Creative design
consultation
INTIMATE WEAR
Founder + Principal | Creative lead
CHEYNELLE MENDIS
A Bit About Me
A creative and resourceful fashion designer with 15+ years of experience between New York's lingerie retail market and the intimates manufacturing industry of Sri Lanka. My core expertise is rooted in the conceptualisation, creative design and technical development of intimate wear. My exposure to
an integrated industry environment equipped me with a comprehensive understanding of the related functions that coordinate for a seamless product development process whilst my experience working with retail brands instilled a value-driven approach to creating products that emulate
a brand and resonate with a consumer.
Resume
Work
Experience
Education
2017 - Present
Founder + Principal, Creative lead
CHEYNELLE MENDIS STUDIO
A self-founded entity that provides design consulting services and commercial design solutions to retail clients. Services provided include strategic creative direction and communication via thematic storyboards, illustrations, fabric and market trend research. Design development via design sketches, range plans, technical sketches and fit sessions as well as liaising with merchandising and production teams as required. Some previous projects are briefly outlined below.
April 2021
GOETHE-INSTITUT, COLOMBO, SL
Conducted a series of workshops on Fashion & Clothing under the sub topic: Redefining Masculinity to educate young minds (from Sri Lanka, India and Bangladesh of 15-18 years of age) on the existence of diverse perspectives and possibilities that exist within the sphere of ‘Gender’.
2017 - 2018
ALANA ATHLETICA, MIAMI, USA • Co-founder, Design development consultant, Social impact coordinator.
Co-founded a yoga apparel brand; leading concept and product development, facilitating local production and partnering with a Sri Lankan NGO, Emerge Lanka, which educates, employs and empowers marginalized abuse survivors to reclaim their lives.
2017 - 2018
MAS BRANDS, COLOMBO, SL • Design consultant (amanté)
Conceptualised thematic development,
supervised product design & development, approved prototype fit and aesthetic and presented the Fall 18 intimates wear collection to buyers of the amanté brand.
2015 - 2017
Asst. Manager of Design (amanté)
MAS BRANDS, SRI LANKA
• Recruited, trained and led a design team of two direct reports, being accountable for creating seasonal lingerie collections from concept stage, present designs to marketing teams at buyer reviews and own selected
designs upto pre-production sign-off.
• Handled design development in all areas with a focus on essential and seasonal fashion lingerie, seasonal capsule collections and sleepwear.
• Responsibilities included high-level creative direction for marketing and visual merchandising of seasonal fashion collections, range planning, technical design, print and colour approvals, design development,
sample prototyping, fit assessment and pre-production approval.
• Achievements: Implemented a standardised  fit process, product development calendar and process to streamline overall design operations. Achieved more than 90% YOY growth in the seasonal fashion lingerie segment.
2011 - 2014
Senior lingerie designer (Design development - Victoria's secret)
MAS DESIGN, NEW YORK
• Serviced Victoria’s Secret, as a vendor, to develop and create designs for seasonal retail launches which would be produced at MAS production facilities.
• Responsibilities included market and trend research, presenting design collections attending fit sessions and managing prototype sampling for fit cycles and co-ordination of product development between the client and the production factory.
• This role required me to coordinate project requirements between the client and production team which gave me excellent skills of communication, organisation, self-management and project management.
• Achievements: Developed many products that had successful retail launches meeting client design intentions, manufacturing and growth targets and supporting production capacity.
2007 - 2011
Lingerie designer (Product development - Victoria's secret)
MAS INTIMATES, SRI LANKA
• Developed sample prototypes for Victoria’s Secret.
• Honed my skills in product development, technical design, intimate wear fabrics, construction and sample prototyping, technical fittings and standard intimate industry technologies like silicon flocking, moulding and bonding.
2019 - 2020
University of Bedfordshire, UK |
Master of Business Administration - Marketing
2012 - 2015
Fashion Institute of Technology, NYC |
Associate in Applied Sciences - Fashion Merchandising Mgmt.
2004 - 2007
Lanka Institute of Fashion Technology, SL | Advanced Diploma in Fashion Design
Skills
& Expertise
Adobe Illustrator | Adobe Photoshop | MS-Suite | Mac OS
Intimates development | Fashion design | Technical design | Design development | Conceptualisation | Storytelling | Trend research + analysis | Team mgmt. | Time mgmt. + organisation | Self-managed | Strong presentation skills | Strong written skills | Strong communication + interpersonal skills.