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Katie is a graduate of the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising (FIDM) in Los Angeles with a degree in Fashion Design. Prior to graduating, she was offered a role with the California Market Center where she worked one on one with large department stores and hundreds of buyers. There she created color stories and iconic wardrobe pieces for the Mart’s global customer base. The Mart exposed Katie to design houses always on the lookout for new talent, so it wasn’t long before Katie was offered a position at a design firm where she was able to leverage her formal education and bring her fashion forward creations to market. 

 

Working side by side with fabric mills, buyers, and print houses, Katie gained an in depth understanding of the various business skills needed to succeed in the garment industry. She was quickly promoted to Vice President of Operations responsible for design, production, sales, marketing and customer service. Katie quickly transformed a fledgling business into a highly profitable and efficient operation.

 

Armed with significant experience and years of saving for her dream, Katie went out on her own and founded Bump Couture in 2006, a specialty high end maternity line focused on fashionable moms to be. Her designs were new, fresh and contemporary in a market that was not yet saturated. The Bump Couture label helped put stylish, chic maternity wear on the map. Her designs quickly found favor in the marketplace with young mothers to be, including many celebrities like Jennifer Garner, Angelina Jolie and Brittany Spears.

 

The Bump Couture label soon became a must have for fashionable maternity boutiques across North America as well as London, Dubai, Sydney, Singapore, and beyond. Various pieces from the Bump Couture line would grace the covers of major industry focused magazines. They also caught the attention of department stores such as Nordstrom, Barneys and Pea in the Pod.

 

It was around this time that Target asked Katie to create an exclusive line for their customers at a price point that was widely affordable. Bump Couture partnered with Target and launched their first collaboration in 2009. The Target line was a great success, with all inventory of tops and dresses selling out within weeks of hitting the stores and Target’s web site. Katie and Target continued this partnership season after season and the results were always the same…sold out inventory in mere weeks.

 

Although Katie loved what she was doing, she made the difficult decision to step away from her business in 2011 in order to start a family. All the while, her passion for the fashion industry and business ownership never waned. In 2024 with her children older and off to school, she decided that the time was right to jump back into the fashion world and established R.brooklyn.

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