Athleta’s Senior Director of Design Believes That Failure Is Necessary to Accomplish Something Great

We often look to the iconic leaders of our time for motivation and wisdom, but for many of us, this is purely inspirational and not as applicable to our everyday lives. We truly believe there is more benefit in looking to your left and seeking out a peer-to-peer mentorship with a colleague or friend you admire. Why? Firstly, they will likely have the time to be your mentor, and secondly, their advice will be relatable and allow you to see your path clearly while keeping your mind open to new ideas, identifying new opportunities, and helping you self-advocate. We call them Everyday Superheroes. In this new series, we talk to the people who are paying it forward, lifting others up and paving a smoother path for the next generation to come.

Contrary to what you might think, failure isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Just ask Casey Schumacher. Over the course of her impressive career, which included stints at athletic wear powerhouses like The North Face, Lululemon, and Adidas before she landed her dream job as the senior director of design at Athleta, she’s come to realize that ditching perfection and accepting failure have helped her rise to the top of her field.

“Fear of failure—or of not creating the best thing—can be daunting, especially when you work for bigger brands,” Schumacher tells Create & Cultivate. “I’ve found that taking it too seriously takes the joy out of why we chose this career in the first place,“ she elaborates. “And stress is the number one hindrance to creativity, so I’ve learned to lighten up, enjoy the process, and accept that failure is necessary to achieve something great.”

Ahead, Schumacher shares her career journey from freelancer to senior director of design at Athleta, including how she learned to collaborate with fellow creatives, trust her gut, and accept failure along the way.

CREATE & CULTIVATE: What did you study in school? And what did you want to be when you grew up?

CASEY SCHUMACHER: My mom is an incredible artist and seamstress. Growing up, she always made sure my siblings and I had books, paints, crayons, and clay in our hands: making things was ingrained in us. We listened to a lot of music and danced, which also had a big influence on me. 

I received my first degree in journalism and digital media art, so, naturally, I worked at a creative advertising agency after graduation. But I quickly realized it wasn’t for me, so I moved to San Francisco to study fashion design.  

Fashion design combined craft, art, research, color, sport, access to culture, and collaboration—all the things that I am passionate about—in one industry! And, because I’m also an athlete, I found the perfect career working for companies that value performance, fashion, and the empowerment of women.  

Photo: Courtesy of Athleta

What are some of the earlier jobs that helped to shape your career path?

After graduating with my fashion degree, I was freelancing around the Bay Area taking on multiple contracts. It was a fun way to see different aspects of the industry and meet people, as well as understand the spectrum of roles that were available to me fresh out of school.  

I landed a permanent role at The North Face, where I spent five amazing years working with a dynamic team that gave me a lot of responsibility as a young designer. My managers let me participate in all creative responsibilities, from fitting garments, developing technical materials, and building color palettes to curating prints to setting a seasonal direction. We worked and traveled with the world’s greatest outdoor athletes (taking us on some of the scariest outdoor adventures I’ll ever experience!). It really helped shape my love for technical performance design. 

The four years after that I spent with Lululemon in Vancouver, B.C. was incredible. Being a part of a female-focused brand with a maniacal attention to fit, function, detail, and beauty pushed my design process and sharpened my skills. As a design-led company, we were given so many tools and resources to become experts in our industry and drive authentic concepts. I was able to build and manage teams, which ignited my passion for leading people. Also, living in another country was such a great learning experience.

Working at Adidas gave me the opportunity to work with a vast and talented network of global design and innovation teams, and I loved learning more about footwear! I was able to collaborate with the best creative teams in Portland, New York, and Herzogenaurach, Germany. I had an amazing mentor on the concept side who inspired me to the next level, showing me how powerful good creative direction is.  

What challenges have you faced along the way? What did you learn from them? How did they prepare you for your job now?

As creatives, we’re really passionate about what we do, and, at times, it’s hard to distance ourselves emotionally from a project. Fear of failure—or of not creating the best thing—can be daunting, especially when you work for bigger brands. But I’ve found that taking it too seriously takes the joy out of why we chose this career in the first place. And stress is the number one hindrance to creativity, so I’ve learned to lighten up, enjoy the process, and accept that failure is necessary to achieve something great.  

It’s also really important to develop collaborative skills with others, especially ones you don’t necessarily mesh with right away. Over the years, I’ve learned that getting to know people and sharing ideas without an ego is much more productive and enjoyable. Plus, the creative output is much more elevated.  

Tell us about your role. What does it entail? Did you work your way up? What were the positions along the way?

I’m a senior design director and oversee the performance design team (train & studio), as well as bras, seamless, and swim collections. I also oversee the G!RL and accessories design teams. While leading those categories, I also head up concept and color. It seems like a lot ( AND IT IS!), but it’s so fun because I’ve been able to hire the most amazing team of design leads for each of those categories. 

I’m able to take on this diverse set of responsibilities because I’ve worked at pretty amazing brands that allowed me to flex different creative muscles and experience diverse learning opportunities. Starting as an assistant designer, my aim was to get as much vast experience as I could, and that mentality has always been with me. I also learned early on that leading people was a passion of mine, so it’s naturally how I’ve shown up, no matter my title. 

What do you love most about your job and why? Does the reality of your career match up to your expectations?

I love the diverse set of creative and smart people I work with every day, and I have so much fun getting my hands deep into the nuances of fashion design, and then being able to think future-forward into innovation and insights. My mother is an artist, and my father is a doctor. I think I got half of each brain, and this job really allows me to fuse creativity and strategy. And doing that with a focus on athletic apparel has proved incredibly rewarding to me—to design with the ability to increase the confidence and performance of all women.

So, I wouldn’t say I had clear expectations of what this career would bring me, but I let things lead me in an organic way that played to my strengths. The years have firmed up my set of personal values, and I’m able to identify what I want and don’t want in life and my career. I can now really trust my gut!  

Photo: Courtesy of Athleta

What can you tell us about the company culture? What has encouraged you to stay? 

This brand’s values are why I interviewed at Athleta, and the people I met while doing so really solidified the deal! We are women supporting women, and our teams work daily to make good on that promise, in and out of the office.   

The teams encourage people to question and challenge process and commit to being open-minded in order to reach a common goal. I’ve never worked at a brand that truly practices this consistently, and it’s so refreshing.  

Talk us through your daily tasks and what a day in the office looks like for you. What’s the most rewarding part of your day?

This looks a lot different today in a WFH environment than it did pre-COVID. Zoom is a blessing and a curse. I love that we have it because we can complete a lot of work together virtually, but the design team needs a lot of tactile practice in our day-to-day: fittings, material review, color palette creation, etc. 

I like to look at my calendar and check email in the morning when my brain is fresh and people are mostly still sleeping. I then sit in meetings with my design and cross-functional teams. I get packages in the mail with fabric samples, prototypes, and color swatches which I’ll review with the teams over Zoom.  

I do a little bit of everything! Much of the day is spent meeting with different members of the design and cross-functional teams, reviewing concepts, streamlining processes, and preparing deliverables for big milestones. I aim to maintain the integrity of our brand handwriting through each category, steer the seasonal narrative, and provide the product expertise I’ve gained along the way. My goal is to also make sure my team is supported in their career and personal development and obstacles are removed so they can create to their best ability.

Oversimplifying, I’m connecting the dots! 

What does your morning pre-work routine look like? What rituals set you up for success?

I love waking up and getting a sweat in first thing. I’ll do a yoga class, box, or ride my stationary bike depending on how I’m feeling. While I make my coffee, I’ll pull a tarot card: my best friend bought me ORA+CLE tarot cards for designers, and it’s a good way to create an intention for the day. I’ll listen to NPR while getting ready and then sit at my desk to check email with a scented candle burning. 

I’m definitely a morning person because all is quiet and calm. So sometimes I’ll skip all of the above and just sleep. Success!  

Your role requires you to be across so many facets of the business—how do you manage your time effectively? What is your greatest productivity hack? How do you get it done?

I carve out specific time for email, team meetings, and creative time, attempting to summon the right brain space so I’m effective and thoughtful—like switching gears. 

In response to email or meeting attendance, I try to look at my day or week and bucket tasks or meetings asking myself:

1) What can I tackle or should own?

2) Where will I need support?

3) What can I can pass to someone else? 

4) What can I say no to? 

That helps me carve out space for the most important things, and also allows my team to really lead, yet get my support when they need it.  

Post-Its are my savior. I’m a big list maker, but the Post-It allows me to move things around when my priorities shift throughout the day or week. I’ll jot down small and big ideas, things I know I’ll forget, mark a place in a book. I have all the colors, all the sizes, and lots of sharpies! 

I’m getting back on track to making time for my workouts every morning. I cook a lot on Sundays to get me through the workweek with healthy meals!  

Photo: Courtesy of Athleta

Do you ever reach inbox zero? Do you believe in that? What is your inbox philosophy?

I’m dedicated to being an active and reliable team partner, so having a pile of unanswered emails makes me nervous. In a virtual environment, I try to get more phone calls and chats in that may cut down on email. But, I’ve made a new habit of creating dedicated space in a day to focus on emails

What is one of the biggest misconceptions about your job?

On phone calls, my Mom occasionally asks me, “What are you working on right now at work, honey?” And I say, “I don’t even know where to start!”

I think people imagine we’re focusing on one thing and one collection at a time, and that we see the instant result. But the truth, is we’re working far in advance on three seasonal collections at once, juggling different tasks and wearing many hats. It’s exciting, but maybe not as romantic as some people may think—design is chaotic! 

If someone wanted your role specifically, what advice would you give them on how to land their dream job/your current job? 

• Work at being an amazing people connector.

• Believe in and empower your team to utilize their strengths. Sometimes that means letting go of a bit of control.

• Keeping learning, strengthening, and sharpening skills, and share them with others.

• Diversify your experience where you can through traveling, working on different product types, and keeping a close and diverse network of creatives connections. (You never know what opportunities may arise!)

• Be able to see the forest and the trees; the big picture and the details.

Have you seen a consistent standout quality or personality trait of successful people in your industry?

The fashion design industry can be really face-paced and, at times, fickle. The people who are able to maintain calm and remain open-minded and flexible are consistently more successful. I look up to successful leaders who are able to connect with people (no matter their title) on an empathetic level and empower others. 

What’s the best piece of advice you’ve been given? And what’s the worst piece of advice you’ve been given?

The best piece of advice I’ve been given: “You’ve got to take care of yourself to show up for others.” The worst piece of advice I’ve been given: “Stay for the money.”

If there was one person you admire that you could power brunch with, who would it be?

Beyoncé. I realize that’s probably a very popular answer! But I admire her artistic evolution over the years: she started as an entertainer and has moved beyond that to being a cultural icon. She’s a creative current around which music, fashion, art, dance, and politics move, and I’d love to pick her brain about the intersection and evolution of those things. How does she stay motivated when she’s achieved so much in her career?

In your mind, what’s a perfect interview outfit? Why? Explain?

I need to feel really at ease with what I’m wearing: comfortable, well-fitting, and confidence-inducing. I like my outfit to reflect who I am and my design sensibility. I also put a bit of effort into understanding the culture of the place I’m interviewing at. Whether it’s super casual or more formal, I’ll tailor my look to the environment, making sure I’m not underdressed. Accessories are a great way to dress up any outfit.

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