about
Jin Seo is an accomplished cross-category designer whose multi-decade career spans creatively aligned industries including fashion, action sports and home design. With adaptable skills and a cohesive vision, she has elevated brands and engineered new products for companies from Ralph Lauren and Hurley to GAP, Inc. and Bed Bath & Beyond. In addition to her expertise in textiles, patterns, and construction, Seo’s deployment of vertical sketch-to-showroom-ready leadership enables her design teams to flourish and surpass expectations
As VP Design at Hurley, her expertise in performance material development found it's calling in creating the Phantom Boardshort - a first of it's kind water sports short that set a new standard for materials innovation, performance and comfort in the surf industry.
As VP Product Design & Development for PTS America, her ability to deliver style and value while meeting technical specifications and quality standards increased the Target house account revenues by 40% within 3 seasons, building two private label dinnerware, serve ware programs and bakeware programs designed for Target.
In 2007, Seo applied her fashion forecasting experience to identify opportunities within the “elevated casual” women’s market and co-founded 51>INC, addressing the ever-changing identity of wardrobe essentials. In addition to customer engagement and product evolution, Seo managed wholesale relationships and established multi-channel customer service by initiating brick/mortar locations as well as architecting the website’s digital sales platform.
In her latest ready-to-wear post as creative director and product engine for specialty brand Sympli, Seo’s strategic concept skills support the sharpened consumer interest in self-expression, both in what they wear and how they live. With material expertise and strong vendor/factory networks necessary to deliver style and value while meeting technical specifications and quality standards, Seo’s talent development/management methodology encourages collaborative feedback, integral to the productive resolution and implementation of design ideas, objectives, and processes.