Apparel

I have worked in the apparel industry running the operations and finances of growing brands since 2006. In my younger years (before a .6 year stint in marketing) I interned backstage at shows, at Ford Models, and in fashion PR. 

I've purchased hundreds of thousands of yards of fabric and tens of thousands of cut & sewn garments per month, counted hundreds of thousands of buttons, overseen overseas & domestic production, owned a sales showroom, worked backstage at shows, sales repped women's, kids, and men's shows in Vegas, and everything in between. There were cheers, tears, dirty warehouses, fancy dinners, 12 hours straight counting hundreds of yards of fabric rolls.

I danced next to JT in Vegas, went to red carpet events, had an epic foot massage in Shanghai between factory visits, and flew business class to Japan. I ordered thousands of the wrong sized zipper (!), moved from a dusty mom & pop warehouse to a high-tech automated facility, and implemented multiple ERP's, both large-scale and small. It was always real, exciting, challenging, and deeply satisfying to see the finished product on the retail floor. I've seen almost everything that can go wrong, and introduced processes to make it right.

It's a fast and furious industry that never lets up. Every day a problem needs solving. And in my experience, it's the brands with the most highly performing & organized operations that survive and flourish.

They deliver on time, they pay their bills on time, they're honest and reliable, they have excellent customer service and solid values, they know who they're designing for and they make buyers' lives easier. I've overseen the operations of several high-performing brands, and can help you perform highly yourself.

Examples of projects I can help with:

• Pricing, costing and gross margin planning

• Production & supply chain tracking, connecting operations to production

• Establishing relevant, useful, and actionable reporting

• Inventory valuation & aging, strategically planning to close-out

• Fulfillment center selection

• ERP system implementation

• Setting up accounting department & bookkeeping processes

• Identifying reliable sources of data for analysis

• Forecasting with team input, creating accountability

• Budgeting, including identifying variable & fixed costs

• Monthly review of actuals to budget, and identifying areas for improvement`