Faculty
Instructor Joy Somerville Creates Patterns for Relaunch of Jordache
Joy Somerville is a highly sought after brand developer, technical designer, and pattern maker in the fashion industry, who works with brands including Jordache, Frame Denim, Hudson Jeans, and Good American, to name a few. She just wrapped up the second collection for iconic denim brand Jordache, which will be available exclusively at Barney’s New York in late October.
Playing a critical role in the product development process, Joy brings a designer’s sketch to life. She is an expert in Gerber CAD with 30 years of experience in knits, wovens, and denim, and we are fortunate to count this Los Angeles native among our faculty since 2005.
Joy teaches Technical Design and Pre-Production for Apparel in the Merchandise Product Development Program. In the Bachelor’s of Apparel Technical Design Program she teaches Gerber classes—Pattern Making and Production Pattern Making. Additionally, she teaches a capstone class where students design a collection.
Actively working in the industry, Joy is the chief pattern maker and technical designer at WRR Enterprise in Vernon, just a few miles from our Los Angeles campus. She met the owner of WRR, Walter Rodriguez, about eight years ago when she was working at William Rast (Justin Timberlake’s clothing line) where Walter was the Production Manager.
Jordache, which is headquartered in New York, chose WRR Enterprise in Los Angeles because Walter is a denim expert with top denim resources including wash houses, suppliers, factories, and pattern makers. Los Angeles is known as the capital of premium denim, a $60 billion industry.
The new face of Jordache is Camila Morrone, an Argentine model and actress with 1.5 million followers on Instagram. Joy did private fit sessions with the 21-year-old model in Los Angeles.
The head fashion designers for the relaunch of Jordache are Benjamin Talley Smith, known for being one of the hottest denim designers right now, and Jen Zmrhal, one of the most sought after designers in Los Angeles who has worked with RE/DONE, Khaite, and Mansur Gavriel. Now working on Proenza Schouler together, Joy met Jen when they were both working on BB Dakota about seven years ago.
At WRR Enterprise, Joy helped develop the fit and created all the patterns for the first three seasons of knits at Good American, the apparel brand co-founded by Khloé Kardashian. Frame Denim, a brand that splits its headquarters between Los Angeles and London, recently came to WRR for their knit patterns, as did premium denim label Hudson Jeans.
Joy works one-on-one with many Los Angeles brands and designers such as Ribbed Tee and SpiritHoods. She recently created all of the patterns for SpiritHoods whose faux fur pieces are a favorite at festivals including EDC (Electric Daisy Carnival), Electric Forest, and Burning Man.
Joy recently picked up a new client, Strapped, whose cofounder, Jordan Wiseley, rose to fame on MTV’s Real World and The Challenge. Jordan hired Joy to help launch his brand, as a technical designer establishing his fit and creating patterns for his fall collection of 28 pieces.
In the works for this in-demand pattern maker are projects with Monse, 3X1, and Planet Blue.
Not only is this Los Angeles-based technical designer, pattern maker, and brand developer teaching the next generation of fashion professionals at FIDM, she is also mentoring her daughter, Megan Somerville, with her Los Angeles fashion collection, Hella Good Babes. Joy, naturally, created all the patterns in the line.
Follow Joy Somerville on Instagram @shopsomervilleclothing.
Categories: Apparel Technical Design Merchandise Product Development Faculty
