VP Joosje van Roode Talks Family, Accessories, and How Technology Influences the Design Process

Joosje van Roode has watched the Calvin Klein brand evolve during her eight years with the brand, and she’s nimbly evolving with it. 

As the Vice President, Design - Home, Fragrance and Accessories, she and her team work on. In-house accessories and ensure Calvin Klein’s many licenses - including eyewear, watches, home goods, jewelry, apparel, and more - are aligned with the brand’s aesthetic before going into the market. She credits her team for her helping her thrive and grow in her current role. 

“I work with an incredibly talented team. My day-to-day is really guiding them in terms of direction and creative concepts while helping to edit and streamline the storytelling, making sure there's alignment,” she says. Joosje also takes cues from her supervisor, Jess Lomax, EVP Global Head of Design.

“Jess’s emphasis on culture makes me proud to work for this company. As a leader, she prioritizes making time to talk about our environment, ways of working and how to be supportive, which has had a really powerful trickle-down effect.”

Joosje’s design career began at the Hogeschool Antwerpen’s fashion program in Belgium, where she studied apparel fashion design before moving to New York for her first fashion internship. Since then, she’s worked on different teams, all leading to her current role. Read on as she opens up about her professional journey, leading with empathy, leveraging technology, balancing motherhood and more. 

Q: What drew you to Calvin Klein?

Joosje van Roode: The rich history is something that is a major plus. Now that I've worked here for a long time, for me the major benefit is our ability to work on new design concepts and execute them. We're very lucky that we have our own accessories atelier, which gives us the opportunity to create samples in-house, preview them, and work ahead of concept before we go into the seasonal calendar. It's highly creative, but it's also saving a lot of time. It's more sustainable on top of that, which is something we're all very passionate about.

Q: What drew you to the fashion industry?

JVR: Honestly, I had no idea what I was getting myself into, but I liked the idea of art combined with more practical needs and end uses. I like working with my hands. I come from a very creative family, so I always liked to use (my hands), but I also like to use my brain. So it's a really good combination. From that point of view, you can be both creative but also practical and business-minded if needed.

Q: If you were describing your role to someone who had no knowledge of the fashion industry, how would you describe the licensing concept? 

JVR: We work with partners that contract the right to use our brand name. What I'm here for is to help them make sure that anything they design and bring to the market is on brand. So we try to partner with them and share with them focused concepts early enough in the season so that when they begin to develop product, they have a lot of reference points from us. Then we help them with small tweaks or suggestions and after we have a final eye on the collections before they go into market.

Q: How does technology impact your day-to-day?

JVR: Specifically in my world, it's helpful for hardware and trim development. It starts fairly small. Rapid prototyping is a benefit for us in 3D. We can work on an idea on Monday, and we could have a sample in-house by Friday that's printed, whereas more traditional methods have a much longer lead time. Additionally, because of 3D, it's pretty easy to make a lot of different proportions of one idea. So for one design, we’re able to try eight different proportions quickly, in order to land on the perfect one.

Q: What do you think is the most important quality for a good leader to have?

JVR: I've always tried to lead with empathy. It is important to work hard and have strong goals, but empathy has space in business as well. When you deal with issues with empathy, you get better results.

In the end, if you trust people to do the best they can, they will.

Q: How has being a mother changed the way you work?

JVR: The moment you become a parent, you get even more of an understanding that some things are just out of your control, which helps keep me grounded. Day-to-day, I have to manage my time differently and I have to try to be smarter with the way I use my time. The hybrid model has been a big benefit to that because twice a week, being able to cut out commuting is a huge bonus, that I can spend time with my daughter in the morning or the evening. It also gives you perspective to truly set priorities. It's not always easy, but we try, and I think it's helped me be a better manager to other parents on my team.

Q: Do you have any advice for someone who wants to follow in your footsteps or someone who wants to enter the world of licensing?

JVR: My advice would be to be open to all kinds of opportunities that come your way. I couldn't have imagined my current job exactly, as it's not a standard box because I work in both licensing and in-house design. If you are curious and you're open to thinking about design, the moment you learn about one product category, you can learn about the next. It's really about listening and learning and contributing where you think you can. If people can learn from seeing around them, learning from a lot of mistakes, your own mistakes, other people's mistakes, it's always good to consider, "How would I have done that?" when moving forward.

Q: What is your proudest professional accomplishment?

JVR: Being able to navigate through Covid with a creative team was a really big challenge. Before, we were very analog - sketching with pencil, meeting and looking at products and samples in person and we had to make a complete shift and figure out new ways of working and navigate change and new needs. I'm very proud that we've been able to navigate that. So that's both the hardest and the proudest moment, that we were able to come through stronger.

Q: What do you think is the most important skill a person can have to be successful on your team?

JVR: Empathy. I think you can get far by being willing to listen to other people and collaborate. So honestly, collaboration skills, that's the way you get the furthest because you can learn, you can influence, and you can lift people up. 

*Responses edited for clarity