro, Lotto, Lonsdale, Slazenger, Rang, J2C, etc.) and their collaborations.
Provided clear vision and guidelines for designers, product, and sales teams.
Reviewed and approved designs, artworks, and graphics.
Planned and developed annual budgets (salaries, trips, fairs).
Presented designs and products to sales and merchandise teams.
Followed and controlled the production process for all samples in factories in China, Vietnam, Bangladesh, Turkey, and
Serbia.
Attended all relevant fairs and trade shows around the world while searching for new trends, new fabrics, and new
product solutions.
2009 - 2013
Professor of Fashion Design at The Academy of Fine Arts, Belgrade, Serbia
Designed the curriculum and lectured about Processes in Design, History of Fashion Design, Pattern Making, Presentation, and Marketing.
Organized exhibitions, fashion shows, and presentations using different media platforms. Facilitated collaborations between students and fashion companies.
2008 - 2009
Designer at Irva Investments, Belgrade, Serbia
Responsible for relaunching and new creative direction of brands and their up-to-date brand identities.
Redesigned and recreated a brand from the first concept to the final product.
Produced brand identity and graphic solutions in support of marketing campaigns.
2001 - 2005
Showroom Assistant at Dries Van Noten, Antwerpen, Belgium
2002 - 2003
Assistant to Creative Director at Tim Van Steenbergen, Antwerpen, Belgium
2001 - 2002
Designer Assistant at A. F. Vandervost, Antwerpen, Belgium
Education
2004 - 2006
BA Fashion Design, Royal Academy of Fine Arts, Antwerpen, Belgium
Collaboration project with +1 Magazine (Belgium), L’Oréal (Benelux), Fondazione Dominique Lapierre Calcutta (Italy), Vitrine (Belgium),
L’Oréal award winner and finalist of the Weekend Knack competition.