Suresh Kumar Raju

To brief myself, I am Suresh from Bangalore, India. I have been working in the Textile Apparel Export Industry in the Merchandising/Sourcing/product Development areas for about 15 years handling different products like Kids, Mens, Ladies, Uniform/Industrial Wears etc.. including abroad experience of Bangladesh. I have skill set into Procurement, Order Management, Product Development, Negotiation, Outsourcing, Vendor Management, Client Management, Costing, Quality Management, Auditing, Communication.

ERP exposure.

APRIL’22 TO APRIL’23

SENIOR MERCHANDISER (Sourcing & Product Development) – KOLOUR KONCEPTS

INTERNATIONAL/KESKAN INDIA PVT LTD (BUYING OFFICE), Bangalore, India.

 Involved in all the Merchandising/Sourcing activities for the account.

 Vendor Sourcing and management.

 Cost negotiation and Order Confirmation

 Develop and manage Buyer accounts as per requirement.

 Communicate with Buyers for Trend Boards for kids wear and Girls/Women’s wear.

 Provide Inputs to Design Team for new collections.

 Develop Fabric Hangers for Buyers Meeting.

 Coordinate with factory and internal QA team.

 Order follow-up and Team management with a complete supply chain function.

NOVEMBER’12 TO JANUARY'19

MERCHANDISING MANAGER - GEEBEE (BANGLADESH) LIMITED, Chittagong, Bangladesh.

 Managed a team of Merchandisers.

 Direct and co-ordinate team from order confirmation stage to final shipment.

 Development of New Products, Fabrics, Samples and Accessories.

 Costing of new developments, negotiating with customers and getting order confirmations.

 Ordering of fabrics/trim materials for developments and bulk programmes.

 Planning the sample programme, capacity planning of bulk production and follow-up.

 Communicating with Buyers/Buying House through emails/call.

 Ensure proper coordination from team to stores, purchase, sampling and production team for smooth operation.

 Vendor Sourcing and management in respect to job work, capacity and quality assessment of the products.

 To make sure proper arrangement made/on time request sent for QA review in Photo Shoot samples, Mock Shop samples, Gold Seal samples etc..

 Follow-up of TNA and ensure approvals for Fabrics, Washes, prints, embroidery are on time.

 Ensure production files are released on time and conduct production meeting for all the styles.

 Monitor and motivate junior staff/team to ensure all assigned jobs are completed on time.

 Co-ordination with shipping personnel to ensure timely departure of shipments.

 Monitoring the data for activities such as critical path, sample status, approvals, costing, WIP,

trim chasing and fabric chasing sheets, etc...

 Exposure to ERP systems - SAP, NOW, MOVEX

 Buyers handled – NEXT, BHS, Burtons, Greenwoods, Alexandra, ARGOS, Stuncroft,

Berendsen UK, Berendsen Sweden – Men’s & Ladies Wear

 Overseas Travel – SWEDEN, MALAYSIA – For Order review, Working procedure and Future business

NOVEMBER ’09 TO AUGUST '11

SENIOR MERCHANDISER - BOMBAY RAYON FASHIONS LIMITED, Bangalore, India.

 Executing the garment order from fit sample stage to final shipment.

 Ensuring the product delivered in right quantity, right quality and at right time.

 Planning new objectives on trends for the season.

 Costing for the new developments and TNA plans for the orders.

 Arranging presentation samples for the meetings.

 Developing and sourcing supplier base for fabrics and trims and negotiate prices.

 Develop prints and embroidery as per requirement.

 To follow up with sampling, PPC, quality and production department for achieving the delivery on time.

 To solve quality issues in terms of garment making, fabric and production.

 To ensure all fabrics are tested and comply with the required/approved standards.

 Co-ordinate with garment technician for better fit and looks of garments.

 To alert quality team in advance for fabric shade problems and quality defects.

 Arranging inspection for the buyer’s quality team.

 Tracking the sales and stocks.

 Preparing reports for all above activities.

 Exposure to SAP ERP system

 Buyers Handled – C & A (Germany) - Ladies Wear, Men’s Wear and Guru Brand (Italy).

DECEMBER ’07 TO NOVEMBER '09

MERCHANDISER - BHARAT TISSUS PVT LTD, Bangalore, India.

 Handling sampling till shipment of orders.

 Follow up of proto samples, salesman samples, size sets, pre-production samples and sealer samples.

 Fabric sourcing of cottons (Solids, Yarn dyed and Printed fabrics), polyester and acetate fabrics.

 Enquiring on Trims, Prints, and Embroidery.

 Co-ordinating with sampling, PPC and production for achieving the delivery on time.

 Alerting the PPC teams on production, quality, and delivery.

 Arranging quality inspection for buyers.

 Checking on stock and keeping track of sales.

 Keeping track on new developments for the next season.

 Getting order confirmation from buyers.

 To make an effective costing to achieve better profit.

 Preparing reports for all above activities.

 Buyers Handled – LEVIS (LADIES WEAR), ESCADA (CWF KIDS WEAR), JEAN BOURGET

(ZANNIER KIDS WEAR), COAST (OASIS), ELLE (CWF KIDS WEAR), MARESE (KIDS WEAR)

– Europe and US based.

OCTOBER ’06 TO OCTOBER '07

FABRIC ASSISTANT(SOURCING) - COLORLINES INCORPORATED, Bangalore, India.

 Follow up and assist in sample making like proto samples, SMS, Size sets, pre-production samples and sealer samples.

 Assisting the team with all sample making, report making and new developments.

 Sourcing/Arranging fabrics for sampling and arranging trims.

 Negotiating prices with suppliers to make an effective costing.

 Keeping track on fabric stock and despatches.

 Co-ordinating with designing department in sample making.

 Inspection of fabrics and grouping the shades accordingly.

 Alerting the teams on the quality issues.

 Taking care of the fabric and garment testing parameters for all shipments.

 Analysis for the parameters like GSM, EPI, PPI, Count (Warp and Weft).

 Preparing reports for all above activities.

 Buyers Handled – C&A (KIDS WEAR), KIABI (KIDS WEAR), MATALAN (KIDS WEAR), MEXX

(KIDS AND TODDLERS).

JUNE ’05 TO '07

OFFICER(Total Quality Management - Fabrics)- WELSPUN INDIA LIMITED, Gujarat, India.

 Visual shade matching of the towels against the buyer standards and approved lab dips.

 Decision making to approve or reject the lots based on the lab test reports.

 Computer colour matching of towels against the standard sample.

 Online inspection of the towels at finished fabric stage.

 Online monitoring to ensure process control.

 Controlled weight loss study from greigh to finished towels.

 Grey inspection – offline and online at grey stage.

 Fabric Analysis for the parameters like Pile density, Pile height, Pile ratio, GSM, EPI, PPI Count

(Warp and Weft).

 Sample analysis and suggestion for further improvement towards buyers’ sample.

 Preparing reports for all above activities.

 Customers – KOHLS, TARGET, TESCO, WALMART.

B. TECH (TEXTILE TECHNOLOGY)