Hello, nice to meet you.
My name is Heiko, I am a multi-product menswear designer based in London. Originally from Germany, I have been living and working in the United Kingdom for almost a decade.
For the past 5 years, I have been a Designer at Dewhirst, an international manufacturing business with offices and factories all over the globe and a heritage dating back as far as 1880. When I first started at Dewhirst, I worked with and designed for Debenhams, White Stuff and Jeff Banks. Since then, I have worked with Burton Menswear and I am currently working with online retailer ASOS. The products I design are predominately tailoring and formalwear but also include denim, outerwear, casual trousers and activewear.
One of my most recent projects has been developing a luxury ‘Made in Britain’ brand which delves deep into the Dewhirst company archives and draws inspiration from the rich heritage of the textile industry in the UK. The collection puts the spotlight on domestic mills and manufacturers and will be launched in 2021.
Prior to joining Dewhirst, I worked at Retro Clothing; a shirt manufacturer based on the outskirts of London. At Retro I was the sole designer working across all customer accounts and liaising with a variety of buyers and suppliers. The main accounts were River Island, Topman and JD Williams, so my designs were focused on a smart-casual, young fashion customer.
Even though the responsibility of managing multiple accounts on my own seemed daunting at first, I am grateful for the trust which was placed in me, as it was a fantastic opportunity to prove that creativity and good organisational skills are not mutually exclusive.
I started my career in the UK as an intern at fashion brand Unconditional. After a short period, I was taken on as full-time Assistant Designer, working on both the menswear and womenswear collections. As it was a small team, I was involved in all aspects of the process, from initial trend research through to design, sampling and the organisation of the shows for London Fashion Week.
So why London? While studying design in Germany I attended summer school at Central Saint Martins in 2011. This was when I first fell in love with this incredible city and very quickly decided that it was the only place where I wanted to live and work. So, after completing my studies in Germany I moved to London permanently in 2012.
I am an art and design enthusiast and I love to travel and explore. In this regard, I have been extremely fortunate as my work “normally” enables me to travel frequently. This includes visiting our factories in India, Cambodia and Sri Lanka as well as regular trips to Paris, Florence and Shanghai to attend fabric fairs and research new trends.
In addition to my love for design and travel I am also very passionate about languages. I’m a native German speaker, fluent in English, can get by pretty well in French and am currently trying to improve my Mandarin. If I can find the time and the energy, I also enjoy playing tennis, running and cycling.
Heiko,
March 2021