Presenter - Jean Hoskin

Jean Hoskin, former Director of Color Services, Macy’s Merchandising Group

With color expertise that balances theory and application, art and science, Jean Hoskin retired from Macy’s Merchandising Group as Director of Color Services in 2016. Since her retirement, she has been consulting, writing, painting, and traveling. Majoring in textiles, Jean holds a BS from Iowa State University, an MA from Michigan State University, and a PhD from the University of Tennessee.

Jean began her career in teaching at the University of Kentucky in the apparel and interior design department. She developed and taught the color theory and textile design classes. She maintains her interest in historic and ethnic textiles as a member of the Textile Society of America. After leaving academics, she managed textile screen-printing for Kentucky Textiles, responsible for design, color matching, and pre press. Promoted to creative design, Jean managed apparel design, color and material development.

In 1995, Jean jumped from manufacturing to retail, beginning as color manager for Lane Bryant at Limited Inc. in Columbus, OH. Her major responsibility was color approval of materials using instrumental color measurement and communication. Next at May Merchandising Company in St Louis, MO she developed an international color management program that included exciting travel to dyeing and manufacturing sites in Asia. In 2006, she transferred to Macy’s in New York; where as Director of Color Services she implemented a global color approval process. Jean co-managed an international team of 35 and was responsible for training, color systems and industry trends. The New York and International teams provided a variety of functions, such as trends, standards development, CAD color matching, pre-production and production color approval, plus end-customer color selling reporting. She also contributed to speed to market, product lifecycle management, and internet color initiatives. Because of the large number of materials offered by Macy’s private brands, her team frequently developed instrumental color measurement protocols for specialty fabrics.

Always a teacher, Jean is a frequent presenter on innovation and process improvement at professional meetings. She is current secretary of the Board of Directors for the Inter-Society Color Council, senior member of American Association of Textile Chemists and Colorists and the Surface Design Association. She is past president of the International Association of Color Consultants-North America and a former board member of the Color Marketing Group.