Jil Sander: Details, Details, Details

I have heard it said that fashion exists in the details. She who spoke these words was no doubt referring to a shiny set of buttons or a fine example of meticulous tailoring, but I saw evidence of this in everything I did this past summer. It made no difference whether I was dressing a model during Market Week or learning how to enter an order into one of our many processing systems; a tiny slip up could turn out to be a bonafide catastrophe, while careful attention invariably contributed to success.

The first example I mentioned was Market Week, so let me expand upon that. If there is any time during a fashion internship that can be complained about (excluding Fashion Week, which is a whole other mess), it is Market Week. Needless to say, things get hectic with 7 picky clients coming in each day- most of their sessions overlapping as they struggle to extend their stays far beyond their alotted hours- 2 entire floors of collections to wade through, 4 demanding account executives giving orders, and 4 lanky models, 2 dressers, and 2 interns crammed into a 5 by 7 foot room, throwing clothing on and off and frantically rushing to return items to clients and their proper racks. And yet, still, the most important part in all of this was my ability to carefully tie a dress in just the right way, to walk serenely into the showroom with head held high, and with no more than three garments daintily dangling from my right hand.

No one stressed this more than our very capable Vice President, Laura Vazquez. I always loved watching her handle the madness, for not only did she never slip up, she was always on the lookout for what more she could do. Whenever a model came back from a client, she would ask, "Did they like that? Ah, just the top?" and then she would be off in a flash to grab three more tops that complimented the last. Being able to arrange the order of the looks that went out to our clients resulted in much more successful sales and also groomed Jil's reputation for meticulousness. As a luxury brand, this careful attention to detail is not just appreciated, but demanded by our clients. If they noticed that our racks were not perfectly organized, and if every hanger were not facing the same direction and evenly spaced, we would hear snide comments. These comments did not bode well for sales, so we were trained to stay alert for them always, and to immediately correct any such issues.

I learned this same lesson during the administrative portion of my internship, but for a very different reason. At the beginning of my internship, I worked, for the most part, under the womenswear account executive, Sara. She did her work confidently and efficiently, so whenever she would airily wave me over to teach me how to complete a certain task, she would preface with, "You don't really need to know how to do this because it's my job, but..." Regardless of her disclaimers though, I always tried to pay attention- and did that ever pay off. 3 short weeks later, Sara suddenly announced that she was leaving Jil, leaving us scrambling to cover her responsibilities. Nick, our menswear account executive, did his best to take over her job, but the next thing we knew, he was flying off to Milan for Men's Market Week. That left me and my fellow intern at the helm. We had to figure out everything- from the proper process for checking out samples to PR companies, to entering orders and locating credit information. We had help from a few others in the office, but there was much that even they didn't know. If I had taken Sara at her word and hadn't listened as closely during her "unnecessary" explanations, I can't even imagine what would have happened. Entering even one number incorrectly in an order, let alone larger errors such as entering them into the wrong system or labeling them with the wrong delivery date, can cause disasters for production and muddle relations with customers.

While it may sound like this demand for perfection was a strain on us all (and I won't deny that it was), I never resented it. In fact, I think that it is the sole reason why, not just Jil, but any company is able to rise up in the world. Learning to perfect our branding, understand each quirk of our customers, and perform our duties without error are imperative to success.

In fashion, a boldly colored zipper can make a boot this season's hot item, and a higher threadcount can upgrade a suit from an insurance broker's Wednesday-wear to His Majesty Prince William's wedding attire. No one appreciates a slob, so you can bet that when my boss complained that I hadn't turned up the collar of a blouse at just the right angle, I did not look at her like she had lost her mind. I sucked it up and got it right the next time.

-Lennie Zhu

End of Summer - My Takeaways

Woo! The end of the summer is finally here! Who would have known it would go that quickly! I figure as my final entry to this blog, I should probably give an overview of the projects I completed and worked on this summer.

Press Project

· Task: Create press pages for 2000-2011 through the company's website editor

◦ Actually able to teach myself the editing software, gained sufficient knowledge of the editor by the end of the summer.

◦ Serious discipline and patience in uploading and converting press files.

◦ Knowledge about the type of advertisement that Alchimie has received over the years>> comprehensive view of how the brand has grown.

◦ Expanded my knowledge of blogging as a movement, I wasn't aware that blogs were so prevalent and so influential.

Beauty Research

◦ Task: Compile relevant beauty industry news in a document, sent them out to all company team members and keep tracking of pricing of our products sold on various retail websites.

▪ Continuously updated on industry news.

▪ Experience in reading through a plethora of information and compiling key information. Practice in deciding what stories are more interesting and hard-hitting, good for a future in PR.

▪ Reminded me of things I learned in my economics and business policy classes my freshman year and the power of pricing on a company's image and profits.

Showroom Appearance

· Task: short term project in reorganizing the appearance of the showroom shelves

◦ Adding more of an aesthetically simplistic feel to the showroom.

◦ I got a better understanding the power of merchandising and understanding that the way you display your product can have a powerful impact on profits and perception of that product.

Social Media

◦ Task: Update Alchimie foursquare account and implement trial specials to increase showroom walk-in traffic.

▪ Learned even more that social media is integral in any business' development in this day and age.

QR codes

◦ Task: research the use of QR codes and brainstorm ways to make them useful to Alchimie

▪ Created a free QR code that is now found in all Alchimie email signatures that links people to the facebook like page. The code will soon be turned into a window decal to be displayed in the showroom.

▪ QR codes are up and coming and are another form of quick relatively cheap advertising. I had never head of them before but I find them wildly interesting, especially the way various fashion brands are implementing them.

General Internship Take-Aways:

It was incredibly amazing to learn the ins and outs of a very small business, learning what type of team member dynamics, business principles, work ethic, and determination it takes to keep a business afloat in this economy. I found it refreshing to have appointed tasks every day rather than trying to create my own schedule as I had to in other internships. I found that professionalism is a character trait that I have been trying to build since I got to college and is definitely something I was able to expand upon while at Alchimie. I learned how to appropriately word emails , answer the phone properly, initiate ideas and get my messages across clearly.

At our initial meeting in the beginning of the summer, Ada's advice for me was to try and do before asking. Meaning that I would try and gather all the information I needed on a topic, mull it over, do until I couldn't anymore, and then, only at that point, ask for assistance. In essence, Ada was pushing me to be more self-reliant, which is a trait that will undoubtedly assist me in further internships, and even more generally, in life. I learned the value of minimizing the number of back and forth emails by including all the information necessary in one email with a suggestion on how to proceed so that the reader of the email knew all they needed in order to respond appropriately and quickly. All in efforts to increase productivity.

I learned a lot about showroom and business space etiquette, how to keep the workspace orderly and conducive to company success. I also learned a lot about the family aspect of Alchimie, the strong effort to “keep it in the family”, with monthly global conference calls, our meeting with Ada's mother, Barbara earlier in the summer, weekly highlights, US team conference calls; all in an effort to keep every member of the team well connected and well updated despite the vast distances between them.

Being a sophomore in college, I'm still trying to figure out what my career path will be and what industry it will be in, and this internship gave me a wealth of knowledge about the beauty/skincare industries, and I feel like they may be industries that I would like to be involved in in the future, or at least learn more about.

I so greatly appreciate all that Ada, Kate and the whole Alchimie team have done for me this summer. It has been an invaluable experience and I will certainly be keeping in touch for years to come!

-Nanette Nunu

LF USA: Overall Intern Experience

My experience at Li & Fung was very different from what I expected. I decided to intern there in production because it was a part of the business I knew nothing about and what better place to learn about it than at the biggest sourcing company in the world? Since my internship was at LF USA, Li & Fung’s American wholesale subsidiary, I also ended up learning a lot about sales, design, product development (especially private label and proprietary), and brand management. It was very interesting to gain a better understanding of a company primarily built on acquisitions of smaller apparel manufacturers and the way in which companies that fall under the LF USA interact with one another. For instance, companies such as Oxford and Regatta or Kids Headquarters and the recently acquired Fishman & Tobin are still direct competitors even though they are now technically part of one company.

Overall, it was a great learning experience, especially because of the way the internship was structured. Apart from day-to-day work within each one of our divisions, interns were assigned groups of ten and given a project which we later presented to top executives at the company. My team’s project was on e-commerce, and more specifically on how LF USA can expand its online business. Learning about this growing, exciting part of the marketplace definitely influenced my career decisions moving forward. While I’ve learned that online commerce (as any retail) is hard to get right, I’ve also realized that there are still massive amounts of opportunity and innovation on the e-commerce horizon, and that I would really love to be a part of it in the future!

If you have any interest in reading up more on what other Li & Fung interns had to say about the program, check out The Future of Fashion blog sponsored by Fashion Scholarship Fund (which is how most of us were connected to LF in the first place!).

xx,

Marlena

Hello Everyone + Free Love

Hello, all!

Lennie speaking. I certainly have a lot to say about this past summer and my work at Jil Sander, and I must apologize for taking so long to finally get it together! On the plus side, now that my internship has ended, I’ll hopefully be able to more clearly articulate everything I’ve learned over the course of this long summer.

Last Friday was my final day at Jil, and as I bid my coworkers goodbye, I was struck by the ease with which I found myself embracing them and giving heartfelt promises to keep in contact. I still remember my tense first day; I had gotten to work early, at 8:45AM, eager to make a good first impression. Instead, my plan backfired on me. I crept into the building behind a distinguished looking gentleman who did not greet me (he turned out to be one of my higher up bosses- Mark Winrow, Jil Sander America’s Director of Sales). He no doubt felt just as nonplussed at seeing this strange, unfamiliar face in his home as I felt at entering this unfamiliar, stark white lair. When I reached the office, the account executives whom I had been recruited by had not yet arrived. The kind secretary that I introduced myself to had heard nothing about a new intern arriving that day, but she made me a cup of coffee anyway. By the time Nick and Sara, my supervisors and the Account Executives of Menswear and Womenswear respectively, reached the office and rescued me from my somewhat disorienting anonymity, I had resolved to impose myself helpfully upon every person in the office throughout my internship. By the end of it, I wanted everyone to not only know my name, but also remember me as “that really, really enthusiastic intern that did everything.” 

I do believe that I managed to make that resolution come true. In my time at Jil, I completed major projects with almost every person in our office and in every branch of the company, including accounting, public relations, operations, client services, and product development. What I would like to chalk this up to, as my official responsibilities had at first been to simply oversee administrative tasks and help with order entry, are constant curiosity, openly seeking out tasks from employees other than my direct bosses, and simply making sure that I was always in the right place at the right time.

Out of everything that I have gained from these experiences, I think this has been the most important lesson. Because the different branches in a fashion brand’s office do such vastly different things, there generally is not much interaction between them. This is often a very negative thing, as it takes away from each worker’s ability to comprehend the usefulness of what he or she is doing. So I made it my personal goal to blatantly ignore the divisions between departments and make myself available to all of them. This was the best possible thing I could have done, as I believe that it not only exposed me to the various goings on of the company, but also allowed me to raise awareness between departments about what was happening in other parts of the Jil world, if only vaguely.

I’ll go into more detail about the different projects I worked on in later posts- I know all you readers are busy bees! So until next time, I’ll bid you adieu, and work on stemming the huge floods of words that I always inevitably produce whenever I write….

Best,

Lennie

My Final Monday

Monday morning, on the train, and I can hardly believe this is my last week at Marc Jacobs. If you had told me, May 31st, on that 7:21 train, that this internship would fly by this fast, would have been hard pressed to believe you. I am happy to say, though, that I have gotten so much more out of this experience than I ever thought I would.

First off, I have to admit that I have such a heightened respect for people who commute everyday to and from New York. They are a dedicated bunch who put up with the daily struggle and, more often than not, the unexpected delay. If the situation ever arose where I had to do this on a daily basis, I know I could; but for now, thank goodness it was only for 12 weeks.

I also have a whole new outlook on the fashion industry as a whole. Being a newcomer to the world of retail, I never looked much past the designers themselves. Besides, that's the most glamourous part anyways, isn't it?  But being behind the scenes in the business department at Marc has shown me that the key players are sometimes the women behind the computer screens, scrambling to come up with assortment plans for their next meeting with Imagine X Department Store in Hong Kong. And being able to participate in this, even though it might seem to them like everyday tasks, was an awesome experience for me. Not to go without mention, these business department women are also quite the fashionistas. I didn't meet one person at Marc who didn't have a passion for the brand.

With that being said, this leads me to my last revelation of this final Monday. On my way out of the office on Friday I snapped this picture:

This might seem like just a bunch of sewing machines older than the ones you used in your middle school home-ec class, and in fact, they probably are. But these oldies but goodies reminded me that fashion and retail are living, breathing entities. They are constantly changing, and deserve that much respect at least, from every department, client, and customer. Those bolts of fabric leaning casually against the wall are waiting to be turned into next season's hit bag. Those boxes of thread next to the business departments binder supply will be used later to tailor that dress for Sarah Jessica Parker so she looks smashing in August's photo shoot for Vogue. And who knows, maybe she'll love the dress so much she'll walk off the set with it.  Talk about merchandise marketing right there. (I'm pretty sure this actually happened. Perks of sharing a room with part of the logistics team).

I'm about to pull into Newark and switch to the PATH where things can get pretty hairy in terms of iPad typing. But there are so many more things I want to talk about, now that I can look back on this summer as a whole, so expect some more posts soon!

Brand Development Is Always Good

So two weeks ago Kate, our executive assistant and our CEO Ada went on an off-site with our PR girl who came down from New York. The Purpose of the off-site was to brainstorm idea for brand growth and transformation. They talked about ideas for new products, expanding the team, price regulation, showroom redesigning, board of director changes, etc. I was briefed on all of this yesterday(Tuesday) at a follow-up brand development meeting that included my opinions on all the subjects that they touched at their off-site. As an outsider opinion, by outsider I mean someone not directly involved in the beauty industry, my opinion was valued, even more so because I'm a business student and a younger fresher perspective.

When I first found out that I had to give input and suggestions at the meeting, I was a little nervous because I was thinking, what do I, little administrative intern, only one year of Wharton under my belt know about brand growth? Thankfully the day before the meeting I went to a Penn in Washington event a PR company in DC, Glover Park Group. I got to spend some time speaking with a woman from another company, The Harbour Group, who I always able to bounce ideas off of, and ask her questions about advertising and the different ways to increase awareness for a company. I noted everything she said and shared that with my coworkers at the development meeting. Those ideas in combination to the more creative ones I had about ways to maximize showroom space and revamping its appearance were noted by our CEO and are being considered. It makes me so happy, I felt like I had some power in determining the future of the company. It was great, I really hope that even after I'm gone, they implement the wide variety of ideas that were brought up at the off-site and the in-house meeting. There were some really great ideas that I think can set the company up for great successes and another profitable 10 years.

Whoa, one month left at my internship? One month till I'm back in Philly? Where has the summer gone?

In other news, I think I've decided that I'm going to declare concentrations in Marketing and Retail, I was debating retail over communications, but I think retail is more in my wavelength, I'd like to do more work in merchandising and brand management in the future. So, retail it is!

Weeks 7 & 8: Final Weeks

I can't believe the internship is winding down. Last week the interns presented their final projects that we'd been working on all summer. There were a wide variety of presentations, ranging from Holiday 2012 ornaments, to most purchased styles and brands by international customers. I presented the work that I had done on our partnership with NBC.

We're really excited about the partnership because it touches on so many of the important aspects of Bloomingdale's brand strategy: (1) an omni-channel experience (there are many different platforms involved in the campaign - in-store, social media, mobile applications, television, catalogues, etc.), (2) full-line departments (the shows we're promoting with NBC relate to a wide range of customers and areas, not just one demographic), and lastly, (3) a playful and contemporary interaction with Bloomingdale's (this is the core idea within the partnership which you'll soon discover in the fall!)

This week I've worked on finishing up our sweepstakes at the one-year anniversary celebration for our Santa Monica door. Customers will be given tags with bar codes on them that they can bring into the store and swipe at a machine in the cosmetics department. Every person who swipes will win one of many prizes: several different denominations of Bloomingdale's bMoney (including $100 and $500), certificates to save money on a Dahon bicycle/accessory, or a FREE Dahon folding bicycle. It doesn't sound like a huge project, but I've handled it all by myself and it's exciting to be productive and self-sufficient, having sole discretion.

The last couple of things left for us are a Meet & Greet with Mike Gould, CEO of Bloomingdale's, and an End of Program Reception at Le Train Bleu in the 59th St. store. I've grown close with my supervisors and will definitely be sad to finish up. I was lucky to be a part of this program, have such a wide variety of experiences, and get to know so many different people.

Thanks for keeping up with the blog! It was my first blog ever :)

Happy summer,

Keri

Target Week 5 & 6

My summer internship at Target is in full swing! Here's some highlights from the past two weeks:

Last Wednesday, all ~400 Target interns went to a Twins Game at the brand-new Target Field in Minneapolis. Here I am below with two of my teammates, Kelsey & Beverly, in our Twins gear:

Earlier that morning, we met with a VP of Food Strategy and presented our project findings to date. Today, we presented a first draft of a couple of our deliverables to the Merchandise Planning Director for Produce. It is really cool to get exposure to such a high-level executives at the company, and they let our team of four interns run both meetings! We are presenting our final product to the entire perishables division in 2.5 weeks, and we are definitely excited to see how it all comes together!

Last Thursday, we attended a "forecast prep" meeting for our department - all of the buyers and business analysts in produce discussed the department's performance for the past two months, and their plans for promotions and other strategy for the next two months. This Tuesday, we attended the forecast meeting with our merchandise planning director and division head, and got to hear the discussion of important strategic and financial objectives for Produce for August and September.

This week was Restaurant Week in Minneapolis, and I completely fell for the marketing ploy, going to 3 fantastic restaurants for their prix fixe menus in the last week. I had some incredible Italian food at D'Amico Kitchen on Tuesday, seafood at Seven Steakhouse + Sushi on Wednesday, and today our Produce team went to lunch at Firelake Grill.

I am always on a mission to find interesting volunteer work, and on Tuesday nights I am teaching an ESL class at the English Learning Center in South Minneapolis. This morning, the all of the Target interns spent a few hours assembling donated Target furniture for Bridging, a local non-profit. On Sunday, I'm volunteering with a few friends at the Minneapolis Aquatennial on Lake Calhoun - more details to come!

Week 5: The October Pink Book

Hello again!

Things have been pretty hectic for me the last week. Unfortunately, the account executive in charge of our October Pink Catalogue (for Breast Cancer Awareness month) is out on a family emergency and I've kind of taken over her role. This involves compiling all of the images that will go in the catalogue that are not being photographed by our creative team, ironing out any issues with partners, and answering any questions that the publishers and their layout designers may have. Because this responsibility came very quickly (and wasn't really meant for me to do alone) I've been learning a lot at a rapid pace.

There are several projects within the Pink Book that I've taken on. One is getting national advertisements from our vendors who purchased space and are making a contribution to the BCRF. I have to go through our buyers that handle these vendors in the cosmetics, shoes, RTW, and intimates departments. It's tough because I'm waiting on the buyers who are waiting on the vendors, who are waiting on the graphic designers, who are waiting on the photographers, etc. etc. I also have to be sure that all of these photos meet the size, resolution, and logo specifications. You'd be surprised how little people know about "high res" and "dpi." I barely do! I just say it and hope they know what I mean.

Another area is dealing with restaurants and special promotions they're offering during the month of October to be mentioned in the book. I've worked with the restaurants to come up with pink-related offers (e.g. cupcake, cocktail, yogurt) that will donate a certain amount to the BCRF for every one ordered. It's difficult because the VP of Marketing doesn't want overlapping offers, i.e. three cupcakes from different restaurants. So I've had to negotiate with the different chefs and executive assistants about what they're offering. Everyone wants to make cupcakes! Next the food and drinks have to be photographed and even though the restaurants have all done it for us, the page designers are frequently not happy with the image. The director of photography has set up a food photo shoot date, which will work for the cupcakes, but the next issue is how do I transport sushi across the country to be photographed? Still trying to solve that one..

All in all it's been a delightfully hectic week because I'm getting a lot of experience and exposure to other employees, departments, and companies while scrambling to get it all done.

Thanks for reading!

Keri

Why Waste Time Not Being Happy?

Hi everyone,

Not sure what week this is, time just seems to be flying by lately and honestly I treat summer as a countdown to NSO more than anything else. I don't think I posted last week but I wanted to make sure to tell you all about the wonderful team lunch we had with Barbara Polla, the mother to my boss Ada. I had heard that Swiss people were generally happy,- or was that Finnish people? Either way, Barbara might be the happiest woman I have ever met. The woman is in her sixties but approaches life with more energy and positivity than I do at my young 19 years of age. She was just so very exuberant and genuinely interested in every single thing that anyone had to say. She had an striking presence, you couldn't miss her if you tried- well this may have been due to the fire engine red dress she wore-but still, she was quite a woman.

The team lunch was in NYC last Tuesday so me and Kate, my coworker and Ada's assistant, took the (freezing cold) Amtrak into the city and met Ada, Barbara, Catherine(our PR girl) and her new intern Cristi(on a special program from Costa Rica). We dined on Park Ave. at a lovely restaurant with yellow walls, clearly the name escapes me, but they served yummy bread. We talked mostly about Alchimie, Barbara explained its history and how she and her husband Luigi started the first laser clinic in Geneva and how this developed into a skin care line led by her daughter. We mused about the importance of looking at employees as comrades rather than subjects. Me and Cristi jabbered endlessly about Penn, apparently its her dream school! Win. She is also thinking about Georgetown, I was quick to push that thought out of her head.

But as I said, no matter what it was that we talked about , Barbara was so thoroughly invested in everyone's opinions, enthusiastically leaning over the table to both hear better and show her interest in your answer to her numerous questions.

Kate commented on how happy she was and her answer is what made me love her even more. “What else should I be? Why waste time not being happy?” Amazing. The woman is amazing, and honestly she is so right. Why spend time being sad,stressed,nervous? Life is short. I'm definitely going to carry that along with me throughout life and especially during the school year when I get down about classes, extracurriculars, family, etc. I've just got to remember, time is never wasted when you're in a good mood.

Until next time,
Nanette

ps. here's an interview my boss Ada did awhile ago, watch it if you want to learn more about the company:)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1aJt0pdh0Kw

LF USA: Weeks 3-5

Hello,

So while quite clearly my goal of posting weekly completely fell apart, I fully intend on making up for it by blogging more often this week. What has happened is that basically both my regular work/group project and regular schedule has filled up completely with the holidays, family visits and events, friends' birthday etc. Sorry! To come back on a fun note, I totally did not get to post any pictures from the annual Lif & Fung Picnic. This year was extra special, since the company is celebrating its 105th anniversary with picnics across all international hubs starting in Guangzhou (where the company was founded) and ending in Hong Kong (current HQ). Because LF USA is made up of about 16 different acquired companies, it was crazy to see all 2,000+ employees come together with their families and enjoy the fun atmosphere as one, big entity.

More updates on my e-commerce project and work in production to come shortly!

xx,

Marlena

Bookings, bookings, and more bookings...

Hi everyone!

Things have begun to calm down here on the third floor of MJ Headquarters.  Market has been over for a while, and the orders are starting to finalize.  We still check the "bookings", or orders, everyday; usually three or four times a day, believe it or not, just to make sure things are up to date.  This has become one of my primary jobs: comparing old bookings to new ones, as in this morning's print-out compared to this afternoon's print-out which is later compared to this evening's print-out.  Sounds a little redundant?  I thought so too, but now I'm starting to realize there is indeed a point to this madness.  Detailed reports are requested at any minute of the day from the executives, merchandising team, finance department, sales room down the hall...you name it, someone's asking for it.  Everyone wants (and needs) to know what's going on at all times, because important decisions are often made on the spot.  This includes closing a door (somewhat technical name for a store open in a certain region or country), dropping a product (whether a whole style is cancelled or just a color), or fixing an error that could prevent orders from going through.  So careful (and often) checking is indeed necessary.

Besides checking these infamous orders (finally, they're starting to balance out and stay the same!) I have been putting together reports that contrast this year's sales with last year's sales, all in hopes of coming up with reasonable forcasts and predictions for the upcoming season we're about to start working on (Spring 2012). 

One thing I've been noticing lately is how important it is to double check your work.  Reading emails, reports, or orders with even the smallest typos completely negates any authority the writer has over the subject matter at hand.  Maybe I'm being too tough, but when I hand in something I've spent hours on only to have it handed back to me thirty seconds later because a small color coding is incorrect, I can see how important this is.  If this is one thing I take away learning from this internship, I know it'll be useful in my college career and even more important in my professional life.  With that being said, you can probably guess I spent a great deal of time today checking over numerous excel files to make sure they were perfect--and when I can hand it in to my boss with confidence and see her smile of approval, it's all worth it!

Hoping to dodge this sporatic New York rain on my way home...talk to you soon!

Alex

Week 4: Photo Shoot in the West Village

Hi again!

A lot has happened since I last wrote, but I think the most interesting thing to describe is the photo shoot I went to last Tuesday. I went downtown to the West Village with the creative intern, Hannah, to Industria Studios. Inside Studio 6 was a wide open space with big windows and panels set up in various corners. A long table had a great breakfast spread and later, gourmet lunch. There was an area sectioned off with bright lights for makeup, manicures/pedicures, hair, dressing, etc.

The shoot we got to spend a lot of time watching was men's sweaters and coats. It was only two models standing together in front of a gray screen. Stylists and creative directors surrounded them without shoes on (as to not dirty the backdrop that continued below their feet). I thought it was so interesting how models have

to be okay with other people doing everything for them - meaning that they can't fix their hat themselves (for example); someone has to take his or her shoes off, run over, and fix the hat without asking the model "May I?" There were constantly people re-tousling the models' hair, re-pinning their jackets (with paper clips and binder clips in the back!), and re-tying their shoes.

Music was playing in the background to make the posing more fluid for the models. I heard that this particular photographer, Peggy, is known for making the models feel very comfortable. She had a small rolling chair behind the camera and was dancing from her seat in between every shot. At the same time, she continued to glance over at another screen that showed her previous shots to see what they'd look like in print. (She's the one standing in light green).

One interesting thing to see was all of the different posses that were there. I'd guess that half the people at the shoot really didn't have a function at all. Maybe except for getting the photographer Li-Lac chocolates when she wanted them.

All in all it was a really cool experience. It did involve lots of sitting around and waiting for hair and makeup, but while waiting we got great food and I was able to talk to some of the models. The guys were both really down-to-earth regular people - not what I would have expected. It seems like we put models up on a pedestal, like a separate type of human... no more for me! One of them was telling me about how he sweats profusely when he has to do sweater shots outside during the summer.

Anyway, this is an outing I'll never forget. I feel so lucky to have been included. I have my supervisor, Lauren, to thank for that.

Thanks for reading!

Keri

Dancing with ‘the Cat’

As a merchandising intern, I quickly realized that the relationship between a vendor and a buyer forms the foundation of the retail business. My buyers have allowed me to meet with many of their vendors, each with a different personality—most times in line with the company image. I have to say the most interesting vendor visit so far was with Puma.

I intern with the active wear department, where a heavy emphasis is placed on the sneaker brands. Many of these sneaker brands are located within the New England area: Saucony, Reebok, New Balance, and Puma.

Puma has this brand image of being urban and modern. I fully expected the U.S. headquarters to be outside of an urban metropolis, but it was quite difference from my expectations. My buyer picked me up at 8AM for forty-minute drive to Puma. While I was expecting a trip through urban-suburban commercial developments, we actually traveled on some of the most scenic routes I have ever been on. We passed farmlands tucked between forests, misting lakes, and even the historic Lexington and Concord. Puma was tucked away in a nondescript business park full of wooden paneling. The building, looking very similar to a white version of the Puma shoebox, stuck out like a sore thumb.

We signed in at the front with coffee and treats in tow—ice breakers. The vendor met us and took us into the Puma auditorium, and into a showroom cleverly hidden behind billboard walls. The games began.

The first half an hour of the meeting was dedicated to a conversation that fell in between the warm enthusiasm of reunited friends and the cool professionalism of business partners. I was astounded by the details both the buyer and the vendor were able to recall about each other. It became evident that, to a certain extend, my buyer and her vendor cared about each other—a care that stemmed from a business partnership, but out of necessity extended into their personal lives as well. After the quick catch up, the conversation smoothly transitioned into business. The Cat, as Puma is frequently referred to, no longer sat tame.

The vendor started off the discussion with: cotton prices are up, poly prices are up, tariffs are up (at this point, I was expecting prices to be up 50%)—BUT we were able to hold most of your prices steady with the exception of a few items. The vendor was very good at what she does, but my buyer knew the game well. My buyer glossed over prices all together as she intended to leave negotiations till later. We focused in on the styles.

There is a general misconception that off-price retailers like TJX (T.J.Maxx, Marshalls, HomeGoods, etc.) only buy dated items through closeouts. I found that was not the case at all. A lot of product, especially in the active wear department are in season and purchased directly from the vendors. Of course, sometimes, the buyers have to turn a blind eye to the margins made on these products because the stores must carry the brands at great value to the customer. Puma is a company whose product we really want for our customers, and are willing to purchase at very questionable margins to our company.

While we were choosing the styles from Puma, I realized that buyers at TJX not only purchased goods for the company, but they were also designers and innovators. Puma provided us with the styles they were going to produce for us, but the buyer decided on the color story and silhouettes. The buyers were extremely well versed in current trends and consistently applied their knowledge. Of course, their view of the trends is not only based on magazines and blogs like so many of us fashion fanatics, but their decisions are also based on sales numbers. TJX has an amazing, in-depth system that tracks the selling of styles and colors to a t. At Puma, the buyers applied all of this knowledge and created a beautiful Spring 2012 Puma collection for our stores.

Deciding on the styles took the majority of our day. I was anxious to see how we would tie back to pricing at the end. What surprised me was, we skipped the pricing all together! I later learned that buyers and vendors generally discussed and finalized prices and quantities over the phone rather than in-person.

The trip to Puma gave me a taste of the dynamic lifestyle of a buyer and the 1001 different hats the buyers of an off-price retailer has to wear.

Next time, I promise to take pictures!

Target Week 4: Fast, Fun, and Friendly

One of Target's brand values is being "fast, fun, and friendly." Around headquarters, the acronym "FFF" (much faster than saying all three words) is used to describe both the culture and the many events planned to make Target a great place to work. As an employee, this means finishing meetings as soon as everything has been said (instead of dragging them on longer), having weekly team lunches & breakfasts, and taking the time to get to know our fellow team members.

Every Monday we have a team meeting, which always begins with a 5 minute FFF event before diving into financial updates. Last week, we raced to finish a word search for all of the categories in produce (stone fruit, mushrooms, etc.). This week, we shared our plans for the 4th of July weekend. There are also monthly FFF larger events, like last Friday's perishables mini-golf competition. Each department (produce, fresh meat, deli/bakery, etc.) designed their own par 4 hole using materials from around the office, and then we played through for the floor championship. The produce team won!

This week, as we continue to work on our project, we have had the opportunity to meet with a wide variety of people on our floor. It is really cool to have visibility to so many different roles at Target as an intern: buyers, managers, division heads, supply chain experts, organizational effectiveness team members, etc. The most common entry level job here is a Business Analyst (BA) on the Merchandise Planning team, but after spending a couple years as a BA, there are all sorts of career paths and jobs - Target is definitely an exciting place to work!

Week 3...or Week 4? Who's counting anyways...

Hi all,

This week was pretty uneventful in terms of new things happening at the show room, but in terms of epiphanies, I HAD ONE. I had a most liberating revelation this week. One of those revelations you're probably supposed to have like way before you get to college and decide you're going to business school but who cares...

Anyways so I applied to Penn thinking, well I'm not 100% sure, but I think I'd like to get into the fashion and beauty industries, maybe do some work for fashion and beauty/health magazines, anything like that. I didn't see being in the College, the Engineering school, or the Nursing school being the path to that, sooooo, I figured I'd do Wharton. I've always been interested in fashion, used to do some designing of my own. Love the cosmetology industry, I buy makeup like it's my job, so I always figured those were the avenues for me, business is good for everything so I welcomed the fact that that was where my future was headed.

As I wrote about in my last post, one of my projects at Alchimie is to do Daily Clippings, snippets of current beauty industry news. One of the primary sources for these is Womens Wear Daily, a world renowned magazine that publishes stories on the beauty,fragrance,fashion, and retail industries. I troll the website for interesting stories, and let me tell you, EVERY STORY IS INTERESTING.

But back to my revelation. I realized that I'm always telling people that I really love fashion and that I really love makeup, but it hit me this week, What do I really know about fashion and beauty? I know the big designers that everyone else knows, Marc Jacobs, Chanel, Louis Vuitton, etc , but there are hundreds of smaller designers that are just as prominent in any particular season, there are fashion houses whose staff are famous for particular styles or particularly famous lines for a particular season and much more. There is so much competition within the beauty and skincare industries, with Estee Lauder leading the charge and various other companies, both domestic and foreign, elbowing out the competition and creating room and support for themselves among consumers.

It became so clear to me this week, that to claim to have an interest in something, you have to do the research behind it. You have to put work into learning about it. I learned that despite what I claimed my interests to be, there was no way I could actually hold my ground in any type of conversation, debate, what have you on these topics.

So I've decided to spend this summer broadening my knowledge of all things beauty,retail, fashion, etc. I shall become a connoisseur of sorts, or at least try.

But that's all for now folks, til next time,

Nanette

P.S

check out the website!
http://www.wwd.com/

the subscription is a hefty price, but SO worth it.

End of Week 3: Lauren and working in-store

Hello again!

I'm reporting back on the exciting opportunities from the end of last week. On Wednesday all 36 interns went across town to 39th and 7th where the Lauren by Ralph Lauren Show Room is.

It was extremely pristine. Nothing but clear drinks were allowed onto the floor. I'm not quite sure how literally they meant that. Club soda? Tonic water? Vodka?

Along with the fact that we were seeing new styles for the fall before anyone else, it was also cool to pay attention to how the rooms were set up. The stylists have to create scenes that depict to the buyers how the clothing will be worn. They

also have separate rooms for different parts of the country. California and Florida are especially differentiated. I think we also had a great experience because Ralph Lauren has a very good relationship with Bloomingdale's. That's where he first sold clothing and is willing to do lots of exclusives for the store. If a buyer sees something they like but want to alter, Lauren is very accommodating whether it's colors, length, or size adjustments.

On Thursday all of the interns worked in the 59th Street store. Before the store opened, from 9-10am, there was a "Loss Prevention Shoplifters Fashion Show." They set up a runway surrounded by fold up chairs on the fourth floor and employees strutted down the aisle wearing the designers that have been stolen the most from the store. They were also accessorized with lots of security tags all over the clothing. The clothes they were wearing bulged with extra items stuffed underneath that they pulled out as they passed. The idea was to remind employees how important preventing shortages is, but to also have fun with it.

During the day we were each paired with a store manager to shadow. I was assigned to Mens' Suits, a department I know nothing about. It was particularly interesting because this department is comprised of extremely expensive purchases. Seeing the work that the salespeople do behind the scenes to stay in contact with their loyal customers was incredible. Whether it was sending out letters or making calls when new styles come in, the Bloomingdale's employees were on top of everything. By 5pm I could not wait to get off my feet and relax.

I'm so impressed and have newfound respect for salespeople. There's so much more to it than I ever would have guessed. They treated us all to Forty Carrots frozen yogurt after our long day. Martha, another Penn intern in the Women's RTW dept., was lovin the M&M's :)

Right now I'm working on sweepstakes and giveaways at work. Eleven winners were chosen from thousands who posted pictures of themselves on the Bloomingdale's page wearing certain items. Those eleven are being flown into New York for a weekend in August and having personal shoppers help them pick out $5,000 worth of merchandise from the store. They get all sorts of extra prizes as well, like Jimmy Choo sunglasses, Lagos jewelry, and Jo Malone fragrances.

Tomorrow morning I'm going to a photo shoot downtown where images for the upcoming fall campaign are being shot. The actress Amber Heard is the primary in the shoot. It's going to be my first time at anything like this, and I can't wait to see it!

Until next time,

Keri

Update from Marc Jacobs

Hi everyone!

My apologies for the late posting!  These first few weeks at Marc Jacobs were crazy.  I started my internship on the eve of Market, which is basically when the lines (rtw clothing, handbags, collection handbags, etc.) are beginning to be finalized and buyers from around the world are coming into see previews and place their orders.  Those first two weeks were nothing short of staying till 8 or 9 (not exactly the best idea since I'm commuting back and forth to New Jersey every day), working on the weekend, and ordering large amounts of food for the office to share.  Since I'm in the business planning department, I have been working since day one with people to edit reports and help finalize these plans.  I have also gotten to see orders coming in more recently from around the world, which has been really interesting.  Being able to see the differences (and similarities) in what people order for different countries (or even between regions of countries) is fascinating.  The orders from Asia were my favorite though; I've been studying Chinese throughout grade school and now at Penn and I love looking at trends and what's popular, especially in China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan.  Some of the words on the order documents even came up in Chinese, which was a huge excitement for me.

My daily tasks can include anything from editing these orders and matching them with our reports to organizing sales reports from various stores around the country.  I also put together and edit books to display past lines and present lines, with pictures and colors of each item (these are always fun to look at).  One of the more exciting things I've gotten to do is attend a sales meeting with representatives from different departments.  I listened as they discussed how the brand was doing in different department stores as well as against various competitors.  I also got to attend a viewing of the Resort 2011 line for Women's Ready To Wear at the off-site studio (normally this would be held at the headquarters, but this summer they are doing renovations). This was probably my favorite day, because not only did I get a sneak peak at what will be in stores starting in October, but the merchandisers and designers also explained their inspiration and reason for the pieces they created and the colors and materials they chose.

The energy in the office and the people who work here are great too.  Everyone is so fashionable (as you would probably expect) and no outfit I've seen so far seems too outrageous for the office.  All the employees are so obsessed with the brand--which makes for great dedication and loyalty to the company.  So far I'm absolutely loving every minute of being here.  Even if there are a few minutes of down time, there is something always coming up that needs to be done.  One thing I've learned is that you can never offer yourself and your assistance too often.  Even if it is something as simple as offering to do a coffee run, everything is appreciated.  And every task you're given is another opportuntity to learn something new! 

More updates to come!  Until next time,

Alex

Target! Week 3

Sorry for the delay! These past few weeks have flown by - it's hard to believe I've already finished a quarter of my internship!

I am working at Target Corporation this summer in the Merchandise Planning pyramid, which is located at their downtown Minneapolis headquarters. I have been very pleasantly surprised by the size and sophistication of this city; it is definitely very young and filled with fun things to do! I am living on the University of Minnesota campus with the nearly 300 other relocating summer interns.

The first couple weeks of the internship involved lots of training. The first week, our classes were fairly general, on topics from the Retail industry to Target-specific computer programs, which are used to track sales and every other metric imaginable. Last week, we were trained on the specific systems used in the Grocery division (where I'm working) and the nuances of managing the Perishables business. Since this is my first internship working in retail, I've really enjoyed the opportunity to learn more about the industry and what makes Target different as a company. Target headquarters definitely has a very unique, collaborative culture, which I will talk about in an upcoming blog post. I am still absolutely amazed that the 5% of its profits Target donates to the community amounts to over $3 million a week!

All business analyst interns at Target work on a strategic group project that affects one of the divisions of the company. I am lucky enough to be using everything I've learned as an OPIM concentration (lots and lots of Excel!) working on a project related to inventory management in the Produce department. This is our second week really diving into the project, and I am already surprising myself with the amount I have learned so far. Also, one of the cool perks of working in Produce is getting to sample the products our department buys whenever a vendor comes to visit - today we got peaches and nectarines from a fruit vendor!

Week 3: Food Bank and Central CEO Address

Hello again!

I can't believe it's already my third week working at Bloomingdale's! The time has really flown by. The past couple of days we've gotten to participate in some cool things. Yesterday all of the interns took a bus up to the Bronx where we boxed food at the Food Bank for the afternoon. It wasn't quite retail, but I'm glad that there was a community service aspect to the internship. They said that we boxed twice the amount of food they were expecting. Who knew we were such efficient sorters and boxers?

This morning all central Bloomingdale's employees came together on the 5th floor of the 59th St store for the Central CEO Address (I posted a picture below). Chairs were lined up all along the aisles of high end clothing and there was a stage in the center with big TV monitors all around. The CEO, Michael Gould, began, and then each of the GMMs (general merchandising managers) spoke about which brands and products had done well in the month of May. They are the pyramid heads of (1)accessories/fine jewelry/cosmetics, (2)RTW, (3)men/children, and (4)home. Brands that did really well in May are Chanel, Tory Burch, Marc by Marc Jacobs, J Brand, Aqua, and many others. It was cool to see the exact styles that sold the best. They even said that Bloomingdale's had eight $8,500 Chanel double-breasted tweed coats in stock and sold four of them!

In the afternoon I sat in on several meetings about the upcoming fall partnership between Bloomingdale's and NBC. One of the meetings was run by an "augmented reality" company who can create virtual images that appear on the screen of an ipad, iphone, or mac and attach themselves to whatever is in front of the camera. A simple example is bunny ears: you align your face once with an axis on the screen and then the bunny ears will look like they're actually around your head and stay on if you move around; they won't merely appear above your head if you're in the exact right spot. No more "bend down a little...to the left a little..."-type pictures. These can get way more complicated and eventually include stars putting their arms around customers in front of the camera.

Tomorrow the interns are going to the Lauren show room where we'll see their fall line. I'm really excited because my being in marketing has prevented me from going to buying meetings. This is my shot to see behind the scenes of the buying world.

On Thursday every intern will shadow a store manager and will work in the 59th St store from 9am-5pm. For all of you insiders reading this blog, I'll give you a 99% discount!

Just kidding - I don't think that would make me a very good salesperson. Hopefully I'll do okay.

Until next time,

Keri

LF USA: Week 2

Hey,

Hope everyone had a lovely Father's Day weekend! While I was originally going to tell you a bit more about production and post a few cute examples of old sketches and tech packs, our LF USA Summer Internship Speaker Series guest inspired me to hold that topic off for a more boring week blog entry. Here goes:

Last Friday our entire Intern class had the pleasure of meeting Tommy Hilfiger (I don't think I need to introduce him here... as in the clothes?). Mr. Hilfiger has recently went into a partnership with Li & Fung, working on a global music merchandising company, MESH - Music Entertainment Sports Holdings. The venture will develop, market and distribute diversified collections from musical artists ranging from the Steven Tyler (who recently announced the partnership), to J.Lo and Marc Anthony (faces of the company's first deal for a fashion lifestyle launching at Kohl's this Fall). The concept is very exciting and unique, and certainly something Mr. Hilfiger is passionate about as it combines his two favorite things - music and fashion. His company is expected to collaborate with Bravado, a division of Universal Music Group, to merchandise and manufacture products such as capsule collections, licensing deals, and exclusives - especially out of Macy's. Needless to say, I am extremely jealous of those lucky few interns who were placed in the MESH division at LF, like one of my teammates who is currently working to help launch the new Rachel Zoe line (!!).

Besides his relationship to LF, Mr. Hilfiger shared with us his inspirational beginnings story and advised all designers in the room to embrace the business side of the industry, as that has been crucial to his own success. He also elaborated on his new marketing campaign, focusing on a cool, diverse family, "the Hilfigers." The whole concept is really effective in appealing to various demographics, while simultaneously elevating TH's appeal and developing positive associations to the brand. Check out the commercial below, and if you have time to kill, browse through the "Meet the Hilfigers" sections of tommy.com - they all have names, back-stories, and as expected, they're all super-hot and super-preppy...

Next week is our company picnic, celebrating the 105th anniversary of Li & Fung, so I will be sure to let you know all about it, and maybe I will finally get to my day-to-day activities in production.

xx,

Marlena

Third Week Already?

Hello All,

I figure I should probably give a run down of what my actual duties are as an intern. Well my big summer project is to redo the press pages for Alchimie. Sound simple? It's not, there are 11 years of press coverage, over 350 individual pages. Each of these are saved as pdfs and to be uploaded through the website editor, they have to be converted to jpeg files, and then uploaded individually, on both the English site and the French site. Essentially, if I can do maybe 20 a day (40 uploads in actuality) without my mind going numb, its been a good day. It's not all terrible though, I am practically teaching myself about web design and it's actually pretty interesting, I think I might take a computer class sometime in the future.

Along the same lines as that part of the press project, I have to find and link images of every article in which Alchimie is mentioned in the blogosphere. Something I definitely learned from this internship, a blog world exists beyond tumblr and blogspot! I had heard of people who were professional bloggers but I never thought that blogs were really a very strong marketing tool. Lo and behold , blogs are just as influential as magazines and newspapers in relaying news, offering critiques,compliments, lifestyle advice, etc. Blogs are a huge deal and particularly in our beauty industry, it is crucial to receive great product reviews from famous bloggers. So I have to create the blog page of the Alchimie Forever website, less tedious than creating the main press pages , but still time consuming.

These projects will probably take me the whole summer, but they're pretty much on the back burner. My more recurring tasks include Daily Clippings, essentially a digest of current beauty news. Bi-weekly, I compile particularly relevant news from various beauty industry sources. I mostly use Women Wear Daily, my new favorite website/magazine. Want to know anything about the beauty, fashion, and fragrance industries(all wildly interesting), look there. It's a costly subscription, but it is more than worth it. You can't really call yourself an expert in any of these industries without knowing the stories that the website/magazine publishes. So in looking for good stories, I come across a lot of interesting information that is constantly beefing up my knowledge of the beauty and fashion industries which I'm super interested in.

I of course also do daily administrative tasks as they come up, usually from an email from either Kate or Ada, for example, putting together training manuals, filing billing statements, assessing inventory, things like that. Later in the summer we will also be doing some more event production which I hope to also be a part of. So I'm super excited.

Also, celebrity sightings: Mary Amos, a real housewife of DC came in the store for a facial the other day !

That's all for now, ttyl.

Nanette