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Consultant

Specialist & Consultant

I am an experienced leader in the fashion & retail industry, having worked for prominent & successful brands as a buyer, merchandising director and product developer over the course of my career. I have an entrepreneurial spirit, I'll be the team's biggest cheerleader & coach, and love tackling challenges head on. I'm fascinated by the continued evolution of retail and the development of a brand voice & ethics through compelling product stories, and I thrive in exploring the white space for new ideas.

Project-based technical design, merchandising, e-commerce support and product development services. Current clients include Boy Smells (www.boysmells.com) and Ori (www.orieveryday.com)

Communications & social media director for a 501(c)3 kitten rescue & socialization facility in South Los Angeles. Point person for all customer-facing messaging; facilitated and managed corporate suppliers and partner donations for the shelter, and led/participated in all fundraising initiatives through individual patrons, event planning & production, and partner product.

Communications Director

Merchandising and business director for $40 million revenue categories in footwear, accessories, swimwear and intimates businesses. Key successes during tenure include doubled sales & profit in intimates & swimwear categories over course of 9-12 months; stabilized and re-strategiezed struggling footwear category in 15 months through key brand partnerships/collaborations and developing strategic pricing initiatives via product/assortment; and, finally, I initiated and developed licensing opportunities in handbags & eyewear, generating $75k in plus-business in 3 months while leveraging brand awareness through potential wholesale opportunities. Worked in concert with Planning Director and her team in managing financial goals, stretch plans and forecasting based on pipeline product stories. Coached & led team of between 7-9 buyers/associates/assistants with multiple promotions.

Divisional Merchandising Director

Lead merchant for $100 million women's bottoms & accessories categories, managing a buyer, associate, and assistant; Worked with design team to develop bottoms business based on analysis of historical sales, trend direction and comp shop research; Enhanced partnerships with key heritage vendors by planning special collaborations and SMU's for key categories in bags, shoes and eyewear, resulting in increased comp business YOY; Sourced vendors for market-based product development in bottoms in partnership with buyers by attending market and trade shows; Traveled overseas to Asia 2x yearly, in partnership with design &
development team, for oversight of key-item denim & woven bottoms
production, working directly with vendors & agents on approvals

Senior Merchant, Women's Accessories, Footwear and Bottoms

Lead business director & merchandising strategist for $48 million women's accessories & footwear businesses; Generated nearly 100% department revenue comp YOY for both brick & mortar and e-commerce businesses, driven by compelling assortments in jewelry, handbags and cold weather accessories; led product trend/development for department in alignment with & support of apparel collections; Developed line plan & assortment road map 6x seasonally for team; Led all product and business review presentation meetings, including seasonal presentations to field teams and corporate executive team; Worked directly with PD manager in the development and creation of leather handbags & footwear with FP label, organizing line plan & assortment/drop strategy

Divisional Merchandising Director, Free People

Chief merchant of small boutique featuring thoughtfully curated apparel, accessories, gifts and art & host of live art and music events; Worked closely with local and national up & coming Philadelphia designers to design and develop apparel pieces specific for the store assortment; hosted well-known international bands & fine artists monthly to support local arts initiatives in the Old City neighborhood of Philadelphia; Recipient of numerous awards and press accolades , both local and
national

Founder & Proprietor

Created impactful & actionable online marketing messages, which helped to increase direct-to-consumer sales by nearly 20% over two seasons; Liaison between all merchants & marketing team, ensuring timely execution of messaging to customers; Traveled on-location to catalogue photo shoots to oversee styling & creative direction; Key partner with marketing team in relaying successful product sales, in order to increase consumer response to all email, home page and gateway messaging; Developed “Urban Renewal” concept online as new business opportunity generating $150k in first quarter as plus business; Proposed & laid groundwork for the collaborative brand initiative with extensive, travel, research and outreach to inspirational brands, which eventually became the “Around The
World” concept (2008-2012)

Creative Merchandising Manager, UO E-commerce

Assumed responsibility for a down-trending bottoms department and was able to turn around the business within 6 months; Developed & managed a key-item business in the denim category resulting in a 10% increase of the denim business by the end of 2003 over the prior season; Effectively translated seasonal trends & competitive/trend analysis into a timely & profitable product assortment; Managed design communications by initiating & developing line plans for future seasons; Worked on trend concept & development with extensive travel/market research; Increased sales women’s bottoms category by over +5% in sales & profit in 2004 and a +13% increase in 2005; Developed & initiated a denim-focused initiative to maximize a key-item business in stores; Created and managed a marketing & label package for the private-label denim, effectively creating “LUX” as an in-house premium brand and “BDG” as a core UO denim brand which continues today; Presented the inaugural Creative Thesis project, eventually evolving into the creative merchandising dept. (promoted in 2006)

Senior Merchant, Women's Apparel

Find out detailed information about Shari Roulin, Consultant in Pasadena, CA

Shari Roulin: Consultant in Pasadena, CA

Shari Roulin

Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising

Temple University