Artistic Fabric Mills is adding a pair of denim experts to its leadership team.
The female-led denim mill revealed the appointment of Towonda Vaughns as global design director and Susan Lawrence as the vice president of sales and marketing for North America. Both will be integral to the company’s continued success as it navigates the new normal.
“Despite the challenges brought forward this year, management at AFM remains cautiously optimistic about the future and is investing in people and areas of the business we foresee will transform the denim industry as a whole and propel us forward in our mission for circularity in the post-pandemic world,” said Haya Iqbal Ahmed, AFM director.
Vaughns has more than 20 years of experience in denim design, wet processing, manufacturing and marketing, and has also worked with leading denim brands such as Tommy Jeans, Nautica, Aeropostale, DKNY Jeans and Zara.
Most recently, she led Esprit’s Denim Center, where she worked on the Cradle to Cradle capsule and The Better Denim project to promote sustainability and quality. Her circularity expertise and dedication to responsible design is especially important to AFM, which was the first mill to receive Gold Cradle to Cradle certification on a recycled denim fabric.
Lawrence brings more than 40 years of technical denim and consumer behavior knowledge to the AFM team and carries a proven track record for spearheading innovations such as the first core-spun Lycra stretch denim for Levi’s. She’s also developed collections for Carhartt, Ralph Lauren and Calvin Klein, and has worked alongside industry legends Adriano Goldschmied and Ralph Lauren.
Both leaders will join AFM’s creative director Ampelio Dal Lago in its mission to close the loop on manufacturing.