Fiona Fairhurst

Lead R&D team specialists working in collaboration with design, merchandising and production cross functional partners. Consolidated core fabric base brand portfolio and countered yarns & materials to de risk the GSC. Championed the fabric process throughout product to market calendar to ensure alignment at each key milestone from mill week to fabric alignment and sampling. Provided direction and thought partnership to internal teams in USA as well as the mill management and Fabric engineering teams in Asia based on cross functional strategies. Leveraged consumer insights, mills strategies to drive fabric development, innovation, costing and positioning. Partnered with Product Development and Merchandising to ensure all fabrics are within V/G/B/B pricing architecture.

Managed global materials team woven, knit, jacquard, print and seamless and all external partners vendors and mills across all product categories (apparel, footwear and accessories), working collaboratively across design, merchandising and production ensuring material were ready to buy. Presenting new trends and concepts to teams and delivered Sustainability internal training. Developed and delivered Performance knit core fabric $45Mn program launching Feb 2024 Responsible yarn Lead Innovation R&D projects introducing new tech Running Apparel, Seamless, Sports Bra and Performance Knits programs for women's, girls' and accessories categories. Identified key vendors and partners and help organised and presented at vendor summit. Created materials strategy and direction with cross functional partners through analysis of fabric (T1, T2, T3 and beyond) needs, roadblocks and risks across the company ensuring clear communication of recommendations. Generated seasonal boards and trends that represent the overall band strategy, design, vision and textile industry innovation and trends. Identified fabrics that need to be cost engineered. Ensured raw materials were fully tested and compliant meeting B Corp and company standards and targets, legal regulations. Tracked fabric development KPI's and brand discipline on several seasonal developments and fabric testing reports and risk assessment sustainable RM R&D chemistry value creation, certification and chain of custody.

Design consultancy for brands and startups mentoring premium fashion, RTW, sportswear, outdoor, footwear, accessories nightwear and intimates and automotive for JLR.

C Suite member working with founder, investors and board of directors shaping and delivering the brand mission. Presented Brand Vision & Innovation forVC / Private fund investors raising funds for the start up more than £20Mn. Planned and implemented NPD Product Innovation Road Map and Sustainable goals and values for 2025. Built, lead and managed a product team to successfully deliver NPD. Increased profit margin existing products by improving fit, sizing quality. Conceptualized and delivered 'Shapewear' innovative garments generating revenue of £2.7M Y1. Collaborated with Sales and Marketing team to devise sales strategy to transform the business from a DTC to multi sales channel business. For instance, partnered with Next PLC, Net-A-Porter, Harrods and Selfridges.

Provided technical material and garment expertise from Sportswear, Outdoor to Luxury Fashion and Footwear. Providing colour, material and garment global trends and insights. Researched and recommended new technologies and sustainable materials within the apparel industry from bio synthetic fibres to 3D Printing /Additive Manufacturing. Projects for brands such as: Adidas, Stella McCartney Collection, Puma, Nike, Under Armor, Patagonia and North Face.

Planned produced and delivered all technical clothing to the athletes and teams Summer/Winter Olympics. Advised on Aerodynamic Wind Testing protocol to deliver more medals for Team GB for London 2012. Designed and created 1 st patterns, samples and tech packs overseeing all the manufacturing and fit for Team GB Athletes. Granted the license from Adidas to produce technical sportswear on their behalf. (British Cycling for road and track, Royal Yachting Association, British Snowsport Ski, Skeleton, Luge teams, F1, MotoGP)

Built lead and managed R&D Team internal and external specialists, scientists and organizations from NASA to Loughborough University which is known as 'Aqua Lab'. Invented, delivered the first revolutionary full body swimsuit for Speedo known FASTSKIN over a 4-year project (again four years later with FSII at Athens 2004) Conceptualized, designed and delivered all projects for Sydney 2000; Athens 2004 Olympics which included Swimwear, Triathlon and Beach Volleyball. Identified and built a strong team of external sport science experts and test centres, US Olympic Training Centre, AIS and NASA. The first to use 3D body scanning, Aerodynamic and Hydrodynamic testing in wind tunnels /water flumes, CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics), biomechanical data to improve performance. FASTSKIN and FSII contributed in the millions to the revenue and success of Speedo International.