Returning to my role with this long standing knitwear company who supply companies such as Marks and Spencer, BHS, Debenhams, ASOS, Tesco, Dorothy Perkins, Monsoon. Developing product in the Far East, Bangladesh and Italy. Managing the team, organising workloads, interviewing new staff members and being involved in the future developments of the company. Main accounts were Marks and Spencer’s which included the main range, Per Una, Classics and Twiggy which Tapestry produced all of the knitwear for. My other key accounts where Monsoon, Topshop, Miss Selfridge and Shop Direct and ASOS. I also developed a fashion forward range for Tapestry from the current catwalks and researching into the key messages and trends of the season. Which then the team would present to each customer. Yarn sourcing and colour selection including trips to Pitti Filati. Travel is a key part of this role with trips to Hong Kong for buying meetings and various shopping trips around the world such as Seoul, New York, Paris, Copenhagen, Antwerp and Tokyo.

This is one of the largest wholesalers in Australia, working on their brand ‘JUMP’. This was based in Melbourne with factories in Shanghai and Hong Kong. Jump is a brand sold across Australia in boutiques and department stores. Its customer was once 35+ but their aim was to have a younger 25+ universal age. I was brought onboard to work on this. Working with a critical path I planned and produced a range for summer working closely with the woven developer so our range would all sit as one. This included mood boards showing our key themes, then colour, yarn and fabric selection. After looking at the previous best/worst sellers I developed a more fashion forward product that suited our customer. This range was then presented to our agents across Australia who would then sell onto all the store/boutiques. I was also involved in selecting outfits for our photo shoot and presentation packages. It was a great success with sales highly improving from the previous seasons. Another responsibility was for the production of all bought styles for Winter 2010 and Summer 2011 which included all fits and approvals. Also dealing with any return issues to make sure we fix any problems with yarn/fabric for the future. I managed and trained another individual to help me with the production side to free up my time to work on the design area. I am a good leader with great communication skills and have the experience of working closely with buyers, suppliers, factories and the warehouse team.