JonMikel Rodriguez
Work experience
Finisterre
Apparel Designer | 11/2024 - Current
Design, Development, and Consultation for highly sustainable and eco-conscious Wetsuit category.
Teton Outfitters - KLIM/509 Brands
Apparel Designer | 10/2021 - 11/2024
Designed Apparel for Snow and Moto categories mainly featuring GoreTex shell outerwear garments for high performance and durability focused motorsports categories. Additionally, I designed base layers, heated garments, and a innovative engineered jersey & glove set to pair with a durable stretch motorcycle riding pant.
Independent
Designer | 07/2019 - 10/2021
Outdoor Market
- Concept creation, branding, and prototyping for start-up
- Outdoor and camping products currently in the patent process
Soft-Goods Design
- Bags, packs, harnesses, tactical, safety, and firefighter products
- Sketching, roughing mock-ups, sewing prototypes, controlled testing
- Sourcing USA made specialty materials including, Kevlar, fire-resistant, and safety-rated
- Durable construction, wear-resistant fabrics, and load bearing haul points
Graphic Design
- Local business graphics and layouts
- Branding and logo development
O'Neill
Product Designer | 02/2009 - 07/2019
EXPERIENCE
Designed global range of premium technical sporting goods and apparel to the highest performance standards
Forecasted trends and innovations with data from: end-users, athletes, sales, marketing, production, and repair teams
Initiated new ideas and concepts through market research, product testing, and sourcing new technology
Organized project goals, target pricing, and prototyping to provide optimum solutions to well defined problems
Negotiated the best available materials, construction, and manufacturing techniques to create highly functional products
Refined products via prototyping and testing sessions to deliver durable, desirable, and highly marketable designs
Detailed technical specifications of the build process, BOM, patterns, or any updates during the development cycle
Developed branding and trim items: graphics, heat transfers, zippers, pulls, binding, etc., then validated its purpose
MATERIAL BACKGROUND
High-performance technical fabrics
Environmentally friendly and sustainable products
Seam bonding
Thermal insulating materials
Durable materials and coatings
Multidirectional stretch fabric
US Navy, USCG, CE, UL, OSHA, Berry and government agency approved products
DESIGN PROCESS
Solve complex challenges through a scientific and analytical design process producing a refined solution
Conduct product focus-groups, fittings, pattern reviews, testing sessions, design meetings, and presentations
Create technical design packages that layout accurate procedures for prototypes, sampling, and production
Produce product graphics, develop seasonal color stories, engineer prints, render images, and present concepts
Color development of fabrics for Pantone-correct production to unify several materials in the same garment
Merchandise an organized product line to fulfil needs without over-saturating any specific category
Inventory management of new materials for prototyping and scheduling to maintain design and production deadlines
Artikel Inc
Designer | 03/2013 - 01/2015
https://www.jonmikelrodriguez.com/artikel
Artikel Clothing & Artikel Mag were a tandem project built around Artist with their vision expressed in print and on streetwear collections.
VATA Footwear & Accessories
Design + Branding | 05/2003 - 01/2008
https://www.jonmikelrodriguez.com/vata
Start-Up footwear and accessories company focused on premium products with sustainability as the main driver of materials and design concepts.
VOLCOM
Accessories design intern | 01/2004 - 06/2004