Work Experience June 2018: Muddy Puddles & Mothercare

This summer I have been lucky enough to have some eye opening and insightful internships in the creative industry. Having already spent two weeks at Rob Ryan during Unit X, I went on to spend three weeks with Children’s outdoor clothing brand Muddy Puddles at the start of June.

My experience at Muddy Puddles was fantastic; a family run business, the brand is run from the home of the owner Natasha, and in the office day-to-day are just 4-6 employees, giving it a really home-grown feel. Each member of the team works in their own department, from buying to finance and lead creative roles. The brand ethos embraces the idea of children spending time outdoors, enjoying nature whatever the weather, and getting back to the fundamentals of childhood; learning through playing and having fun. Despite the team being relatively small, its online and social media presence is so impressive and carefully curated that it gives the impression of being a much larger company, whilst retaining the familial and unpretentious character which is what customers value so much about it.

One thing I really admire about the brand is their commitment to sustainability and quality. Each item is designed to be ‘passed on to someone smaller than you,’ and this message is reflected in the standard of materials used and rigour which goes into the product development. At a time when sustainability and longevity in the fashion industry is of such vital importance it is great to see a brand which completely embraces the opportunity to pursue a sustainable approach and promote more considered ways of shopping.

My roles whilst at the company involved running errands, clearing and re-organising the stock room, researching for upcoming collaborations and even doing some design work. Starting with organising the stock room was a valuable task as it allowed me to get a thorough understanding of the products for past, present and upcoming seasons and get familiar with their most popular items. Muddy Puddles specialises in coats, ‘splash-suits’, all-in-ones and wellies as well as many other products, combining practicality and durability with fun, colourful prints. As I specialise in print design with a particular passion for bright colours and bold designs I loved seeing this in practice for children’s wear.

The best part of my internship was getting to do research into collaborative projects. First, I was asked to do research into a collaboration between Muddy Puddles and Peppa Pig. This was interesting as Muddy Puddles tends towards a unisex, artistic print style, whereas a lot of Peppa Pig clothing merchandise can be quite bright, gaudy and aimed more at girls than boys. Trying to combine these two styles was challenging, so I was set with the task of finding examples of other brands who had done collaborations with Peppa Pig and other cartoon characters, from which Muddy Puddles could draw inspiration. In particular, a Peppa Pig x Uniqlo collaboration provided good inspiration. This was a great task in helping me understand the ethos of the brand, and how they would approach working with other companies.

Following this, I did some work on colourways for the upcoming autumn winter range. Going through the prints for the new season and experimenting with the colours on photoshop to see how they worked together as a collection helped me develop an understanding of how all the pieces in a range need to work in harmony with each other so that they are each unique but all look like part of the same collection.

My main project during the three weeks was working on print designs for a three-way collaboration between Muddy Puddles, American kids’ retailer Maisonette, and the artist Hugo Guinness. The idea was for Muddy Puddles to create an exclusive range of garments to sell through maisonette using prints by Hugo Guinness. I researched maisonette to find out more about the colours they tend to use and the other brands they have worked with. I also went through Hugo Guinness’ artwork to find designs which could be suitable for kids’ wear. It was quite a challenging project, as all three brands have very distinct identities, Muddy Puddles being bright and bold, Maisonette favouring whimsical designs and pastel shades, and Hugo Guinness specialising in monochrome linocut prints. I used photoshop to create repeat patterns of Guinness’ prints including a dog, a spitfire, a fern and a foxglove design. I then played around with colourways, aiming to combine the bright primary colours of Muddy Puddles with more pastel shades.

I then put the designs into CAD mock ups of jackets and all in one garments. I found this to be a great insight into the design process and seeing how long it can take for colours and prints to be finalised.

Being the only designer was daunting but also really exciting as it meant I was in a position to take some creative control over the design work and suggest ideas to Natasha and Laura the buyer. Sitting in on meetings with the team and having feedback sessions gave me insight into how they work through problems and make decisions as a whole.

Overall working at muddy puddles was a great experience as I loved the ethos of the brand and really identified with their style. I hadn’t ever considered working in children’s outdoor clothing but having experienced it, it’s definitely something I’d like to gain more experience in. Above all the team were absolutely lovely and made me feel like a member from day one. I think the fact that it is a small, family run business gives it a really distinct character and being able to get to know everyone in the team so well was a joy and made every day a lot of fun.

In contrast, I then spent two weeks in the design team at Mothercare. This was a big change from Muddy Puddles, but equally interesting and inspiring. Firstly, the team was so much bigger. The design team was comprised of about 15 designers working on baby, mini kids and junior children’s wear in both boys’ and girls’ departments. Despite the team being so much bigger, I still got to know people really well and everyone was friendly and welcoming.

As well as the head designer, there were design assistants and lead designers for both boys’ and girls’ wear.  I wasn’t expecting there to be so many designers however, as it is such a big brand it makes total sense, and they have several different ranges for each age category for each season, so there is a lot of designing to do!

Whilst at the company, I worked closely with Chloe, a recent fashion graduate who was extremely helpful and explained to me all the different roles within the team, and the process of designing from research to product development.

My tasks included sorting out pantone colour swatch books for reference when designing, organising rails of samples, and doing research online for different stories for each season. One of my main jobs involved going through the stories for each season and looking for imagery to go onto theme mood boards. I also had to prepare CADs for sign-off meetings and spent some time designing garment CADs.

To be able to experience two completely different types of children’s wear company was an invaluable experience, and I was really intrigued to see how design works from a more business than artistic standpoint. One thing I particularly enjoyed about Mothercare was the fact that there was specific design team, so a great emphasis was placed on the importance of design. However, as it is such a large, commercial company, much of the design was quite generic and less unique than the designs for Muddy Puddles. There were pros and cons to working for each brand, but ultimately, I got a real sense of the type of design jobs available, and a great insight into children’s wear. Prior to my internships I had not considered going into children’s wear design once leaving uni. Now, I would definitely do so. It has also made me want to try other placements such as interior or men’s/women’s wear, as I want to try out as much as possible to be able to make informed job choices once I graduate.