Founder & Creative Director - Adeela Salehjee Ltd
(2016-09)
- Daily running of a start up fashion company with a specialist focus on knitwear
- Designing and creation of seasons concept
- Drawing tech packs and creating technical garment specifications for knit
- launching tech packs with the factory and negotiating price.
- Sending all prototype fit comments back to the factory and ensure that all has been understood.
- Creative direction of all fashion shoots stylised and product shots
- Web content creation for the web site developer.
- Liaising with and chasing all fashion buyers and online retail sales channels to get maximum product exposure.
- organising and attending all pop up shops to ensure customers are being told our story
- Launched a cashmere made with love initiative where a portion of our profits are donated to 'keeping someone warm this winter'
- Chosen to judge a Hawick/ Scotland Re: Design knitwear competition where the winners will have their first knitwear collection produced by Hawick knitwear and their collection showcased through SR:Design
Product Design Development Coordinator Jersey & Knitwear Management - Burberry
(2009-09 - 2016-09)
- Liaising cross functionally between Merchandising, sourcing, Q/A and trims to ensure their deadlines are being met.
- Receiving market feedback on sales across different categories.
- Presenting the new season's collection to merchandising ensuring that all market call outs have been addressed.
- Training and delegating to 2 developers to ensure all product related deadlines have been met.
- Creating the seasonal development calendar from initial design concept to showroom opening.
- Managing the development of the product from prototype to pre production stage within the critical path, liaising daily with manufacturers & internal department's e.g fabric sourcing, buying and Merchandising and QA.
- Monitoring & update critical paths for proto types, sampling and pre-production.
- Going on all design research trips looking for next seasons inspiration
- Creating design inspiration mood boards & launching trials within the brief set by the merchandising team.
- Launching all knitwear trial developments with vendors and ensure these are received in accordance with the development calendar.
- Bi annual travel to PITTI filati, Spin Expo for inspiration, yarn sourcing and development visits to Factories in Asia & Italy.
- Creating, maintaining and updating the Overview
- Working to a design brief in accordance with the merchandising plan i.e number of styles, options, skew counts and launching designs with vendors.
- Sourcing of yarn qualities for the different programmes launched and as per lead times indicated in the development calendar.
- Launching any new trim developments with the trim team and ensuring its implementation.
- Organising core innovation meetings and design reviews with merchants and production
- Uploading all styles in PLM (product life cycle management) with accurate BOM information
- Being in constant communication with vendors to ensure they have understood the styles and are implementing the designs accurately
- Launching lab dips and preparing colour, showroom allocation proposals and approval of all knit downs/strike offs sealed to showroom.
- Organising and attending all fittings with design and quality assurance and ensuring that all fit comments and photos are communicated back to the vendor.
- Sending accurate showroom allocation to vendors for London, Milan, NY and Paris.
- Ensuring that all raw materials and trims are in house at vendors for showroom samples
- Negotiating and keeping record of all costing agreements with vendors for trials, prototypes and sampling.
- Keeping product engineering up to date on all developments to ensure the relevant testing is being done & working to find product solutions should a RM or product not pass out testing requirement.
- Attend Margin offender meetings with production and planning and propose suitable alternatives product solutions to achieve target margins.
Product Development - Menswear sampling Assistant - Burberry
(2008-08 - 2009-08)
- Co-ordination of samples for all categories (outerwear, tailoring, knitwear, jersey wear and wovens) to all Burberry showrooms.
- Liaising with manufacturers to ensure all samples are in the showrooms for buying season.
- Managing the sample budget and reporting on all costs relating to design development, sample raw materials/trims, prototypes, models and excess raw materials.
- To assist in development of the product from prototype to pre production stage within the critical path, liaising daily with manufacturers & internal departments e.g fabric sourcing, buying and Merchandising and QA.
- Monitoring & update critical paths for proto types, sampling and pre-production.
- Coordinating with Burberry warehouses to maintain up-to-date inventory of excess Raw Materials.
- Relating with Fabric buying team identifying fabric leftover at mills before the actual return to Burberry warehouses. Obtain and organize relevant swatches for Product Development.
- Assisting Product Development creating Garment Specification Sheets with relevant product/RM information BOMS.
- Raising and managing purchase orders for all Collection categories from PLM's showroom allocation and budget reports.
- Liaising with vendors to follow fabric/trims shipments to ensure timely delivery in accordance with showroom schedules.
- Reporting any potential delays, discrepancies or shorts-shipments.
- Attend tie review meetings with design and merchandising to discuss potential newness for the season
- Putting together the seasonal range plans from designs fabric pages.
- Working out lead times for the product to ensure all tie samples are received in the showroom for market opening
- Liaising with mills to ensure timely delivery of fabrics to the tie vendors.
- Working within the design brief and merchandising feedback, to ensure the tie sample collection has a balance of colour, branding, solids and newness.
Design and Marketing Assistant - Pseudo Designs
(2007-06 - 2008-05)
- Seasonal trend research.
- Compiling mood boards.
- Calculating costs, fabric sourcing and price negotiation.
- Dealing with press enquiries
- Sample requests and returns
- Coverage collation
- Answering phone calls and General admin
- Organizing seasonal photo shoots
- Liaising with photographers and stylists
- Organizing events ie invitations, customer databases, event logistics.
Studio Assistant - Alex Gore Brown
(2007-03 - 2007-06)
- Researching trends
- Compiling seasonal mood boards
- Knitting samples on Dubied and Domestic machine
- Drawing flat specs
- Liaising with factories in China and following the critical path
- Chasing final samples
- Organising and attending fit sessions
- Organising stock for Billion dollar babes and Chelsea crafts fayre
- Sending, receiving and cross checking the returns against sales
- Organising and selling of left over stock at various art fayres
Marketing Assistant - Christian Dior
(2006-10 - 2007-03)
- Analysing Trends, best sellers per product and colour category. Liaising with Paris production team and chasing orders on behalf of the stores
- Monitoring the foot flow and conversion rates for all UK stores and reporting to Paris on a weekly basis.
- Using the merchandise system such as XCIS in order to find out buyer stock movements, best and worst sellers, colour trends, Buyer stock movements and stock views over all product categories.
- Compiling capture rate reports for Paris and UK management.
- Attended CRM training by the Paris team.
- Compiling Sales reports and updating store mangers on their weekly performance
- Compiling competitor reports to monitor the performance of Dior against other brands.
- Planning and organising trunk shows and theme events to maximise sales. From Invitations to model casting, hair and make-up bookings and Event logistics to ensure that everything runs smoothly.
Head Press Office Assistant to Head Of Press - Vivienne Westwood
(2001-05 - 2002-08)
- Recommended and assisted stylist on design & theme aspects for magazine shoots.
- Helped in making the 'Man Show' a successful event by assisting the UK press team. (Spring / Summer 2002)
- Enhanced Vivienne Westwood's publications by 70 percent through promotional work.
- Maintained interdepartmental relationships between the Press & Marketing Office that helped increase sales.
- Assist the PR Managers/Officers in the head office press relations function relating to all PR activities, launches and events with direction and approval from the Marketing Executive.
- Managing the press contact database and update weekly.
- Manage the press office showroom, liaising with buying to ensure all old stock is removed
- Monitor all press cuttings daily and to collate and establish the true PR value of these according to coverage by campaign.
- Assist in the productions and promotion of all launches for all new product (areas) and seasonal events working with the PR and marketing teams.
- Liaise with the buying, design, marketing and creative areas relating to new products, samples and photographic images.
- Establish and update a PR calendar of key dates, new product and season launches and promotional events (in liaison with the marketing area focus) and to highlight the necessary dates for press mailings to long, medium and short lead publications.
