I have worked within the Fashion Industry for 25 years, beginning my career developing Menswear cloth and product development then moving into Womenswear raw material and product development.
● Work closely with the design team to source materials from global suppliers, including both mass-produced and artisan materials and trims for the fashion line, Asantii ● Ensure materials comply with design requirements, are fit for purpose and ethically produced. ● Approve sample trials, Strike-offs and lab dips. ● Calculate the amount of fabric needed for bulk production ● Negotiate prices with suppliers and order sampling and production materials ● Plan and maintain clear communication with factory contacts regarding raw material production lead times, stock levels, delivery dates, and shipping information - minimising service disruptions. ● Create and maintain an accurate internal database of detailed raw material information, tracking initial developments to the final production delivery. ● Ad-hoc sourcing of evergreen ‘factory only’ raw materials.
Building a raw material department from scratch, including sourcing and nurturing supplier relationships. Negotiating preferable terms and introducing and managing a new raw materials product database, Zedonk.
Patricia is one of the most efficient and proactive product developers that I had the pleasure of working with in my career. Patricia's knowledge and expertise in product development alongside her passion for materials, technology and innovation shines through in the work she delivers. Patricia is a great planner of collections and projects, and each step of achieving the culmination is designed with precision, attention to detail, great time management and very importantly involving and motivating the team to work collectively and effectively. During the time I worked with Patricia, I had a sense of being part of the team and striving to achieve better results each time with the help of her encouragement and guidance. Another great personality trait of Patricia is her upbeat and charming demeanour which is highly infectious in motivating to those working alongside her. She effortlessly finds paths of communication and getting through to people of different cultures and speakers of different languages, no matter the rank of their position.