Latest / Exploring Fashion Futures With Dr.HB / She Leads The Merchandising For A licensed Sportswear Company. NFL, NHL, NCAA And More.

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She Leads The Merchandising For A licensed Sportswear Company. NFL, NHL, NCAA And More. · Exploring Fashion Futures With Dr.HB

• speaker-0: Hello, welcome to my podcast, Exploring Fashion Futures with Dr. HB. This podcast is to help next generation of fashion professionals. The reality is there are so many jobs and business opportunities in the global fashion and textile industry, but most people don't know. But parents don't know, students don't know. A lot of times they find the fashion after the fact or I didn't know this kind of thing existed. So based on my nine years of experiences as a sourcing manager in New York City, but also about nineteen, twenty years of experience as a professor, I decided to host this podcast to help the next generation about how this amazing opportunity this industry can offer to them. So my name is Dr. Jung Haberkshire. Students call me Dr. HB. I'm a professor and the department chair of textile and apparel management at the University of Missouri. back at Mizzou, we call ourselves Mizzou, Tam. Mizzou, is a nickname for University of Missouri and Tam is Tech Silent Apparel Management. So today I'm here in New York City meeting with Rachel Ripley, who is one of our alumni. So I'm so proud of you. Thank you. And thank you for coming here. So let's just talk first, like who are you? speaker-1: So as you mentioned, my name's Rachel. I graduated University of Missouri in twenty thirteen. Is it thirteen? Yes. It's been thirteen years. Wow. Crazy. As a Tam major. Yes. So I had a a track in the marketing and merchandising. Yeah. And then I also was a division one college athlete. And swam at University of Missouri all four years. speaker-0: So you're a student athlete. Yeah. And so student athlete had a whole different rules and regulation. there's a lot of benefit but also limited opportunity in terms of what you can do over the summer in internship and whatnot. speaker-1: Actually, yes, we were in the water in the weight room over twenty hours a week. And so many times I was working classes around my workout schedule with swimming. Yeah. and making it all fit in together and getting my nap during the middle of the day to make sure I'm ready to swim, but also then cramming for tests and things like that. But yes, I I stayed In Columbia, Missouri, which is pretty small when the university's out of session. Right. On winter breaks, Thanksgiving break, and then also through summer. So I never had the opportunity to really internship because I was competing at at nationals and in twenty twill I competed at Olympic trials. Right. So speaker-0: So a lot of students have their part time job, whether working for s at a store or bookstores or local whatever. speaker-1: Mom liked to tell me my job was swimming. speaker-0: You couldn't do none of that. Correct. But you still wanted to be competitive when you're in a job market and like, you know, viable candidate. So you needed to do something different. So tell us about that story. speaker-1: So I came to you between sophomore and junior year, or between junior and senior year, one of the two I can't remember at this point, and I was like, How am I going to get experience, put something on my resume other than being an athlete and finishing four years of college? Right. And so you had an idea of creating a project basically. Yeah. Of sourcing basically sourcing backwards. Right. speaker-0: Yes. speaker-1: And so we were building basically a tech pack and essentially all the details from graphic design all the way through the logistics of how a shirt would ship and what's all the information that was needed so I would at least have something to show of the work that I could do. Right. to employers that were interested in hiring me. Yes. speaker-0: And I guess that worked, huh? So tell us so after you graduated, tell us about your journey. speaker-1: So I actually was a fashion scholarship fund recipient in twenty thirteen. so that definitely helped through that program along with the work they'd done with you of finding an internship in the city because it's hard to move from a different state to New York City. And so I was able to get my foot in the door with an internship. It was called Con Lucas and they also own Madame Alexandra, which is the doll company. Uhhuh. And it was little girls' dresses. So from there I was like cutting fabric that was like glitter and sparkle and I was learning about product development. Uh-huh. Of approving lab dips, understanding consumer safety laws for kids of what you can have from a pull test for flowers and things like that on Easter dresses and Christmas dresses. Wow. So it's just like a lot of fun to walk in and see glitter and sequin and speaker-0: Also the law is that speaker-1: Do tie both and still make a great product? Right. At a very low cost. speaker-0: Right. That's like a three monster trying to get at you, right? Yeah. So you can still do the creative, glitter, fun, but also serious safety and legal but also costing analytical skills, right? So that's cool. speaker-1: So I spent eight weeks eight to ten weeks I would say in that internship before when you're in New York, you're able to interview during your lunch break. So I had a interview with a company called Coconut Grove Intimates. Yeah. Which actually was walking on this block that we were on. And this block was where my first job was. goodness. It's like full circle. So it's speaker-0: É, já vou. speaker-1: funny I was like rec I was like, that place and this place was speaker-0: So Coconut Grove was speaker-1: So we had licensing for Splendid and Ella Moss, Intimate Apparel and Sleepwear. So Splendid and Ella Moss are California based brands. And so we worked on the intimates and sleepwear and I was a product assistant doing tech packs, which was perfect. That was essentially my project that I did with you. Yeah. Did and then fabric sourcing, materials development, different things like that through tech pack and then getting the showroom ready for market. So a little bit of everything. speaker-0: So what do you mean by showroom ready for a point like as if I'm ten years old? Yes. Okay. speaker-1: Okay. So you order samples for that season. Okay. And so you the speaker-0: Water sembles with who? speaker-1: factories. And then from there, once you receive all the samples, you do a check with design to make sure the samples came in the way you expected them. Right. If not, you make changes to it, try to rush another sample in before you have market. Right. And then you prepare the showroom essentially. So you flip it out from the previous season. So if we were in spring twenty sixth, we would be taking all those samples out and flipping it to summer twenty sixth. speaker-0: And so you make all this a sample display and then the buyer comes in. speaker-1: Exactly. Yes, and then that's when sales takes over and I walk out of the room. speaker-0: You didn't have to do the sale. Okay, speaker-1: Exactly. speaker-0: that's good. Yeah. So your job was to once you get the d design concept from your designer and then you just work with the factories overseas and make samples. Yeah. And then take over to take over to sales. speaker-1: So you're approving your lab dips, which are your colors that come in on about an inch by inch square to make sure they're not they're matching to the color that design picked. And then from there you're seeing sample yardage for approval and then the factory proceeds into sample making once the fit is approved so that the sample can arrive and we can have the best sample possible to sell to the customer. speaker-0: So how long did you do that? speaker-1: I was in that role for about a year and a half, I would say. speaker-0: What happened? speaker-1: And then from there I wanted something a little bit bigger. So I worked with Fashion Scholarship Fund and networked with my mentor who knew someone at PVH because PVH was also part of Fashion Scholarship Fund. And I was able to get a product development associate role at a P V H doing men's product. So we did Van Houston sportswear. So your dress shirts, sportswear shirts, pants and sweaters and knits. Kind of a little bit of everything for men's speaker-0: Right. So basically PVH is one of the biggest speaker-1: They're on Calvin Klein and Tommy Hill Hilfiger. speaker-0: Calvin Klein, Pamiel Hilfiger, Van Heusen, a almost a lot of menswear, but it's like a six or eight billion dollar holding company but holds so many twenty, thirty different brands and you just got one of the brands job. speaker-1: a small blip in the process. speaker-0: But there are millions tons of jobs in there in that PVH company alone, right? speaker-1: Learn so much. speaker-0: From very small company to a very big company, huge billion dollar company, I'm sure there's some what's surprised to you? speaker-1: There's so many different roles and I think learning process. Right. And the foundation that I built from like learning process at like a large company that like in some ways is a lever that almost like runs on its own and like constantly people are following there's a person that just builds calendar, right? Like I build calendar plus do X, Y, and Z. speaker-0: In a smaller company and speaker-1: So you're so focused and you were performing that focused task at such a high level of analyzing everything that it like it it helps you understand the level of detail you need to get to, I think. Right. And then the process associated to the other departments and who follows you and who's before you to understand how like you support the system versus like at a small company, you are the system doing the whole process. speaker-0: So it's almost like I can imagine it's a gigantic factory, it's like a multi multi like you know, wheel is kind of combined together and you are part of that little thing. speaker-1: I'm like a small cog in the process. Yeah. speaker-0: But in smaller company you are the sis you just do it all. speaker-1: Right. And I think the first job out of college, I was just excited to be working and I was learning so much in a sponge. Whereas P V H I was still learning, but it was with people that were like experts in their area of how do I take the work that I'm doing now that I think is good and how do I take it to the next level? I would see something and be like, How do I equate that to my job to be able to look at something a certain way and make it relevant in the way that I was doing work? Wow. So I was really like I would take pictures of people's PowerPoint decks because the slide was so pretty that I was like, I wanna use that or that's such a good way of looking at the information. speaker-0: Just expertise such a in depth skill set. But you have to be the best of the best thing because you're such a big company. So how long you've done that? So speaker-1: was at P Beach for seven years. Wow. Yes. I bounced around to several different roles while I was there. It was great to have a a mentor at the time when I was there that basically called corporate America like a jungle gem of you like trying to basically work your way through the jungle. Like straight path speaker-0: It's almost like you grab this. You grab this. speaker-1: there's no straight path. It's kind of like how do you move around and like work your way to the next level. speaker-0: Just give us a a specific example of a title. Even if it's not your title. Just give us an example of title 'cause a lot of people don't know. speaker-1: So I I started as a product development associate. huh. And then I moved into a management trainee program in supply chain. Uh-huh. Where I rotated to like six different departments within PVH across different brands. Uh-huh. where it was basically learning best practices within those six departments. speaker-0: So a design speaker-1: no. No. I spent time in corporate responsibility. So understanding sustainability, understanding labor rights, understanding a lot of the social impact of different things. So that was a really cool experience. Yes. Exactly. And then I spelt some time in demand planning. Wow. So understanding how you forecast and plan your replenishment business, such as your white T shirt, et cetera. I spent time in a strategic initiatives office. In Calvin Klein underwear. So that's project based of analyzing how you can strategically project build and keep projects moving forward, I guess, within cross functional partners. Okay. Yeah. Wow. That was while ago. I can't remember all the stuff. But it was so helpful. I spent time in Asia. Yeah. I spent three weeks in Sri Lanka and a week in India. So I went to nineteen different Fabric mills, trim facilities, and cut and sew factories while I was over there. So that was that very exciting. speaker-0: Yeah. Right. So you've done that and then speaker-1: And so after I was in the management training program, I landed a senior sourcing associate role where I was focused on men's dress pants and sportswear shirts for heritage brands at PBH. So I was in that role for about two years. Uhhuh. that was super interesting 'cause I d I gotta work on a lot of the costing. And the focus on macro and micro economics and how those those affect the cost of garments, looking at cotton prices, looking at electricity, labor costs and trying to negotiate off of that based off of hedging within the market. speaker-0: That's because your volume was so big, isn't it? Like a what can you even like estimate how much dollar value you're talking about? speaker-1: It's a public company, so but I believe that I did a hundred million dollars of just pant business in F O B dollars. So F O B dollars it's like what it's speaker-0: It's not even a retail price. It could have been almost three hundred million dollar worth of retail. speaker-1: price. Exactly. it was it was massive negotiation. speaker-0: And you were still very young at the time. speaker-1: Yeah. speaker-0: And for you to be responsible that much of dollars like even a one cent a garment could be a real money. When you deal with three hundred million dollars. speaker-1: PVH they always talked about the impact of a penny and like what you could do based off of a penny and how it could affect the company if you were able to find efficiencies within the supply chain. It was really cool. Wow. Yeah. And I like I like fighting for pennies, I would say. Almost more than product that you can just make because your cost like your price is so expensive you can make anything. Yeah. I think it's like more fun to analyze the whole garment and like really Hilfiger out how to make it efficient. speaker-0: So can you do you have any example for that? it could be something that you're proud of or whoa, I thought of that. speaker-1: I think it's just looking at the full garment, right? there's programs I did for Costco at different points where we would resource men's pocket bags, right? the fabric of a pocket bag going from seven cents to five cents or something crazy like that. So every part of the garment was like looked at. speaker-0: Right. Yeah. So you did that for almost seven years. speaker-1: I was there two years. So by then I would think I'm at I don't know, I'm somewhere at five, five and a half years or something like that. And then from there I was looking for something a little bit different. I realized that I love product. But I also wanted to learn the business side of of fashion. Uhhuh. And because I love tailoring it to numbers. And so I actually went over into the business side and did merchandise planning. Uhhuh. So I spent two years there. speaker-0: Tell us about what merchandise planning means to ten year old. speaker-1: So merchandise planning is essentially looking at the assortment that you're going to give to design for the next season. It's how do you plan the SKUs that you need design to design into. speaker-0: For example, let's say speaker-1: So if I'm planning fall twenty seven right now, I'm looking at fall twenty six data to Hilfiger out what the sell in was to the customer. So if you have Macy's that bought eight dress shirts, for instance, like you're not gonna tell design to design six because you have to comp that business year over year. Exactly. speaker-0: Which is at least eight. speaker-1: And you know that like when someone sees something, they don't always like it. So usually you wanted to be at anywhere from a fifty to a seventy percent adoption rate. So then you would usually plan anywhere from twill to sixteen SKUs so that they would select the eight. So that they would select eight. And design sometimes likes to over design. So that's where we come in to try to keep them focused. speaker-0: So are you saying so a lot of people think design are design and then you go and make Instead, what you are just saying in this case is like, Okay, last year we had eight shirts in these colors, in these sizes, did well. Mm-hmm. So I'm telling you to give me like a minimum sixteen option of the shirt, 'cause they sold well. And but out of those we're gonna pick the you know, half of them, like eight. And speaker-1: And sometimes sales will assort it down on their own if they know the buyer's not gonna like something. And other times they'll let the buyer see all sixteen and let the buyer assort down. speaker-0: So these buyers are the retail buyers. Correct. So PVH is not the one who's actually selling. So we need to P V H has to sell to the retailers. Correct. speaker-1: Yeah, so they're selling to a Macy's, a Coles, a J C Pennies. speaker-0: Yeah. So the retailers know what to sell, but which design, what shirts, what colors, I don't know yet. speaker-1: And that's like the design pee so design will come with their color and concept, they'll show it and they'll have a point of view for the season based off of trend analysis. speaker-0: Try. So then the tweaking in colors and patterns and modification of style. Some ends have less variation. speaker-1: Yes, women's a lot more. Yeah. Yes. Gotcha. But yeah, a buyer could be like, I really like this pequena, I see it in green. And you wanna make sure you're getting the sale so a lot of times you're gonna be like, Yeah, sure, we'll show it to you in green as well. But yes, so speaker-0: So you plan the merchandise so that the design can do and sales can okay and speaker-1: A lot of times it's also you wanna give design creative freedom because a lot of times a merchandiser is so focused on just like comping year over year, making sure it fits into the box. But design's the one that wants to be out of the box. So you'll give them open development too, a lot of times to like show their creativity and show like, hey, there could be something new that's gonna hit the market. And you also partner with sales to understand the white space within their accounts of like, I hear orange is the new color for the season or there's this really cool fabric that the buyer wants to look into. Can we try to build that into the assortment? Right. speaker-0: So when you said the beginning part of their career you're more in making production and sourcing and you said I wanted to be more into business side of it, even though I love the product. So when you switched into a merchandise planning role, did you have any surprise? Were you surprised at anything? speaker-1: Definitely ha like I used Excel right. But like I didn't use it to the level that I like quickly learned to use it. I would say that was like the learning curve. Also just like understanding the business lingo, understanding like you build into financials. So like once design designs it, you get the cost from the person I used to be. And then from there you roll it out to make sure it makes margin because you have to consider like the allowance the co-op, advertising dollars, operational costs of the company to just do business. If there's a royalty, you have to add that in to really understand if the garment that you just made costs out. Yes. And if it's more expensive than last year, you're going to be losing margin dollars as well. Yeah. So there's the financial piece that ties into the product piece. Yeah. So I'm like the bridge between sales and the business and then also product and design. speaker-0: So and then what happened? speaker-1: So from there, well, COVID happened. speaker-0: Right. speaker-1: So I worked from home for a while. and so I was working from home, still doing merchandise planning with PBH, and I got a really great opportunity to interview with TYR Sports, a swimmer company. So that was awesome because it was tying to fashion, but then also tying to my passion for swimming, having been a Division I call. speaker-0: So at this point you were still swimming as you not professional but it was for your hobby and personally. speaker-1: Yes, and I still swam I swam Masters Nationals this past April. Wow. Yes. So yeah. speaker-0: So now you had an opportunity to become what was your title for the speaker-1: So I started off as director of merchandising. speaker-0: For T Y R swimwear collection. What a like so you are the user of those product anyway. speaker-1: Yes, it definitely gave me I came in knowing the product already, understanding who was wearing it, understanding the customer because I was the customer. Right. Which was really cool. Right. speaker-0: Right. Mm-hmm. And then and then what happened? So what was what did you do as a director of merchandise? speaker-1: So I think it was PVH was great 'cause I did s I was in product and I was in the business side of it, that it built a very strong foundation. Yes. An understanding process, working with a calendar person to understand calendar. So at up tier I started with just merchandising, building out the merchandise assortments for I think it was like twenty two different categories. Because you had goggles, swim caps, equipment, swimwear. we eventually launched footwear, eyewear and apparel while I was there as well. So launching new product categories as well as maintaining existing product categories. So it was a lot of SKU plans and then working to get on calendar, stay on calendar speaker-0: That means a production calendar. speaker-1: Go to market calendar. Go to market calendar. Yeah. So go to market calendar then leads into the product production calendar. Sure. But yeah, working with design on developing and then so I was there. I was in that specific role and still doing that role. And then in January of twenty two, I took over soft goods product development and sourcing as well. So then I started working with factories and mills overseas, including doing the merchandising piece. So meaning both pieces of what I did at PBH and put it into one role. speaker-0: wrong. So basically you envision what new product category will be from goggles to swimsuit to everything else. And then soft goods. So we gotta explain what soft gets speaker-1: So your swimsuits, your apparel. speaker-0: Fabrics, right? So those fabric product you started going and sourcing. Exactly. Okay. What were your target countries? speaker-1: It was still twenty twenty. We were still heavily in China at that point. Tear's a family company. Uhhuh. So it's private. It was the first time I worked for a private company. So very different. There's less than you can share when you're at a private company than when you're at a Fortune five hundred like P V H where you can see all the financials. Here you don't see anything basically. So there was relationships that had been built for a long time 'cause Tyr was thirty years, thirty, forty years old. Yeah. And so a lot of the factories we had worked with were factories that had been with cheer for a long period of time. So really good relationship. speaker-0: So now what do you do? speaker-1: Yes. So I was at Tier for four years and I recently moved in November to work for a company called Maxima Apparel. And they have a brand called Pro Standard, which does sports licensing, which is very interesting. Yeah. speaker-0: What's a sports licensing? speaker-1: So our brand Pro Standard has licenses for the NFL, the NHL, speaker-0: my goodness. speaker-1: CA, MLB, so all major professional leagues along with colleges, we have licenses for and we produce product under the brand Pro Standard. So T shirts, hoodies. We don't have we don't have jersey rights. but we have t shirts, hoodies, varsity jackets, hand shorts, speaker-0: Every time you see NFL, for example, whatever NFL team booting. speaker-1: Mm. It could potentially be our brand. speaker-0: cool. That's a big market. speaker-1: Yeah, and learning the licensing business is whole whole new thing with especially with leagues, teams constantly changing either their color, their logo, based off the end of the season, us then having to update our product within the time frame of the season. So it's really tailored to the sports calendar. Yeah. For instance, we're waiting on LeBron James of where he's getting traded at the moment. speaker-0: All desergy needs to be changed. What color works well on you, right? speaker-1: A lot of cotton, yeah. And that's the rights that we have is in more cotton product and then headware as well. speaker-0: That's a whole new different area, isn't it? Caps. speaker-1: Headware is a different factory. Right. Right. I've done headwear, I briefly did it at PBH. I did a tiny bit of headwear while I was at Tier, so I'm familiar with it, but it's this is a whole nother level of headwear of the different silos and embellishment techniques. It's fun. speaker-0: That's a whole new different thing. So yeah. Wow. So what a journey. Right? So speaker-1: Yes. Right? Yes. Almost fifteen years. speaker-0: I can't believe it. But PVH you it's such a big company and you learn the process, but somehow your love for sports or or competition and that it's going into your career choices as well. speaker-1: Would I love to work for a women's brand where I get samples all the time, right? In like high fashion. That would be amazing. Yeah. But definitely in the swimmer space, in sports, I really enjoy being there. It's like minded people that also enjoy, you know, swimming and sports. And so it's it's been fun and I always every kind of point in your journey is like a stake in the road of you can go one way and you can go another way. And I'm you don't always know which way's right. Right. But I'm pretty happy where everything's gone along through the past. speaker-0: Right. Yeah. So, you were a full time job was to swim, you're in college. And now you got into this fashion field in a in a very different way. And if you were to look back to your college self and you can send one text message today to Rachel of twenty years old, what would you say? speaker-1: Probably say don't be so hard on yourself or be in the moment more. The things that are happening now aren't a big deal. Like there's so many things that are going on in college that it's like, my gosh, this is gonna ruin my life or like am I making the right decision? I think it's just like living in the moment and just realizing that it's gonna be okay. speaker-0: o today's kids nowadays they're just so much under pressure. Everything speaker-1: Yeah. speaker-0: needs to know, I gotta have a job and I graduate and all that kind of stuff. speaker-1: Yeah, I definitely put added pressure on myself as well. And a little pressure's good, a lot of pressure, just it's it's hard. Yeah, exactly. And so I think that just like giving yourself a little breather and realizing that it's all gonna work out. speaker-0: That's right. Yeah. good for you. as a competitor, I'm sure you were very hard on it. Every second was competitive. All of that Right. speaker-1: Yes. Every hundredth. Every penny. speaker-0: Right. Exactly. Every penny. So what was the biggest the surprise when you faced you know, when you move you know, you when you transition from college to professional? speaker-1: think that for me it was a pretty easy transition. In some ways work was an easier schedule than swimming and and college. I would say like the project I did with you for instance, which like we did across the whole summer. Yeah. That's like something I would do in a day now. Yeah, see it's just like the heightened kind of time frames around things. Of like realizing that there's a time frame related to business where you're getting an opportunity and you need to turn it around 'cause there's other people that are trying to get that same opportunity. So I think it's just understanding priorities and keeping everything moving. That's speaker-0: Yeah, that's what you do. So so I wanted to explain a little bit of the project is that because you couldn't work, you couldn't do an you couldn't go anywhere. So I said, let's just pick a garment. I think you've picked up a cotton shirt. Yes. Let's backtrack what it takes, where's the sewing come from? Where's this fabric come from? Where's the fiber to textile? The speaker-1: Transfer. speaker-0: heat transfer, where's just you it's like all speaker-1: The number of screens that were in the print. Yeah. speaker-0: I I remember that right. What would be the one class that everyone should take right now? So it speaker-1: I think I have three classes that were like the most impactful for me. And I can't remember the numbers. So bear with me. So the first one was textiles. I think that was 2200 when I took it. I still have my textiles book and I will literally reference it here and there. I mean now ChatGBT can kind of help me with things. speaker-0: Yeah. speaker-1: But textiles, twenty two hundred. I actually still kick myself because we did like the weaving with the card and I like forgot to turn in my project for whatever reason. And like still to this day I'm like Why did how did I miss doing that work? how did I miss turning in an assignment? I don't understand. speaker-0: Yeah. Textile is very important 'cause that's the foundation of everything. speaker-1: Yes. And then retail math. Yeah. understanding Excel, understanding the basics of retail math. I do that every day. Yeah. Just like live in Excel and retail math. Yeah. So also second one. And then the sourcing class. Yes, right. Yes. And HTS codes. You made us do a project Where we had to find ten HTS codes and Hilfiger out the duty rate attached to the government document. Yeah. And the number of times, especially since Trump became in office, that I've had to go into those government documents and look for HTS codes and I'm like, I know how to do this because of this textile class. Or this the speaker-0: So H D S code is the harmonized tariff schedule. Yes. It's part of the sourcing textbook. And even though you know, don't know but at least you learned the concept of it. And so now you're really using it every day. speaker-1: Yeah, one section is your wovens, one is your knits. exactly. I wish I was not using it. I'm no longer using it every day, but I was using it every day for a while. speaker-0: That's cool. Those are the classes. But I'm sure you're because a student athlete, you had a lot of different work ethic and schedule and all of that. But besides that, like what is the one thing that you learned from college time that still stuck with you and you know, use the skills and technique today? speaker-1: For me it's like time management and work ethic. Yes. I know that I can look at anyone and I know I can outwork them, I would say. And not to say that's a good thing. Yeah. But I understand when something needs to get done and I appreciate a deadline. Except for apparently I did it when I was doing my weaving project in college. But deadlines are important and it's a matter of figuring out how to get it done and getting it done managing your other priorities and then Making sure you're managing your time well, I would say. I'm anticipating problems in the future, yeah. speaker-0: So then let me lead to that next question. how when you see somebody else's resume, how do you know that this person might have a good time management and work ethic? speaker-1: my gosh, you don't. No. Especially now resumes are so hard because of AI. Hiring is extremely challenging, I would say. You don't get like to test someone out. you talk to for an hour. think about if you were dating and you only had to know someone for an hour, like how that would go. That's essentially what you're doing. speaker-0: So but so you don't see anything? is there anything you like to see from somebody's arreste? speaker-1: I like to personally see good formatting. As silly as that is because then I'm like, Okay, then you understand formatting when you're showing a document or you're scrutinizing the formatting related to your PowerPoint deck or something like that. So I find formatting to be like crucial. when you're younger you wouldn't necessarily have like dollar marks in your resume of actual information that you've done throughout your career. But now I like to kind of like look at like the the dollar impact associated to like the line item on your resume. I think that's interesting too, when you're able to tie it back to the business. Yeah. And not all rules can do that, right? Right. But even a designer can be like, Well, my designs from this year to last year grew the company, ten percent on this program or we went from not having this program to having this program. So there's ways of tailoring it to make it so it's like impactful. speaker-0: So right now you're what's your title right now? speaker-1: Right now I'm director of merchandising. speaker-0: So you're merchandise you assume more ch so you're more merchandising than product development or sourcing. speaker-1: But merchandising works cross functionally with design, with product development, with sourcing, with production. So a lot of times we're like all departments in fashion like to say they're the middle that holds everything together. Yeah. But merchandising really is like the middle between everything that kinda keeps everything going. speaker-0: So for those because you were in both sides of the world, sourcing and product development and merchandising side of it, if you were to give an advice to today's young college students or even high schoolers or whatnot, what type of skill set do you think they should have if you if they want to go into the sourcing or if they want to go into the merchandising? So if you were to hire somebody in your team in merchandising today, what skills do you are you looking for? speaker-1: definitely someone that's very strong in Excel. Excel. problem solving, right? Because you're constantly running into problems and how do you speaker-0: Alright, give us a specific problem that you solve. Like example. everybody said problem solving, but what problem are you solving? speaker-1: every day there's something that I guess I don't know, today one problem I had was and I'll keep it pretty general. Yeah. Is that we had artwork in men's that looked one way, we had artwork in women's that looked another way. And we had to decide well, they're the same capsules, so they really need to be the same. But it's like your collection for the season. speaker-0: Same theme. So how do we speaker-1: You're and it's like, but the silos are different between the seasons, so we're gonna take this silo, take that art, and then we're gonna combine it together basically. What silo? like a silhouette, like the T shirt, sorry. speaker-0: So so different silhouette but same art could look different because the body looks different. So how do we solve the problem to make a cohesive brand identity? speaker-1: Exactly. I see. And it's something that if you're like looking just small picture and you're just focused on the men's product, you'll forget about the women's and kids, but you have to look at the full picture to be like, how is sales gonna sell it? They're not gonna sell this product one way and then sit on the floor together with the women's product and it look a different way. Right. So then it's like but you have to it's it sounds so basic, right? But there's four different teams that it affects. You have to have cross functional alignment between design, between product development, between merchandising, 'cause everyone has a step in the process of design has to now redo the designs. product development has to realize that they're tech packs, they'll have to update them once design's updated them. There's also samples that were ordered, right? So sourcing or production has to stop the sample order so that they can make sure the samples come in correctly with the correct graphics. Yeah. So there's so many different teams that you have to make sure are all communicated to about this one problem that as silly as it is sounds like so easy. speaker-0: But so in this particular case you have to have some creative eyes. Yeah. Because these four garments, like a men's, women's kids, do they represent the same brand in a visually creative? speaker-1: you have to be able to take the Excel file where you wanna look at the data, but then you have to really love product to be able to tie it to the product. if you're just looking at Excel, you're never gonna see the the reason why until you see the Prada. speaker-0: So that's why we always call you have to have both the right and left brain, right? Creative and scientific minds out. speaker-1: And I've hired people that are like Excel people and they just kill it at Excel, but they can't tie it to the product. And then I also have people that are, you know, product people that can't like speaker-0: Do the analytics speaker-1: Yeah, if anyone wants like I'll take if they can do both. Product and Excel. Yeah. speaker-0: So then how do I show you like I could do both? So I remember now that you're saying so back when I was in industry, I was in sourcing as well, we had Disney license. So let's say Superman came out. whatever, I know Spider Man or whatever. So then we have all adult women and men and then youth and then the baby size. So then even if it's the same theme, let's say Spider-Man, even the Spider-Man looks different for a baby garment. Mm-hmm. Like it's the head is bigger, you know what I'm saying? Like but it's just like it's the same theme, colors the same, but the gestures are different, the the size of the head is different 'cause they're a baby garment. speaker-1: Yeah, so we'll put one team logo on a product and then you have to make it smaller when you do a kid's product. So it's like you can't use the same logo or the same code for that product. It goes into a different code. Right. speaker-0: the size proportions different. I so I see that that's a good speaker-1: And so it's making sure you're looking at the full picture of all product. Right. Even though everyone always focuses, say, on the men's or the women's because it's it's either the most dollars or the most interesting or the most skews and like sometimes other other areas are secondary, you can't forget about those secondary pieces. That's right. 'Cause you'll have a bigger problem later. speaker-0: So you said Excel problem solving speaker-1: Yes. just a positive attitude. Positive Yeah. I think that goes a long way. speaker-0: Don't be stressed out. speaker-1: Yeah, it's like and making a mistake is okay. It's learning from the mistake. Right. And being open and honest, hey, I didn't get this done today. You know what I mean? But understanding why or I've I've had I think the best learning experiences are like the problems that I've had along the way and have been large in dollars and like some have been small in dollars and some I went home crying because I thought it was such a big deal and it worked out. Like But it's like all these all these problems are how you build and grow and learn and understand how to anticipate problems as you move forward or the risk associated to what you're doing and how to mitigate it. So there's less risk. speaker-0: Right. And not only that, also when you made a mistake, you also have to own up to it. speaker-1: Exactly. You exactly. No one's like realistically no one's gonna fire you over one mistake. They're just gonna, make sure that you don't do that mistake again and like work to Hilfiger out how you're gonna solve the problem. speaker-0: So okay. So let's say back in when you were in P V H you're in sourcing side of the business. If you were to hire somebody in your team, what skills will you look for? speaker-1: Definitely someone that understands product. a construction, like button, construct yes, exactly, materials. Tech. Yeah. speaker-0: That's you still have a textile example. So textiles, the buttons, okay, materials. speaker-1: Very detail oriented because you're just going to be like analyzing that cost sheet. Still good in Excel because that's important. And communication because you're talking to overseas. Okay. you're not writing a book and a novel. you're writing in elementary school, middle school like text of short sentences that really are focused and like drives the whole point because communication's key. speaker-0: So it sounds like if you're in a sourcing side of it, you're more communication, attention to detail. So more of a material yeah, product specialist. If you're in merchandising side of it, you have to be analytic. Analytic still creative. Yeah. Creative problem solving. speaker-1: Yeah, and on honestly in sourcing you're also 'cause every day you're gonna run into factory issues and it's a matter of how you can, work with the factory quickly to Hilfiger out a solution and how to move it forward. speaker-0: So out of all your career journey, when did you feel like did you always think that you wanted to move to New York? where did you find fashion? You were a swimmer. speaker-1: Yeah. Yeah, when I was growing up I just loved clothes. I had yeah. I had way too many. I probably had a hundred swimsuits too from swimming. I loved it. I told my mom that I wanted to start my own swimmer company when I ten or eleven. to this day I regret that we never did. But I also took a fashion class in high school. yeah. It was more like about color wheels, your primary, secondary color, more like the basics I learned to sew. Yeah. So I knew that when I was looking for a college 'cause my focus initially was a college where I could get a scholarship for swimming. Yeah. I knew that I wanted to major in fashion. I didn't know what I wanted to do. Right. So any of the schools I was looking at for swimming also had a fashion program. speaker-0: I see. So you've you came to Mizus specifically for swimming, scholarship and fashion. Yeah. speaker-1: Exactly. And I did I I had no idea when I was eighteen years old that Mizu had a phenomenal business fashion program. Right. we're ranked I don't speaker-0: Yeah, we're tapping, right? speaker-1: in the country and like I feel fortunate that like I just fell into that situation. Yeah. 'Cause there was like moments where I like I didn't love swimming anymore. You know what I mean? Like you go through kind of the challenges of swimming for X number of years and like and I was like But I love my major and my junior and senior year, I would say that's really what kept me going and like what I enjoyed the most about college. speaker-0: Yeah. So so you always you growing up, you love your clothes and you love swimming and so it was great. So was also New York was a thing? speaker-1: When New York became a thing. Yeah. I guess like I Yeah, exactly. Either fashion scholarship fund that helped me I feel like build like have more network in New York than in LA. Yeah. And I grew up in Arizona, so you would think that I would have gone kind of back to LA. But yeah, it kind of just worked out that I ended up in New York. I moved two days after graduation with speaker-0: Did you move with the job or without job? speaker-1: an internship. speaker-0: That's that's still better than that. Yes. Alright, so then out of throughout all this journey, when did you feel like I think I got this? I I think I'm I'm just doing it. speaker-1: Yeah, I wonder if I feel like that now. But no, I think coming out of the management trainee program in HPH I wasn't in a place that I like knew what I was doing per se, 'cause I was still really learning. Uh-huh. But I had to transition to so many different teams and I had to be uncomfortable every time I transitioned because you had to learn new people's names 'cause it's such a large company, you had no idea who these people I switched buildings. I was in three different buildings. It was like basically a new job every time. And you didn't know who to put on an email, right? so then it was like, Am I good at my job? Am I like Yeah. It was like relearning. And so now I tell someone when they move companies, okay, your first six to ten weeks are gonna suck. You're gonna feel like you don't know anything. You're not gonna know the folder structure where you're finding something. You're not gonna know who to put on an email. You're not gonna know who to like call or put it put in the meeting. Yeah. But like just remember, like you actually know how to do your job. You just don't know how to like who to talk to. That's the hardest part. Once you have that, like you can Hilfiger everything out. Yeah. But no, I think kind of tier was like really a good opportunity because I learned so much and I did so much across so many different departments that I feel like I built a lot of confidence of just understanding cross functional roles, understanding calendar. Understanding when something's off process, kinda how to get it back on process. And like being willing to dig into the detail to find the rabbit holes that you don't know about is really important when you start a new job. I'm still learning every day. So like that's exciting. But yeah, I would say somewhere in the last, I don't know, three three years or so that I like feel really speaker-0: I know what I'm doing. speaker-1: Good in the industry. Yeah. Exactly. Every day you run into a problem you don't know how you're gonna solve, but you Hilfiger out how you're gonna solve it. So yeah. speaker-0: Mm. So what would you like to say to people today and say, you know, fashion is such a hard industry to get 'cause most people think of fashion as a runway and the model and the, you know speaker-1: Called the apparel indust I do the apparel industry, I don't do fashion. speaker-0: So maybe apparel will make it easier to f people think about, but such a we need a chemist to engineer to tech people, like IT to business merchandiser, but all of that, right? So what would you say to people who say, you can't make it in fashion, there are no opportunity for fashion or speaker-1: No, there's definitely jobs out there. I think a good one that like a junior account executive, yeah, sales role. A lot of times that role you usually move up quickly into an account associ account level role. Yeah. where you're kinda the owner of a smaller account and then you work your way onto bigger accounts. Yes. I would say that's a especially at P V H that's like a really good role for entry level junior employees. Planning is good too. Usually going through one of the Macy's development programs to really learn the foundation of planning is like a good place to start for planners. speaker-0: So I'll explain that to the people who may not know. major companies like Macy's and Bloomingdale's Northstrom, they typically have speaker-1: Executive speaker-0: Executive development program, management trainee program or something like that. You invite first entry level position and then they're a very competitive position, but once you get in, they rotate you in every aspect of the business. Yeah. And then they place you like between your personality and talents and their needs, they place you in their role. And then the more you rotate the program, then you know each other, then you speaker-1: becoming And usually they have events throughout the program cycle too to start networking and meeting other people as well. that's a really good opportunity. Mm-hmm. I mean assistant designers, there's a lot of those roles out there too. Exactly. Yeah. So there's like good there's good entry level positions that are still out there. Yeah. And then I mean you have the whole like e com side of it, which speaker-0: My God, that's whole new thing, isn't it? speaker-1: I can't say that I have background in the e com side, but I know that like site merchandisers where like you're choosing where you're putting something on the site and building landing pages and things like those are those new roles. Not new, they've been around for a while now. But like those are those more like techie kind of web roles. speaker-0: IT, right? So site merchandise is basically online product merchandising. What you merchandise for the actual store is very different than online because the way you present the product looks very different and speaker-1: Yeah, and the click path, they're constantly analyzing how do you get a customer to click on the email and where is it taking them to this landing page and analyzing how many clicks customers do before they become bored of the like of the website. So yeah, it's a whole different world. Yes. speaker-0: So what's what's the next for Rachel? What can we look forward to? speaker-1: Yes. I'm pretty happy where I am right now. Uh-huh. Of course. I've been in that role for eight months now, so I still have a long ways to go to learn everything. And I'm excited to anniversary my own work. 'Cause I think that's when it really gets exciting and you're starting to be more efficient and like build more processes and things like that. So yeah, I'm gonna stay where I am for the time being. But I hope one day that I'm able to kinda like lead a company and be an executive. So we'll see that's my long term goal. speaker-0: Yeah, but I definitely see it happening and becoming a C suite leader, right? What should college students today should pay attention to? What do you think? speaker-1: So they could probably teach me a thing or two at this point, but I'm working hard to learn myself. But AI is at the forefront right now. And how it changes roles or makes roles more dynamic, I think is a very interesting piece of things right now, especially in the fashion industry. speaker-0: Are you seeing AI in more merchandising purposes or marketing purposes or presentation? What do you speaker-1: All the above. All the above. Yes. From a merchandising perspective, I'm now using it if I'm building a data set of some sort, use it mini I'll pull a report that has a hundred and fifty thousand rows of data. speaker-0: Hundred fifty thousand rows of data. speaker-1: And I'm supposed to find the needle in the haystack to tell a story, like about the data, right? Like I'm pulling it because I'm trying to analyze something and tell it at a high level to an executive team essentially. Right. And so speaker-0: If AI can do that for you. speaker-1: Yes. I think though it's not I still think you need to understand the data because you need to understand what you're pulling and what you're showing. Yes. But I think that there's tricks along the way, right? If you build something but you need it repeated for another season, you can teach Claude how to be like, Hey, analyze how I built this file. Now use this data and build it the same way. And it saves so much time. speaker-0: Also d tell me the difference what happened two years ago versus last year. So based on this forecasting, what do you think I should do next year? Mm-hmm. And then at least you get the baseline first. Yeah. And then you add your own expertise and speaker-1: Yeah. Exactly. I think that it's not relying on AI at this point. But it's like how does it enhance the work that you're already doing? And like you know the thought work you're putting into it before you're just pushing something to AI. Sure. speaker-0: So do you guys build your o within your own company or 'cause you don't want to share your data with other open AI. speaker-1: All of the there's company platforms. you're not using your own personal AI but open AI sells like to companies at this point. speaker-0: And then with the wall behind it, right? Yeah. speaker-1: I don't know that back end. That's not my area of expertise. speaker-0: Yeah. Okay. That sounds great. yeah. So students should pay attention to speaker-1: Yeah. And learn it. most of probably already know how to use it. They were probably using it before me. speaker-0: All right. Is there anything else that I didn't ask you or is there anything else you wanna say? I speaker-1: I think you asked me about some of my favorite experiences throughout my career. Favorite? speaker-0: Yeah. speaker-1: Yeah, so I have I have three again. Yes, yes. So my first which I kinda already shared was traveling to Asia of going to Sri Lanka and India, which was really cool. Excellent. And it's it's like getting your first work trip, I think, is really exciting. I know, me too. So that was quite a few years and yes, quite a few years in the making of really trying to push to get that trip initially. Yeah. The second was in twenty twenty four sitting at Olympic swim trials with tear, like in the front row. So I was managing all of the tickets for all the families that were like sitting on the floor of Olympic trials for ten days and like speaker-0: there as a tier representative speaker-1: Exactly. speaker-0: but it's also your home like sport. speaker-1: Exactly. Wow. That was my like that's my ten year old self, like just so excited with what you're doing. speaker-0: Yeah, I getting chill. speaker-1: And then with all of the tariffs last year, I travelled to Asia for thirty five days. Where like Okay, we speaker-0: Which country speaker-1: I started actually in Ethiopia. So I started in Africa. Ethiopia. Yeah. So it's like I don't even count that 'cause I was there for thirty six hours. But it was an experience. Okay. And then I went to Hong Kong for like two days. I was in China for about a week, Cambodia. Taiwan, Vietnam, and then went back to China for another week. speaker-0: For thirty five I don't even know how to pack speaker-1: Can do laundry at hotels, thankfully. speaker-0: Wow Did you feel like my god what the heck and when I come back I have to reset my speaker-1: My life. It was like resetting life. You had no idea what was going on, but it was just such an adrenaline rush. speaker-0: Wow. speaker-1: It was it was amazing. speaker-0: Amazing. Yeah. And you love speaker-1: Loved it. It's like the reason I got into the industry. Wow. speaker-0: wow. Good for you. I remember when I was in industry, I like I had a layover in Hong Kong Airport and you know Hong Kong Airport has a shower area. Like I took a shower and took a power net there before I get onto another flight. Like speaker-1: Yeah, no exactly. speaker-0: at some point you already know which airport to go through to take a shower. speaker-1: Yeah, you're going into whatever lounge and yes, exactly. speaker-0: Man, and so you went through that. That's amazing. Good for you. So thank you so much for sharing. speaker-1: Yeah, it was fun. Yes, thank you. speaker-0: And I would love to talk to you more about and especially after LeBron defined his new team and what that means to you as a director of merchandising. You know, so we can all imagine whenever we see the new jersey, new Hites or whatever, I think of you. Yes. So thank you so much for being here and I also I look forward to following your career. speaker-1: Yes, I look forward to staying in touch. Yes. Thanks, Professor Buxa. speaker-0: Okay.