Maggie Kimmett ’23, Textile Design in the World of Corporate Homeware 

Textile design is everywhere, from kitchen towels to the cushions on your couch. 

For most people, this abundant commodity is enjoyed without a second thought. For Maggie Kimmett, however, textile design caught her attention from an early age. 

“I grew up in a really old house that had such cool wallpaper and old built-in couches,” the Wilson College of Textiles alumna says. “I had a huge fascination with the old prints and fabrics, and that influenced my interest in homeware.”

Now, as an assistant designer for Kohl’s, Kimmett dreams up cozy homeware pieces for families around the United States. Over the past two years on the retailer’s soft decor team, she’s created everything from stuffed animals to blankets, and she can’t help but add some of them to her own space. 

“When I was on the pillows team, we designed these dinosaur stuffed animals. That was my favorite. When I saw those in the store and got so excited I bought one.”

During her time as a textile design student at the Wilson College, Kimmett interned for three different companies, designed a capstone textile collection inspired by microorganisms and served as modeling director for Platform magazine. She says these experiences and others have played a valuable role in her success in the industry. 

In merging her love for art and design with the scientific approach to textiles, this Wilson College alumna gets to bring her creative energy into her job, every single day. 

What made you decide to pursue a career in textile design? 

I wanted to be a fashion designer, but I met somebody who worked at Target Corporation and she let me job shadow her in apparel design. When I was there, I met a textile designer who worked with all the art prints, and she would turn the art into fabric. She specialized in turning her watercolor artwork into fabric prints, and I got to watch her work through that process. 

I love art in general, and I remember thinking that textile design is a fusion of both art and fashion. I liked sewing, but I wasn’t super into pattern drafting and the technical aspects of fashion design. I enjoyed more of the art aspects. I think that’s what partly drew me to textile design. 

You participated in multiple internships over the course of your college career. How did these experiences impact you?

My internships were the most important piece of knowing what I wanted to do and gave me more experience and confidence to get the job I have now. 

My first internship was for a small independent fashion brand in New York City, and it was all virtual. Then I interned at a fabric manufacturer in North Carolina. It was helpful to work on the manufacturing side because they serve as a vendor to retail companies that need to source fabrics for their products. 

Seeing both the fabric manufacturing and product design aspects gave me a wider perspective of the fashion and textile industry. It’s very different but beneficial to see multiple sides of production.

What was it like transitioning from being a textile design student to designing for a department store? How did the Wilson College of Textiles prepare you for your career?

My current role is in corporate retail design, and NC State did a good job of preparing me more for the corporate industry as well as manufacturing. I was taught how to use Illustrator to build repeatable designs, and EAT, which is a weaving software. I learned a lot of design software that I could put on my resume. Being able to design your art and then knowing how to translate it into a physical product sets you apart in the application process. 

Most of my college designs were created with my taste in mind. Now, at Kohl’s, I am thinking about the consumers and their style, and designing with their taste in mind.

What has your experience as an assistant designer looked like so far?

You start out doing a lot of learning, especially understanding the systems Kohl’s uses. I learned quickly that corporate design is a very specific type of design, and it involves working closely with our vendors. As an assistant, I started by helping other designers. Once I got my footing, I began designing products myself. The job involves a lot of back-and-forth communication to get the product just right. 

For example, if the soft decor team has a whole collection of Christmas pillows to design for our brand Celebrate Together, I would work with our art team to finalize the designs for the pillows. Then I would research potential fabrics, such as knits or wovens, to best suit the products. Afterward, I’d work with the vendors who manufacture our products to get our sample designs. Once my team receives the sample products, I review them for errors or anything that needs to be updated for the final product. 

What does a day in your life look like?

The thing I love about my job is that it’s constantly changing. The design process works on a cycle, and I’m usually contributing to multiple seasons at a time. 

My day-to-day usually consists of working on art files and getting them production-ready. This involves cleaning up the designs in Illustrator or Photoshop for our manufacturers. Since Kohl’s doesn’t manufacture our products in-house, we go to our vendor partners for manufacturing. The products then come back to Kohl’s to sell! 

I also look at products in the color lab. Our color lab helps designers evaluate sample product colors and compare them to our intended vision to make sure the colors look as planned on the physical products. I use Pantone swatches to get everything right, and then I communicate with our vendors about what needs to change and what looks good. 

I also do a lot of brainstorming and competitive shopping to see what our competitors are doing and how Kohl’s can incorporate new ideas into our product assortment.

What’s been your favorite part of designing homeware at Kohl’s?

My favorite part is working with so many different fabric types. For example, our team may work with intricate fabrics such as Jacquard weaves, and we peel the different layers apart to look at the structure of the design to better understand how the yarn is creating a specific color or pattern in the fabric. That jumps into my NC State background, specifically involving fabric structure and woven designs. I like the textile aspect of design, and that is my favorite part of homeware – it’s very fabric-focused. 

What do you wish more people knew about your field?

Sometimes people don’t understand all the steps that go into making a product. From the outside, it can look like a machine makes something, but every little piece is designed pixel by pixel to tell the machine what to do. It’s like an art form. 

Textile design is a very niche skill, but interesting. When I talk to people about my job, I usually mention how designers or manufacturers tell the machines and computers what to do. 

What is one experience or memory from the Wilson College of Textiles that has been the most impactful to you? 

Platform Magazine, a fashion and culture magazine at NC State, is definitely what sticks with me the most. I was in it all four years. I was the modeling director for two years and met the best people. I loved the creativity and the teamwork that went into Platform. There’s nothing quite like it. 

What advice do you have for prospective students interested in textile design? 

Make really good connections in the textile community. Ask lots of questions and learn about different kinds of jobs too, because there are so many different routes you can take with textile design. Learn what works best for you!