Bernard Grenier

There is great fortune in doing what you love and making a career out of it.

My career journey has been a myriad of creative and technical roles, ranging from designing costumes for theatrical productions, developing new shows for an emerging cable TV network, implementing 3D technology in the garment industry and also in technical design for a variety of brands.  For the past 10 years, my technical design roles have been closely linked to the implementation and execution of digital workflows in environments typically burdened with the need to reduce the number of physical samples, to reduce production timelines, and to make the fit process more agile.  This parallel effort required a very good knowledge of pattern making, the creation and use of a robust block library, working in the area of digital fit, as well as fitting samples on live models.  It has also been my great fortune to be able to travel all over the globe, visiting factories in China, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Madagascar and Mauritius to implement quality standards and to build partnerships with factory owners.

Throughout the past decade, my focus has been on creating a variety of tools and practices that are critical to ensuring fit consistency.  I am very familiar with fit for mass market and industry standards.

My professional experience can be defined by a series of leadership roles that require excellent communication skills, in-depth knowledge of critical fit, aesthetic fit, and in every case, being a change agent for improving processes while ensuring fit consistency.

Some examples of areas of interest that have been cornerstones in my career, are the use and administration of PLM systems, like PLM Flex, Centric & BeProduct.  For most garment industry businesses, the use of product life management software is critical in aligning a great variety of business partners, including factory teams, production partners, marketing teams, design teams and technical design teams.  As mentioned before, all of my technical design experiences have been in tandem with the implementation and use of 3D technology.  This included creating digital quality standards that are based on a physical sample workflow and aligning all development pipeline partners in the process.  Underscoring those elements, were my deep knowledge of fit and all of it’s tools, as well as how to communicate those elements to the necessary partners.

Speaking more specifically to my experience with technical design, I can break down my process to three important cornerstones. 

1.  The knowledge of industry standards and the creation and use of blocks
2. The ability to translate design concepts into garments that fit and satisfy designer specifications; aesthetic fit
3. Fitting on a live model, identifying fit issues and making corrections to achieve the ideal fit

In addition, there are a great variety of elements that define the product, including the bill of materials and detailed 2D sketches that affect costing and the ultimate creation of the garment by a factory.

My professional experience was not always in the area of technical design.  I have been designing garments, making patterns and constructing garments for over 40 years.  For over 2 decades, I design costumes for Broadway productions, Off-Broadway productions, theme parks, and a number of regional theaters.  Transitioning into technical design role was an easy transition and all of the skills I utilized as a costume designer easily translated to the role. And while my role as manager of development for Bravo may initially seem out of left field, the business is actually very similar to the garment industry in that you are creating product for the mass market by understanding trends and translating them based on industry standards to viable product.  That 7 year experience has been quite helpful in achieving some of the successes in the garment industry.

Technical Design Experience

Senior Manager Technical Design  – Full Beauty Brands

• Overseeing a team of 7 technical designers
• Responsible for fit, tech packs & Flex PLM
• Global travel to meet with more than 50 factory partners
• Creating and building a robust block library
• Implementation and execution of 3D technology

Director of Digital Product Creation – Gap Inc.

• Overseeing a team of 4
• Liaising with technical design partners for 4 brands, Gap, Banana Republic, Athleta & Old Navy
• Transitioning physical sample workflows to digital sample workflows
• Incorporating all TD tools into a digital workflows where applicable
• Partnering with the global sourcing team in Hong Kong, as it relates to onboarding factory partners and fabric mills
• Specializing in digital fit and digital fit tools
• Creation of the Fabric Digitization Team
• Brand Partner and Factory Partner Training

Technical Design / 3D Workflow Implementation – Jordache Enterprises

• Responsible for fit for men’s knits & woven products, including denims
• Responsible for fit for boys, girls, toddler and infants knits, wovens, and denims
• Hired to create a digital workflow and to implement a digital workflow, partnering with designers, production team partners, patternmaking teams and reporting to senior leadership

University of Maryland, College Park

• Graphic Arts

Parsons School of Design

• Pattern Making & Draping

The New School

• Film Production