Lauren Gay: Product Performance & Trim Specialist in Garden Grove, CA

• Team member of the Sustainability 2020 initiative group, researching alternative in-house care and green dry cleaning methods as well as researching, sourcing and developing recycled or eco-friendly trims and fabrics • Partner with design, product development and manufacturing teams to evaluate new fabrics each season prior to testing • Conduct, manage and analyze testing results for fabrics, yarns and trim materials to determine care, content and disclaimer information and to ensure product meets domestic and international government standards • Travel to factories, trade shows and seminars for education on production, global testing requirements and trim and fabric manufacturing • Responsible for color approvals and trim/lining quality approvals and the sourcing and development of all trims and packaging • Meet with vendors and design teams on a seasonal basis to research trends and view collections for trim libraries • Negotiate trim and testing costs and perform seasonal costing exercises to present at company cost savings meetings • Partner with customer service to field any inquiries related to product performance, testing, and care information

• Created purchase orders, follow up on PO’s and shipment tracking to ensure on time delivery in order to accommodate sample and bulk production schedule for multiple seasons • Collaborated with designers and product development team to coordinate raw material research, developments and sourcing • Responsible for sourcing raw materials in Europe, Asia, South America and the United States • Purchased all raw material samples for showroom, salesmen samples, runway, pre-production, production and advertising samples • Ran BOM reports in WinFashion system to accurately order and allocate bulk production of raw materials to domestic and overseas factories • Negotiated pricing, company terms and shipping terms with raw materials vendors • Coordinated weekly cross functional team meetings with local cutting and sampling room • Created ticket, labeling and packing guides for overseas and domestic production. • Determine care instructions based on fabrication and garment washings

• Reported directly to and assisted the Director of Piece Goods of all divisions • Managed trim and textile research and development and sourcing for all divisions • Oversaw qualities and color approvals, rejections, and follow up on all raw material submits for sampling and bulk production • Collaborated closely with design, production, merchandising, sales and overseas factories on all raw material issues • Worked directly with all raw material suppliers and production team on costing exercises and negotiations to reduce final garment costs • Responsible for ordering all tailoring and sampling fabric yardage for all divisions • Supervised organization of raw materials library • Managed two interns

• Responsible for all sales and marketing activities in assigned accounts • Established and maintained existing and prospective client relationships • Generated a variety of status reports and excel charts, including activity, closings, developments, pricing and sales volume • Produced promotional product materials and trend forecasts to present to current and potential clients such as the Gap, Under Armour, Ralph Lauren, American Eagle, etc. • Communicated Daily with overseas sales offices and factories to ensure client satisfaction, create new developments and follow up with pending orders and transactions