A talk show that covers the latest trends and news in supply chain. Our guests are the top thought leaders in supply chain and technology to share actionable insights for business across industries.
In today's episode, Irina sits down with Rob O'Byrne. Rob is an expert in all aspects of supply chain and logistics, with 42 years of experience in managing, advising, and teaching on the topic. He is a go-to person on all aspects of the supply chain and is sought after for comments on TV, radio, and print media. Rob is the Founder and CEO of Consulting Firm Logistics Bureau and has advised Top 500 companies across 25 countries. He is recognized as a thought leader and passionate speaker on all aspects of the supply Chain and received the 2018 Industry Excellence Award Winner for his contribution to the supply chain industry. Rob has personally led projects that have delivered millions in bottom-line savings and improved customer service levels. A core value of Rob's businesses is Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), with a proportion of all profits going to a range of charities around the world, particularly in Australia, Asia, and Africa. Rob also founded and funds a social enterprise in the Philippines called Virtual Done Well that provides admin support staff to help small business owners grow, with any profits being used to support local employment, education, and feeding programs. His passion for knowledge sharing is quite apparent as he runs 4 YouTube channels plus a weekly blog. He has released a series of books on Logistics and supply chain called “Supply Chain Secrets” to help Australian businesses be more competitive, which you can find at www.supplychainsecrets.com. Rob and Irina discussed some of the near-term and long-term issues in the retail space today. They also discuss the future of brick and mortar retailers and what they need to do to survive. Also, they touched on the supply chain of the future and how cost, onshoring, and diversification of vendors will play a role in what that looks like. If you're ready to innovate your supply chain with an innovative supply chain management platform, you can learn more about the GRID through the links below: https://www.suuchi.com Email us at hello@suuchi.com
Irina sits down with Filip Westerlund, the CEO and visionary behind OUR CHOICE fashion, in today's episode. Filip is a Swedish national who, in pre-COVID times, split his time between Sweden and Luxembourg, where he is finishing his master's degree in psychology from the University of Luxembourg. As a psychology student, Filip has an in-depth understanding of consumer motivations and behaviors. That, coupled with his desire to clean up plastic waste found in the oceans, particularly on the beaches of his hometown, was the catalyst behind the launch of OUR CHOICE Fashion. The company just ended a very successful Kickstarter campaign where they launched the world's first circular sneaker. The fashion industry is one of the largest polluters worldwide. Filip's goal is to change how we source and manufacture products. Many brands promote vegan or eco-friendly sneakers predominantly made of plastic while also charging the consumer up to 70% more for low-quality products. It's hurting our planet but also hurting our wallets. The mission of OUR CHOICE is to educate consumers on the circular economy and sustainable fashion. Irina and Filip discuss how COVID has impacted the sustainable supply chain and how that might impact promises brands have made to consumers. They also discuss how brands can maintain full transparency to their end buyers and their supply chain. If you're ready to innovate your supply chain with an innovative supply chain management platform, you can learn more about the GRID through the links below: https://www.suuchi.com Email us at hello@suuchi.com
SVP of Technology, Tommy Bardinas, returns to the Suuchi Podcast to educate our listeners on how to best evaluate whether to buy, build, or subscribe to new supply chain management solutions. You can also review all of the tips Tommy shares in our latest white paper here! If you're ready to innovate your supply chain with an innovative supply chain management platform, you can learn more about the GRID through the links below: https://www.suuchi.com Email us at hello@suuchi.com
In today's episode, Irina sits down with Olga Wasow-Patten. Olga was on one of our previous podcasts, and today we dug deeper into a specific topic discussed - Integrated Business Execution (IBE). Olga helps outline the steps a company needs to take to implement IBE and what the strategy would entail to prepare leaders in an organization better. Olga is an International Supply Chain Leader who is passionate about improving companies' success, creating a positive collaborative environment for the team members, and bringing harmony to the end-to-end supply chain. She has 15 plus years of business consulting experience, combined with another 10 plus years in industry operator roles and diverse experience working in several countries (USA, Canada, Europe, and Brazil) and industries. This background has afforded her a unique business perspective that adds significant value to international and diverse companies. If you're ready to innovate your supply chain with an innovative supply chain management platform, you can learn more about the GRID through the links below: https://www.suuchi.com Email us at hello@suuchi.com
On today's episode, Irina sits down with Mike Mortson, a 30+ year veteran in supply chain, who has started a blog site www.supplychaingamechanger.com. The site went from being where he could share his thoughts on his learnings and experiences to one of the top sites on the supply chain globally. With a career spent in supply chain, Mike has seen many ways of performing the processes involved in managing the supply chain. Many of these processes are highly efficient; however, many more are highly inefficient. On his site, Mike shares his experiences in improving the Supply Chain and has been honored with the "Top 20 global supply chain blog" and "Top 13 global procurement blog" awards. Mike discusses 2020 trends in supply chain and what might shift in 2021. They also discuss some of the supply chain challenges that have yet to be solved and the importance of technology in supply chain today. If you're ready to innovate your supply chain with an innovative supply chain management platform, you can learn more about the Suuchi GRID through the links below: https://www.suuchi.com Email us at hello@suuchi.com
This week on the Suuchi Podcast, Irina welcomes back Pearl Malikul, founder and consultant at Knit & Weave, a consulting company that provides solutions for product innovations, supply chain management, and material developments. Pearl works with large and small organizations with challenging projects to create strategic processes and design innovations. Irina and Pearl discuss their upcoming panel session with Suuchi Ramesh at NRF's Big Show: Chapter 1. If you're ready to innovate your supply chain with an innovative supply chain management platform, you can learn more about the Suuchi GRID through the links below: https://www.suuchi.com Email us at hello@suuchi.com
In today's episode, Irina sits down with Olga Wasow-Patten. Olga is an International Supply Chain Leader who is passionate about improving companies' success, creating a positive collaborative environment for the team members, and bringing harmony to the end-to-end supply chain. She has 15 plus years of business consulting experience, combined with another 10 plus years in industry operator roles and diverse experience working in several countries (USA, Canada, Europe, and Brazil) and industries. This background has afforded her a unique business perspective that adds significant value to international and diverse companies. Her greatest strengths match those needed for consistent growth and success and include building and implementing planning practices that enable executives' decision-making process: expertise in developing profitable partnerships and forging global strategic alliances. Olga begins by discussing the supply chain's current importance for manufacturing companies and how to reset the business's supply chain organization. She also focuses on Integrated Business Execution (IBE), an approach that enables executives to make planning decisions. This decision making framework helps the company plan and focus the entire organization's activities, so they are not siloed and work together seamlessly. Olga further talks about the best standards to access supply chain performance and modern skills and expertise required in the supply chain. If you're ready to innovate your supply chain with an innovative supply chain management platform, you can learn more about the Suuchi GRID through the links below: https://www.suuchi.com Email us at hello@suuchi.com
On today's podcast episode, Irina sits down with the entire executive team at Suuchi Inc. to discuss their 2020 most memorable moments as well as what they're most excited about in 2021. In addition to Irina, the VP of Marketing, she is joined with: Suuchi Ramesh, CEO & Founder Mark Herman, CFO Tommy Bardinas, SVP of Technology Victor Cortes, SVP of Operations Bobby Hamill, VP of Sales Andrew McKenna, VP of Product Donna Spillane, VP of Customer Success Rich Schull, Controller Ben Zucker, AVP of Sales Although 2020 has been a stormy year, the team identifies the silver linings across the organization and specifically their team. We are excited for 2021, and make sure to continue to follow our podcast for great content and interesting speakers! If you're ready to innovate your supply chain with an innovative supply chain management platform, you can learn more about the Suuchi GRID through the links below: https://www.suuchi.com Email us at hello@suuchi.com
In today's episode, Irina sits down with Orla Lucey. Orla is an Operations & Supply Chain Executive for technology companies based in the SF Bay Area and has successfully led cross-functional teams within the consumer electronics industry. A global professional, she began her career in Ireland before relocating to the United States and then Singapore. She is now based on the West coast of the United States. She believes that being able to experience many cultures has enabled her to thrive within global organizations. Orla is currently the VP of Supply Chain Operations at Latch. Orla shares her thoughts on what supply chain professionals need to do to have a better working relationship with vendor partners. She also discusses how companies need to evolve their definition of "supply chain" as their companies grow. There are different processes and focuses for startups versus enterprise businesses, and readjusting needs and priorities is critical to maintaining steady growth. She also talks about demand planning, which she feels is an undervalued focus at companies today. If you're ready to innovate your supply chain with an innovative supply chain management platform, you can learn more about the Suuchi GRID through the links below: https://www.suuchi.com Email us at hello@suuchi.com
In today's episode, Irina sits down with Trent Morris, a Logistics, Project & Procurement specialist from Australia. Trent has over 20 years of supply chain expertise in both the corporate and defense sectors. He has held senior-level positions at the Logistics Bureau, Next, Coca-Cola Amatil, and Bean Suntory, where he could hone his skills within international trade & logistics, strategy, supply chain development, and project management. During their conversation, Trent discusses his thought on the supply chain today post-COVID-19 and what still needs to be improved to ensure companies are successful in the future. Trent further opines on what is working well within the supply chain today and what type of strategy a company needs to implement to grow and expand. Lastly, they discuss the use of technology, how it is best implemented, and what it helps a company solve when optimizing its supply chain processes. If you're ready to innovate your supply chain with an innovative supply chain management platform, you can learn more about the Suuchi GRID through the links below: https://www.suuchi.com Email us at hello@suuchi.com
In today's episode, Irina sits down with Timothy Harris. Tim is an accomplished leader and developer of people. He retired from Walmart last fall as a Divisional Vice President of Supply Chain. In 27+ years at Walmart, Tim worked his way through the organization, helping people become successful in their careers. As a leader, he recognized his success was directly linked to the people he supported. He values continuous education and delights in helping people reach their full potential. Their discussion was centered around supply chain challenges facing big-box retailers. Also, they discussed how e-commerce could most effectively be used as an omnichannel for these companies. Through the years, Tim has seen many changes to supply chain management. He shares his challenges, how things have evolved, and where there are still opportunities for improvement. If you're ready to innovate your supply chain with an innovative supply chain management platform, you can learn more about the Suuchi GRID through the links below: https://www.suuchi.com Email us at hello@suuchi.com
In today's episode, Irina sits down with Camila Gomez Wills. Camila is a Colombian attorney with experience in program management, stakeholder engagement, and international research. She recently finished a Master's in Public Policy focused on best practices to address modern slavery in global supply chains. Her long-term focus is on leading broader sustainability efforts. Their discussion centers around the growing importance of the people side of sustainability and how COVID-19 has shown us that we are more interconnected than we thought. Camila also shares some best practices to move forward and how businesses can develop more robust human rights due diligence framework. If you're ready to innovate your supply chain with an innovative supply chain management platform, you can learn more about the Suuchi GRID through the links below: https://www.suuchi.com Email us at hello@suuchi.com
On today's podcast, Irina sits down with Gaurav Taneja, a seasoned Procurement and Supply chain expert and senior executive based in Toronto, Canada. He has been involved in driving transformations of Procurement and broader supply chain activities in several challenging and diverse business environments and several industries. Gaurav has worked in cross-cultural teams across India, the USA, Canada, France, and the United Kingdom. In the past few years, he has dedicated his services as a trusted advisor to C-Suite in global strategic sourcing, mid/tail spend management, and strategic procurement roadmap, including policymaking and negotiations. His clients include CPO's/CFO's in Fortune 500/1000 companies within the USA and Canada. He is trusted in delivering values in the most challenging environments, including a pandemic. He is passionate about all topics related to Supply Chain. He strives for continuous improvement and creating change for the betterment of organizations and society. During their conversation, Irina and Gaurav discuss the post-COVID-19 supply chain impact, evolution of supply chain management, and the type of companies that are still struggling and what they can do to solve for it. If you're ready to innovate your supply chain with an innovative supply chain management platform, you can learn more about the Suuchi GRID through the links below: https://www.suuchi.com Email us at hello@suuchi.com
In today's episode, Irina sits down with Michael Cadieux, Founder and CEO of the Procurement Foundry, a fully vetted practitioner-based community where procurement professionals could instantly and correctly source solutions from peers. With more than 25 years of procurement and business experience, he is a sought-after resource within the Indirect Spend community and has spoken at numerous industry conferences and events. Before founding Procurement Foundry, he spent 17 years at Publicis Groupe, the second-largest advertising and communications firm in the industry. He was directly responsible for $2.4B of spending, from 65+ business units, and 27,000 employees within Publicis Groupe's holdings in the Americas. Michael's time at Publicis Groupe exposed him to many of the common pain points for practitioners and executives in the procurement industry and the solutions. More often than not, solutions to common problems were forced to resolve by enlisting high-cost consulting firms' services. The process was both expensive and time-consuming, sometimes resulting in an ineffective solution. Since its inception, Procurement Foundry has increased membership to over 3,000 practitioners in 63 countries, started its own series of conferences and webinars on both the Direct and Indirect sides of procurement, and has released two independent salary and compensation surveys to industry acclaim. In addition to discussing how Procurement Foundry started, Michael also touches on issues that supply chain and procurement professionals face today. He also gives his thoughts on the pandemic and the positive and negative impacts he and his membership have experienced over the last six months. We also get a peek into what is to come for Procurement Foundry as the organization grows. If you're ready to innovate your supply chain with an innovative supply chain management platform, you can learn more about the Suuchi GRID through the links below: https://www.suuchi.com Email us at hello@suuchi.com
On today's episode, Irina sits down with Christina Wallaert, a 15 year veteran as a buyer for e-commerce, retail and loyalty rewards channels. She describes herself as a non-traditional buyer because she has worked in unique environments like buying merchandise for a grocery chain and a tv channel. Christina has bought for almost every category we can think of from electronics to kitchen and fashion accessories. She is also the creator and writer of a blog, Not A Shopaholic, which is dedicated to uncovering cool, unique products focusing on locally made items. In their discussion, Irina and Christina discuss changes to jobs in retail and supply chain as a result of COVID-19. Being that Christina is based in Canada, she brings a new perspective to our listeners. They further discuss how buyers will manage their business differently to adjust to the change in the economy and consumer shopping habits. We also get a glimpse into the Canadian retail landscape and what the fallout might be with retailers closing, jobs lost, and how that might impact consumer lifestyles and spending. If you're ready to innovate your supply chain with an innovative supply chain management platform, you can learn more about the Suuchi GRID through the links below: https://www.suuchi.com Email us at hello@suuchi.com
In today's episode, Irina welcomes back Kristen Classi-Zummo, Director and Industry Analyst covering fashion apparel on The NPD Group's Market Insights team. She provides in-depth data analysis based on her industry expertise, offering thoughtful insights into the present and future of fashion and retail. Kristen presents industry trends to manufacturers and retailers, including state of the industry presentations and white-space opportunity analyses. Kristen joined NPD in 2015 as a manager on the Product team, working within the Softlines segment. Previously, she was a senior manager of product development/design for men's and women's Blue Label apparel at Ralph Lauren. During their discussion, Irina and Kristen discussed how COVID impacted fashion brands and retailers and the shifts they have made in marketing strategy to drive consumers to their products. They also discuss areas within the fashion industry that have seen dramatic growth and how the new normal will impact buying habits and consumer behavior trends. Lastly, they discuss online shopping and the growth not only in terms of revenue but the change in who the consumers are who are purchasing online. The world is changing dramatically, and understanding these trends and shifts should empower businesses to adjust strategies accordingly to maintain market share. If you're ready to innovate your supply chain with an innovative supply chain management platform, you can learn more about the Suuchi GRID through the links below: https://www.suuchi.com Email us at hello@suuchi.com
In today's episode, Irina sits down with Anna McGovern, founder and managing director of Pondview Consulting. With over 25 years working on enterprise supply chain processes, she now works with C-suite supply chain and procurement officials to develop and execute enhanced strategies, network design, and business process improvement. Their discussion focused on the fundamental shifts in the supply chain due to COVID and what business professionals can do to not only protect their companies from the next crisis but also what the landscape might look like after the dust has settled. Many companies were unprepared for such a disruption to their operations. It tested the agility and resiliency of supply chains, and most people couldn't recover in time. Anna discuses business strategies that companies can implement to build that resiliency and protect themselves and their revenue stream. Anna also discusses how the supply chain has to be at the front end of the innovation funnel. There's no use in having a great idea if you don't have the infrastructure or capability to make it come to life. If you want real speed to market, you need the capability to exist. If you are a big, established company that is too slow to make decisions, you will lose market share and become irrelevant to consumers over time. Over the last 15 years, companies have focused on consolidation, scaling, creating leverage, and getting rid of non-strategic suppliers. In a post COVID world, we now need to swing the pendulum a bit more towards the middle, and we will see more supply chain diversification with companies. High value, critical items might be reshored. Still, a lot of the lower cost items that are produced overseas will most likely continue production abroad because consumers will have to take on the higher cost. Companies need to reinvest in their supply chain more now and focus on having multiple sources. Anna also goes on to state that people are not prepared and have not prepared themselves to be tech-savvy. If you're not continually learning and training yourself, you're behind the curve. Retrain to be part of something that is going to move the business forward -constant education, training, and retraining. If you don't speak technology, you are a dinosaur. If you're ready to innovate your supply chain with an innovative supply chain management platform, you can learn more about the Suuchi GRID through the links below: https://www.suuchi.com Email us at hello@suuchi.com
On this week's episode of The Suuchi Podcast, Suuchi Ramesh hosted a session to introduce herself and Suuchi Inc. to the Procurement Foundry community. Suuchi is interviewed by Sarah Barnes-Humphrey of the Let's Talk Supply Chain podcast to discuss Suuchi's background, how the company started, the industries we serve, what the Suuchi GRID is, and what the future of supply chain holds. Whether you're just hearing of Suuchi or you've followed Suuchi from the start, this episode covers how our business has expanded over the past four years! If you're looking to digitize your supply chain to improve operations across the entire product lifecycle, you can find out more information about Suuchi's solutions below: https://www.suuchi.com Email us at hello@suuchi.com
On this week's epsiode, Irina chats with Suuchi Ramesh, CEO & Founder of Suuchi Inc., on how the company has expanded and evolved since we first started four years ago. Suuchi also discusses what supply chain leaders need to do now that we are out of the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic to ensure success moving forward. If you're looking for solutions in your supply chain, whether it be developing and producing new products or implementing technology into your process for greater visibility and smarter decision-making, you can find out more information below: https://www.suuchi.com Email us at hello@suuchi.com
On today's episode, Irina sits down with Kristen Anderson, a design consultant working with new brands, especially in the swim and intimates segment of the market. Her experience working at brands and also launching a brand herself really gives her a unique perspective when working with business owners. Her path was shaped by realizing what skillsets she excelled at and then honing in on those skills as she progressed in her career. Her specialty in design really lends itself to helping brand owners who may not have the design background to help them through that part of their development. If you're looking for solutions in your supply chain, whether it be developing and producing new products or implementing technology into your process for greater visibility and smarter decision-making, you can find out more information below: https://www.suuchi.com Email us at hello@suuchi.com Stay safe out there and thanks again for tuning in!
On today's episode, Irina sits down with Pearl Malikul, founder and consultant at Knit & Weave, a consulting company that provides solutions for product innovations, supply chain management, and material developments. Pearl works with both large and small organizations with challenging projects to create strategic processes and design new innovations. Pearl has always been interested in fashion and apparel design and textile innovation. She graduated from the Fashion Institute of Technology with a degree in Textile Development and Marketing and her career developed with roles at Hanes, Calvin Klein, PVH, and Victoria's Secret. Throughout her career, she played a critical role in the development and sourcing of the raw material as well as innovative materials strategy. As part of her roles, she has also been instrumental in creating efficiencies within the supply chain as well as finding sustainable supply chain participants. Issues she identifies within the current fashion supply chain include a lack of transparency. She advises brands on the importance of knowing who you're working with and who your suppliers are. She also believes in having domestic supply chain partners. You need to have a diversified network to ensure success. Lastly, sustainability has become increasingly more important to so many brands and is another critical piece that needs to explored within your current supply chain. Peal works with many brands of different sizes and especially focuses on the materials sourcing and development aspect of garments. She could be a great resource for a brand looking to be more sustainable but wants an expert to help navigate what that means, or for a larger brand looking for expertise in materials design and innovation for new products. If you're looking for solutions in your supply chain, whether it be developing and producing new products or implementing technology into your process for greater visibility and smarter decision-making, you can find out more information below: https://www.suuchi.com Email us at hello@suuchi.com Stay safe out there and thanks again for tuning in!
In today's episode, Irina sits down with Tommy Bardinas, VP of Technology, and Andrew McKenna, VP of Product, at Suuchi Inc. They discuss the Suuchi GRID, which is their proprietary supply chain technology, and how the software has helped them expand to not only PPE but more broadly into other industries. The configurable nature of the software, allows the user of really any industry to track and manage their supply chain while providing real-time end to end transparency. Collecting data points across aspects of the workflow that were previously difficult to capture, allows for the user to make more informed business decisions. Learning more about the team and the thought process around the evolution of this software really speaks to the forward-looking mindsets of the engineers of this product. If you're looking for solutions in your supply chain, whether it be developing and producing new products or implementing technology into your process for greater visibility and smarter decision-making, you can find out more information below: https://www.suuchi.com Email us at hello@suuchi.com Stay safe out there and thanks again for tuning in!
On today's episode, Irina talks with Courtney Cruzan, the VP of Sourcing and Product Development at brrr, an innovative textile company in the performance space. From a young age, Courtney was always exposed to textiles, since her mother was in the business. As she got older, she got her Bachelor of Science in textile design followed by an MBA in textile trade policy. In 2010, Courtney moved to Asia and spent 7 years working in textile manufacturing. When she came back to the US, Courtney wanted to maintain her contacts in Asia, specifically in Taiwan which is a leader in textile innovation in the performance space, and started working at brrr. Courtney has found that these are unprecedented times in the fashion industry. There is a shift from fast fashion economies to more sustainable and made to order production. Adding more performance attributes to textiles is what the market needs and is asking for now. The impetus for founding brr in 2014 was based on the need for a technology that would be inherent in the yarn to provide proven cooling, wicking and quick drying performance. In today's market, what we typically find is that the majority of all cooling properties are a form of wicking and the finishing is a topical chemical that provides the wicking properties. What brrr wanted to look at was to move away from the additives of chemicals and still create permanent performance textile. They extrude natural minerals into the filament yarn and have proven what they call their "triple chill effect." This triple chill effect is that the fabric is cool to the touch, has active wicking properties and is rapid drying to deliver a fresh and crisp experience. Lastly, the majority of their yarns naturally repel UV rays and one of the minerals they use also has antimicrobial properties. Because the triple chill effect is inherent in the yarn, it can be washed without any change to the features of the textile. This can be used in performance clothing as well as home goods. For more information, feel free to check out their website or reach out to their licensing department if you're interested in using this for your own projects! If you're looking for solutions in your supply chain, whether it be developing and producing new products or implementing technology into your process for greater visibility and smarter decision-making, you can find out more information below: https://www.suuchi.com Email us at hello@suuchi.com Stay safe out there and thanks again for tuning in!
In this episode, our co-host, Emanuel, gives a brief talk about the new landscape we find ourselves in due to COVID-19. How we've grown our community to support new industries and organizations during this crisis and for long-term success and protection. He also goes into the issues that most organizations are facing right now and areas that brands can focus on to explore innovation during these trying times. We're all going into this new horizon together and we must prepare ourselves in order to protect our team members, customers, and supply chain participants. We hope you enjoy this talk and for those of you wanting to learn more about the GRID and PPE, see the links below: Explore the Suuchi GRID: https://brands.suuchi.com/supply_chain Explore our PPE Solution: https://www.suuchi.com/ppe-production/ Stay safe out there and thanks again for tuning in!
In today's episode, Irina sits with Shannon Lohr, founder of Factory45, an online accelerator program that takes sustainable fashion companies from idea to launch. Factory45 is a 6 month, online, accelerator program that runs once a year from June-November, and is targeted towards people who have an idea to launch a clothing or accessories brand and want to do so in a sustainable and ethical way. The program starts with how to source fabric and covers topics like building an audience, setting up manufacturing, creating an e-commerce presence. The program ends with strategies to raise money to help fund the first production run so you're not risking your own savings. Although this is online, there is a structure to the program and new content is released each week so that it's not overwhelming upfront. Shannon hosts daily office hours for one on one and more personalized support. There is a community forum to help you connect with your peers going through the program. This year they are launching an alumni mentor program so you're matched up with someone who has graduated from the program and is already running their own sustainable fashion brand. Shannon had launched her own sustainable fashion brand in 2010 with a partner. Neither had fashion backgrounds but they knew they wanted to start a business. They launched 1 garment for women that can be worn 30 different ways for minimalists and travelers. It took them a year and a half to launch and when they did, they were the highest-funded fashion project in Kickstarter history at the time. It was a great learning experience on how to go from idea to a fully created product. They ran the business for a little over 2 years and decided they wanted to try other things. Shannon believed it should be easier for new designers to manufacture in the USA. Through this experience, Factory45 was born. Shannon advises that one of the biggest challenges with brands starting out is making sure that they build their audience early on. Startups can get bogged down in product development, website and branding. But if you don't have an audience to launch to, none of that matters. So when you are ready to launch and presell your product, you'll have immediate potential buyers. Shannon's advice to new brands is making sure you're offering something that people want. Make sure you are talking to your customers very early on to really understand their needs. Do not rush your product development either. You need to make sure that you've put your samples through the rigorous process of making sure they're ready for the public and you've working out a production plan and schedule to ensure that nothing breaks down when you're live and selling. Be prepared for rounds of edits. The first sample is never perfect. Take the time to develop a relationship with your factory, production partner, or pattern maker so that you're educated along the whole process. It is not your production partner's job to educate you, so you need to know what questions to ask and the things to expect in order to make you an ideal client. Factory45 is opening up applications and enrollment for their 6th year on May 6th. Make sure to check it out at www.factory45.co If you're looking for solutions in your supply chain, whether it be developing and producing new products or implementing technology into your process for greater visibility and smarter decision-making, you can find out more information below: https://www.suuchi.com Email us at hello@suuchi.com Stay safe out there and thanks again for tuning in!
In this episode, Emanuel talks 1-on-1 with David Meltzer, the Co-Founder of Sports 1 Marketing to learn how he went from being worth over $100M by the age of 35 to losing it all, filing bankruptcy, and making it all back again through a combination of massive amounts of efficient action, focus, and a transformative spiritual journey that helped him better understand his priorities. His story is truly an extraordinary one, but he comes from humble beginnings that many of us can relate to. Make sure to pay attention to how he prioritizes his efforts, what he's focused on, and how he's been able to regain tremendous success by changing his mindset and focusing on a few principles to live his life. David is also a best-selling author (books below), a renowned keynote speaker, and a business coach that's determined to help 1 billion people throughout his lifetime. He wasn't always like this so tune in to learn what sparked his change and how he's impacting others. We also talk about how this pandemic is an opportunity, almost like a do-over, to really look at everything at hand and accelerate and grow at a much more rapid and positive pace. We discuss how to analyze yourself, find your strengths and weaknesses, and really be able to go all-in on your passions while making a positive impact to the outside world. If you're in a tight spot right now, check out this episode because maybe something that David says during this interview will spark that next move that you need to make in order to evolve your business. To learn more about David, you can find him at the following: https://dmeltzer.com Book: Game-Time Decision Making Book: Compassionate Capitalism: A Journey to the Soul of Business Book: Connected To Goodness: Manifest Everything You Desire In Business And In Life If you're looking for solutions in your supply chain, whether it be developing and producing new products or implementing technology into your process for greater visibility and smarter decision-making, you can find out more information below: https://www.suuchi.com Email us at hello@suuchi.com Stay safe out there and thanks again for tuning in!
On today's episode, Irina sits down with Whitney Cathcart, co-founder and Chief Strategy Officer at 3DLOOK. 3DLOOK is a software company that uses body data to deliver hyper-personalized shopping experiences to consumers to help them find clothing that fits when online shopping. Before 3DLOOK, Whitney spent almost 30 years in the business side of fashion in various roles and companies. 3DLOOK was a life long dream so when the opportunity arose 4 years ago to be part of this startup she jumped on it. Whitney was excited to take an industry she was passionate about and bring it into the future. She had been witnessing a change in commerce and social commerce; people were using their phones to shop and everything was just moving towards mobile and online. Whitney wanted to be part of a future that took an analog industry into the digital world she was seeing around her. At 3DLOOK, there are two guiding principles: accuracy optimization and consumer experience. Although they're a B2B business model, they're always thinking of the consumer. Individuals just need to take a front and side photo and answer a couple of questions and then they can determine which is the best size. On the back end, the software takes the photos and simple answers and is able to derive 65 different measurements on the body to ensure the correct fit. Embracing technology today is more important than ever for brands and retailers. Consumers are buying too many different sizes and brands need to deal with the returns which will now be higher than ever as online shopping is higher than ever before. An increase in return rates are detrimental to inventory and the environment. Using technology to create a better user experience can help the business succeed over the long term. To learn more about 3DLOOK, check out their website at: Www.3dlook.me Looking to launch a brand or digitize your supply chain? Email us at hello@suuchi.com and our team of experts with guide you through our process. Explore Suuchi Inc. to learn more about our solutions, technology, and capabilities.
On today's interview, Emanuel interviews Sterling Hawkins, the Co-Founder, and Co-CEO of CART, the Center for Advancing Retail and Technology. Sterling is also a keynote speaker that travels the world speaking about innovation and how businesses can implement technology to increase efficiency and take their businesses to the next level. Being a 5th-generation retailer, Sterling started his work experience at the early age of 15, launched his first tech company right out of college, and managed to sell the startup and made his way to Silicon Valley. Throughout Sterling's journey, he went from being worth millions to losing it all and coming to a major low-point in his life where he didn't know what his next move was going to be. This is when he remembered a saying that his mom told him when he was young: "The only way out is through" Tune in to learn how Sterling turned his life around and built a successful career as a keynote speaker and entrepreneur that's adding massive value to businesses in retail. To learn more about Sterling and his company, please visit: https://www.sterlinghawkins.com https://app.advancingretail.org Looking to launch a brand or digitize your supply chain? Email us at hello@suuchi.com and our team of experts with guide you through our process. Explore Suuchi Inc. to learn more about our solutions, technology, and capabilities.
On today's episode of Behind the Seams, Irina chats with Rachel Foster, founder of North Hollands, a lifestyle brand focused on mommy and me clothing options for mothers and their sons. She was inspired by her own journey into motherhood and identified a gap in the mommy and me marketplace for moms of boys. She wanted to create clothing that would be comfortable yet at the same time cute and fashionable for both her and her child. She currently carries toddler sizes ranging from 12mo - 4T and is looking to expand in the future with more styles and options. Being that Rachel did not have a background in design or manufacturing, she found that working with Suuchi Inc was very helpful as she had to work on product development all the way through production. The Suuchi GRID gave her visibility into each step along the process and was a simple way for her to communicate with all the parties working on her project. Check her out at: www.northhollands.com Looking to launch a fashion brand? Email us at hello@suuchi.com and our team of experts with guide you through the process! Explore Suuchi Inc. to learn more about our solutions, technology, and capabilities.
On this episode of the Suuchi Podcast, Emanuel interviews Matt Priest, the President & CEO of the United States' leading trade association in the footwear industry, the FDRA, or the Footwear Distributors & Retailers of America. Matt brings great insight into what's going on in the industry and sheds light on how trade groups work with brands and retailers to pass or repeal legislation in Washington D.C. that impacts retail and much more! We discuss a variety of topics on this talk that we truly believe will add value to the end-listener! These topics include the following: What is the FDRA and what do they do? What major brands and retailers are doing during this time Brands pivoting to PPE to fight in this war The impact that tariffs and duties have on brands and consumers Digitizing the supply chain Consumer behavior changes Legislation, primarily the $2 trillion stimulus package How he went from a late start in Capitol Hill to becoming CEO at the age of 31 & becoming the 3rd CEO since FDRA's inception in 1944 We hope you guys enjoy today's episode and that you can learn from Matt's expertise and story. Let's continue to grow our brands, impact our customers, and reach that next level in your business... even during these challenging times. Stay safe, and we'll see you next time! #socialdistancing To learn more about Matt, his podcast, and FDRA, please see below: Matt's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mattpriest/ FDRA: https://fdra.org Shoe-In Show: http://www.shoeinshow.com Here are the recommended Shoe-In Show interviews that Matt suggested during the interview: Dick Johnson | Chairman, President, & CEO of Foot Locker, Inc.: https://shoeinshow.com/tag/dick-johnson/ David Kahan | CEO of Birkenstock Americas: https://shoeinshow.com/tag/david-kahan/ Matt Rubel | Chairman Consumer at MidOcean Partners Private Equity: https://shoeinshow.com/tag/matt-rubel/ Looking to launch a brand or digitize your supply chain? Email us at hello@suuchi.com and our team of experts with guide you through our process. Explore Suuchi Inc. to learn more about our solutions, technology, and capabilities.
On this special edition of the Suuchi Podcast, Irina sits down with Stephen Rector, Global Retail Consultant and CEO of Bakertown Consulting. Stephen focuses his comments on what brands can do during this time of crisis. The key point that he emphasizes throughout the discussion is that this is not the time to pause. Brands need to use this time to strengthen their online presence, customer experience and digitize by implementing necessary technology. Once this pandemic is behind us, having a strong tech stack to help manage the supply chain and an effective customer experience strategy will be differentiators among competitors. The world around us will change at record speeds in terms of how consumers purchase goods. Brands and retailers need to be prepared to service their customer base accordingly and working on that strategy now is what will set them up for success. Looking to launch a fashion brand? Email us at hello@suuchi.com and our team of experts with guide you through the process! Explore Suuchi Inc. to learn more about our solutions, technology, and capabilities.
In this episode, which we want to point out that this is part 2 of our talk with Stephen Rector, a former executive at Macy's and rue21 and now President of Bakertown Consulting, we sit down with Stephen to discuss key business strategies that brands must have in place when they want to enter the market, execute on what's important that will drive results, and truly scale their businesses. This talk includes the following topics: Brand Analysis: Initiating this to understand where your brand currently stands, who your competitors are, and more Strategic Business Planning: Developing your brand vision, SWOT analysis, P&L / Expense planning, and inventory optimization Go-To-Market Strategy: Understanding what path your brand want to take as you enter the market or expand into a new category There are always new things that you can learn along your journey as an entrepreneur so we hope that you enjoy the interview and that it brings new ideas for your business! Also, stay safe during these crazy times and do your part by #socialdistancing from others. To learn more about Bakertown Consulting, visit their website at https://www.bakertownconsulting.com Looking to launch a fashion brand? Email us at hello@suuchi.com and our team of experts with guide you through the process! Explore Suuchi Inc. to learn more about our solutions, technology, and capabilities.
On a bonus episode of "The Suuchi Podcast", Irina chats with our Sr. Manager of Content & Product Marketing, Lizzie Sessa, to discuss how fashion brands & retailers can build impactful marketing strategies during the COVID-19 pandemic. The two discuss: Giving back to the community Establishing causes to support How to connect with your end-consumer Optimizing your online presence Listen to our previous talk with Lizzie: https://suuchid.podbean.com/e/talking... Looking to launch a fashion brand? Email us at hello@suuchi.com and our team of experts with guide you through the process! Explore Suuchi Inc. to learn more about our solutions, technology, and capabilities.
On today's episode, we have the co-founders of See ROSE Go, Erin Cavanaugh & Yi Zhou. See ROSE Go is a premier fashion brand for women who wear size 14-24. Erin and Yi discuss how they leveraged their backgrounds with some of the top apparel companies to create a line that catered to a niche market. As a design-led company, Erin and Yi wanted to create a brand that catered to women who were looking for high-quality and trendy pieces that would be timeless. They chose their brand name as a rallying cry to women across the globe to inspire them to go after what they wanted and to feel confident in everything that they do. Looking to launch a fashion brand? Email us at hello@suuchi.com and our team of experts with guide you through the process! Explore Suuchi Inc. to learn more about our solutions, technology, and capabilities.
Hey everyone, today's episode is not your typical interview. In this segment, Emanuel sits down with our Founder & CEO, Suuchi Ramesh, to talk about what we're doing to help our team, partners, and clients to mitigate risk throughout this pandemic. She also goes into what we do for those of you that aren't fully aware of what Suuchi Inc. does. How we solve issues like this with our platform. We've been fortunate with the location of our supply chain being in the Western Hemisphere, but we're prepared to go through this with you, create that much needed digital supply chain that will help when not if, this happens again. The email to get in touch with our team is hello@suuchi.com and we're ready to bring your supply chain closer to home! Stay safe and tune in next week for a full episode! WEBINAR: Learn how we're using technology to create a smarter supply chain in order to build a digital-first brand: https://webinar.suuchi.com/digital_first_brand
On today's episode, Irina interviews Michelle Muller, the Co-Founder and CXO (Chief Experience Officer) at Little Spoon, a venture-backed, DTC child nutrition brand that's growing very fast and impacting the lives of many parents around the nation. This interview shows how a company idea can spark at any time and how it's up to you to take action to make it happen. Michelle moved to New York City at 21 years old and landed a job in the real estate industry. During her time in real estate, she started her family, which by the time she had her second child and would spend hours upon hours each weekend making homemade baby formula, the idea sparked to create something that would give her back that time. This was the beginning stages of Little Spoon! Throughout this interview, we learn about how she took that idea, started a hyperlocal startup, found co-founders, raised capital, and has continued to scale the company at a rapid rate. During their first year alone, they sold over 1 million units of their branded products! Yes, we understand that this episode isn't about fashion, but learning how an entrepreneur took an idea, took massive amounts of action, and built a company that challenged an industry that hasn't changed in decades is something that we, as entrepreneurs, can learn valuable lessons from. With that said, we hope that you enjoy today's interview and that it sparks new ideas or reassures you that you can turn your ideas into reality. Looking to launch a fashion brand? Email us at info@suuchi.com and our team of experts with guide you through the process! Explore Suuchi Inc. to learn more about our solutions, technology, and capabilities.
On today's episode, Emanuel sits down with Jay Menez, a serial entrepreneur, speaker, personal development coach, and author of the international bestseller, Spark, The 8 Mental Habits of Highly Successful People. This talk is jam-packed with great stories of how Jay went from starting his career as a police officer to Wall Street, to crushing it in real estate, and now being a filmmaker and TV host in Hollywood. His path has been filled with ups and downs, but his determination and pursuit to understanding the mind has allowed him to achieve great success throughout his career. Although this episode isn't focused on fashion brands, any professional or entrepreneur in this industry must have the mental fortitude to overcome the challenges that will meet them in this competitive landscape. Regardless of what your career and/or industry is, this episode has tactical advice that you can apply directly into your professional and personal life to reach that next level of whatever your version of success is. We definitely nerd out on his book, Spark, and we dissect several of the chapters to understand how you, the listener, can apply that trait into your life! Get ready for an awesome interview and I hope you learn something that you actually apply into your life. To learn more about Jay and his book, see below: Jaymenez.com Spark: The 8 Mental Habits of Highly Successful People (Kindle & Paperback) Looking to launch a fashion brand? Email us at info@suuchi.com and our team of experts with guide you through the process! Explore Suuchi Inc. to learn more about our solutions, technology, and capabilities.
On today's episode, Irina sits down with Cathy Murphy, CEO & Co-Founder of Venus Media Group. Before starting Venus in 2017, she spent 20 years working at large media companies like Facebook, Instagram, Pandora and CBS. She was able to gain a ton of insight into the social media space and culture and experience a lot of personal growth and self-knowledge that helped shape her into the CEO she is today. The turning point in her life when she decided she wanted to become an entrepreneur was around when she turned 40. In addition to vocalizing her dream of having an ad agency to her friends and family, certain traumatic events also helped accelerate her career path. At that point, Cathy was working all hours - even on vacation, she was getting up at 5 to try to get some hours in before her daughter work up. She was burning out and then ended up having a severe ear infection where she lost hearing in one ear for 4 months. She was on disability from Facebook and had this revelation that she couldn't continue like this anymore. She was destroying her health and working around the clock. Venus Media was born shortly thereafter... Cathy met her co-founder, Sylvia, through a common connection. Cathy always liked working on a team so having a partner in this venture was important to her. Before even starting they had very candid conversations about their finances, likes/dislikes, roles/responsibilities, etc. This is what helped cement their relationship and confirm their partnership in the business. Cathy's advice is to always listen when you set out to become an entrepreneur. Listen to potential clients, your family, friends, and don't be afraid to take advice from everyone and evaluate what could work for you. In terms of advertising tips, Cathy finds that her #1 tool to get new clients is LinkedIn. When she puts out personalized content that is meaningful it gets more connection from her contacts. She also advises that more content is better than less, so don't wait to get the perfect, most curated post. Just post! Lastly, regarding paid social media, unless you have a minimum of $7-$10K per month, it's not going to be impactful and you're better off going to a networking event that will have more of an immediate impact on your business. All advertising is about reach and frequency - the right people, the right time, the right message, the right number of times - In order to get that level of effectiveness, it'll cost money. Cathy's advice to new businesses is to save some money before starting a social media campaign. Understand the difference between organic and paid social. It's not about getting likes and followers - it's about targeting the right audience of people who can and want to buy your product or services. To find out more, check out Venus' website: https://venusmediagroup.com/ Looking to launch a fashion brand? Email us at info@suuchi.com and our team of experts with guide you through the process! Explore Suuchi Inc. to learn more about our solutions, technology, and capabilities.
On today's episode, Irina sits down with Jasmine Snow, a fashion expert and blogger who also created her own brand called "The black bib." In addition to being the name of her blog, it is also a trendy black leather bib for kids she created. It's the baby of equivalent of a staple black leather jacket. Jasmine started her career in magazines and was an editor at Seventeen Magazine right out of school. Being that it was a small team, she ended up taking on a lot of responsibilities and was able to learn a lot from it. By the time she left, she had a grand resume of things that she could do but all at one company. She wanted to experience different areas of the fashion industry, so she decided to go in house to a brand and worked for Tommy Hilfiger. She quickly realized this wasn't for her and decided she needed something different. This came at a time when she had her first child. Her life changed dramatically and she came to some realizations - the way she was shopping for her daughter was similar to what she did for herself - she was looking for personalized, custom items that matched her style and aesthetic. She started toying with the idea of making something on her own. Nothing came of it until a colleague from Seventeen reached out to her and helped push her to just go for it. She always found it hard to find items in black for a baby and she came up with the idea of the black leather bib. She wanted it to be the go-to item for a trendy parent who wanted a fashion forward look for her baby. In addition to the product, she wanted to create a brand and platform for herself. She spent a year creating content for her site, which includes great information on lifestyle, motherhood and style, in addition to being the place where you can purchase the black leather bib! Entrepreneurship wasn't easy for Jasmine. She had to learn a ton of new skills to get up and running and it took up almost all the limited free time she had in addition to being a mom and wife. One of the tips she found that helped her manage her time was setting time limits for all items on her to-do list. She then timed herself and almost made it like a game to beat the time allocated. What we can expect to see from Jasmine in the future is potential partnerships with products she curates and a more steady gig with a network to do more onscreen appearances. Check out Jasmine's blog site and the black leather bib at: https://www.theblackbib.com/ IG: @theblackbib
On today's episode, Emanuel interviews Peter Sacco, Founder & CEO of Adelante Shoe Co., a direct-to-consumer brand that delivers amazing products to customers while supporting local craftsmen in Guatemala. Each pair of shoes that they sell is made-to-order with a 10-day turnaround time! To add to that, Adelante pays those craftsmen nearly double what the local markets pay, which aligns with the United Nation's Goal #8 - Decent Work and Economic Growth. Adelante is a great example of how brands can make a positive impact by supporting developing communities while creating a smart supply chain that eliminates excess production and waste. This is truly a company that we're rooting for because of the positive contribution that they're making and their desire to influence other brands to follow this sustainable model. We look forward to following their growth as they challenge the status quo and grow their purpose-driven brand! If you enjoyed learning about Peter's story, his path to founding Adelante, and you're interested in checking out their collection, find them at https://adelanteshoes.com. Thanks for tuning in and we'll see you next time! Learn how we're using technology to create a smarter supply chain in order to build a digital-first brand: https://webinar.suuchi.com/digital_first_brand Looking to launch a fashion brand? Email us at info@suuchi.com and our team of experts with guide you through the process! Explore Suuchi Inc. to learn more about our solutions, technology, and capabilities.
On today's episode, Irina sits down with Kim Sauer, owner, and founder of Moda Kim, a personal training business that allows for her clients to train how they want, when they want, in the mode they want. While today's interview isn't directly about the fashion industry, it shows how one can make a change in one's life to pursue whatever their passion may be; in this case, it's fitness and personal well being! Kim started her career in the corporate world but after starting a family she reevaluated her life. She wanted to be true to herself while doing something she loved, while also finding a way to touch and help others. She focused on fitness and for the last 10 years, she has been helping people of all ages feel comfortable in their own skin. Kim says we are all change agents, which she defines as not accepting mediocrity. If the change we make isn't the right choice, we have the power to go back and make changes. Just accept that we are all human, but take the risk and go for what you think you want and be ok if it doesn't work out. Kim surrounds herself with like-minded people who inspire her and avoids the toxicity in people. She believes in helping people find their best self and works to help people around her rise above what they even think is their potential. Not everything is going to be perfect and she accepts that, as she sees that life is continually about change and growth. Her practice focuses on authenticity and being true to oneself, which especially in the fitness industry isn't always the norm. She remains true to herself by always looking for balance and staying true to keeping moderation. If you want to find out more about Kim, check out her website at www.modakim.com or follow her on Instagram @modakim Looking to launch a fashion brand? Email us at info@suuchi.com and our team of experts with guide you through the process! Explore Suuchi Inc. to learn more about our solutions, technology, and capabilities.
On today's episode, Emanuel and Irina interview Suuchi's Founder & CEO, Suuchi Ramesh, to dive into her story, to founding the company, where she was before Suuchi Inc., what the past 3+ years looked like, and where we're going next. They discuss Suuchi's previous jobs that led her to starting her own company Bootstrapping Suuchi for the first 3 years Closing a round of angel funding & Series A funding Her story as an immigrant founder How the Suuchi platform works The importance of a strong leadership team What to expect from Suuchi in 2020 As Suuchi continues to grow, we are so excited to bring our listeners and customers along for the journey. We are so grateful for your support and can't wait to see what the next year brings! Are you ready to become a digital-first brand? Watch our most recent webinar to learn more about Suuchi's suite of solutions: https://webinar.suuchi.com/digital_first_brand Looking to launch a fashion brand? Email us at info@suuchi.com and our team of experts with guide you through the process! Explore Suuchi Inc. to learn more about our solutions, technology, and capabilities.
On today's podcast, Irina interviews Ali Levine, an LA-based celebrity wardrobe stylist and fashion influencer. Born and raised in NYC, she always had a passion for fashion and began working in retail after getting her degree in fashion merchandising and management. Her career shifted when she moved to Hollywood and began to live her dream as a stylist to the stars. She has and continues to work with many celebrity clients both on set and on the red carpet. Ali and her husband were also featured on the Bravo TV show "Stripped" where she learned a lot about herself, her husband, and what it means to be so fortunate in life and how easy it is to take things for granted. In 2018, Ali had her first child, Amelia, which led to a natural shift in her career. She became a well-known mommy influencer with a passion to help other moms in the mama population. She has been featured on many TV networks and programs helping audiences narrow down their picks for products in all categories and continues to work with her clients. She is also expecting baby girl #2 in 2020! We hope you enjoy today's talk and if you want to get in touch with Ali, check out her blog: https://alilevine.com, her Instagram: @alilevinedesign or her podcast, which you can learn more about at @striptdownpodcast. Looking to launch a fashion brand? Email us at info@suuchi.com and our team of experts with guide you through the process! Explore Suuchi Inc. to learn more about our solutions, technology, and capabilities. https://www.suuchi.com
On today's episode, Emanuel sits down with Ben Workman, also known as Jumper Maybach, the founder and mastermind behind the brand and art gallery, Jumper Maybach. We uncover the Jumper story and how he went from feeling trapped and discriminated against, to becoming a talented artist and now a brand owner. Ben discusses how his hardships helped teach him that every challenge provides you with a set of new doors that lead to new opportunities. Through his brand, he has been able to spread his message to end hate, bullying, and intolerance through his artwork and how his apparel & accessories line. Despite all that he has been through, Ben educates our audience on why they should take the risks to spread the positive messages they believe in because it will help not only change their life but hundreds of other lives in the process. Ben also shares his story of searching for an apparel manufacturer and his struggle to find one partner to assist with his entire product line and not just one item at a time. This is when he found Suuchi and our extensive network to help him scale his line through our network of factories and how the Suuchi GRID has completely transformed the production process for his brand. We hope you enjoy today's talk and are inspired to take the risk to walk through all of the open doors in your life! If you want to learn more about Jumper's story visit https://www.jumpermaybach.com/thejumpermaybachstory Looking to launch a fashion brand? Email us at info@suuchi.com and our team of experts with guide you through the process! Explore Suuchi Inc. to learn more about our solutions, technology, and capabilities. https://www.suuchi.com
On today's episode, Irina sits down with Shweyta Mudgal, the Founder and Design Director at Eight Thousand Miles, to learn her more about her brand and her path from being an architect to a fashion designer. Shweyta's brand is a D2C sustainable and ethically produced lifestyle collection for children and adults. Throughout this talk, we learn how she identified her passion and took action to build her brand. Shweyta moved to the United States in her mid-20s to get her masters in architecture. Living in Los Angeles, she quickly realized that she needed to be in a much more condensed city-like location since she was accustomed to the hustle-and-bustle of Mumbai, India. This led her to move to New York City immediately after graduating with her masters. She moved her way up within her architecture career up until the 2008 recession, which led to her to losing her job and caused her to reflect on what she ultimately wanted to do in life. These moments of reflection reminded her how much she enjoyed making her own clothes when she was a young girl back in India. Throughout this exploratory period, she worked contract jobs, lived in various countries (USA, Singapore, and India), and experienced new cultures throughout her travels. Having a daughter at this point, being heavily inspired by the different cultures, and having the desire to make unique articles of clothing, she began creating pieces for her daughter. This led to developing a capsule collection with 40 different types of prints. While in India, she showcased her styles at a show and sold 75% of her products. This was an eye opener for her! She realized that she was onto something, so she launched Eight Thousand Miles, which is the exact distance between New York City and Mumbai, India. We hope you enjoy today's talk and if you want to learn more about Shweyta and/or Eight Thousand Miles, check out her site here! Looking to launch a fashion brand? Email us at info@suuchi.com and our team of experts with guide you through the process! Explore Suuchi Inc. to learn more about our solutions, technology, and capabilities. https://www.suuchi.com
On today's episode, Irina sits down with Liz Teich, a stylist and blogger for the New York Stylist. She's styled for retail brands like TJMAXX, Marshall's, Land's End, Michaels, and Puma. She's also been on many morning shows, she's been featured on Women's Health and Glamour, and much more. Liz was always interested in fashion but didn't see a clear path to making money pursuing her passions. This led her to go into advertising, which throughout her time in that space, she realized she really enjoyed working with clients that were stylists. She really enjoyed creating a story through wardrobe and fashion. That's where her passion always lied and it made for a natural progression to go back towards her passion in fashion. Throughout this talk, they cover some of the following topics: How she overcame all of the challenges in making a switch career How to align your passion to become good at something new that you're starting Working for FREE to get experience Find mentors along the way How to get your products showcased by influencers, stylists, etc. Managing your business as a parent Things that fashion stylists look for when helping clients Whitespaces in the industry for trending fashion styles Tools to market your brand We hope you enjoyed today's episode and if you want to learn more about Liz, check out @THENEWYORKSTYLIST. Looking to launch a fashion brand? Email us at info@suuchi.com and our team of experts with guide you through the process! Explore Suuchi Inc. to learn more about our solutions, technology, and capabilities. https://www.suuchi.com
On today's episode, Irina and Emanuel sit down with our VP of Product, Andrew McKenna, who heads up the product side of our tech platform, the Suuchi GRID. Andrew comes with a wealth of experience in the fintech space, where he took previously antiquated processes, digitized them, and helped his teams generate new sources of revenue and data. This talk is meant to share with you areas that you can implement tech for your brand that will help you succeed in the years to come! Especially in this digital era that we live in. Throughout this talk, we cover some of the following topics: What exactly is the Suuchi GRID? Realworld use cases of the Suuchi GRID for: Manufacturers Retailers Large brands And emerging brands The growing network and how brands can leverage it User journeys And more! We hope you enjoyed today's episode and if you want to learn more about the Suuchi GRID and our process, please visit https://webinar.suuchi.com/digital_first_brand and become a DIGITAL-FIRST BRAND! Looking to launch a fashion brand? Email us at info@suuchi.com and our team of experts with guide you through the process! Explore Suuchi Inc. to learn more about our solutions, technology, and capabilities. https://www.suuchi.com
On today's interview, Irina sits down with Darlene Campbell, the Founder of Campbell & Kate, a women's brand that's perfect for the conservative woman. Throughout this talk, Irina uncovers how Darlene went from being a corporate attorney to launching her own lifestyle brand. The challenges she's faced and more. Enjoy the interview! Looking to launch a fashion brand? Email us at info@suuchi.com and our team of experts with guide you through the process! Explore Suuchi Inc. to learn more about our solutions, technology, and capabilities. ----- https://www.suuchi.com
On today's episode, Emanuel and Irina sit down with Stephen Rector, President of Bakertown Consulting, former VP at Macy's and Head of Merchandising at rue21, to discuss different challenges that brands and retailers face in today's competitive landscape. Stephen has 20+ years of experience in retail, which includes brick-n-mortar, e-commerce, merchandising, and much more. Bakertown helps startups, legacy brands, retailers, and brand management firms strategize in order to reach the right customer. This includes services such as a full brand analysis, strategic business planning, and a go-to-market strategy. This talk is only a portion of the full Suuchi+Bakertown discussion that will come out in early January 2020, so stay tuned for that! Throughout our chat with Stephen, we discuss the following topics: What do you see as some of the biggest challenges for brands/retailers that are traditionally brick-n-mortar that they face going forward? BoF consumer shifts of flagship stores to pop-ups... is that something that can help a major retailer? What other avenues do you see for digitally-native brands that have plateaued online and need to get to that next level? How would a DTC brand actually connect with a company like Nordstrom? How do you know if your brand should work with a major retailer? What do brands normally come to Bakertown for help with? What's the whitespace for DTC brands? How major players, such as Ralph Lauren, have stayed true to their brand to build multi-billion-dollar brands? With 10,000+ digitally-native brands in the market, how can brands differentiate themselves from their competitors? What do you see as one of the biggest challenges that needs to get solved within the fashion industry, such as technology implementation? Is the landscape of brand-owners changing? How big of a focus should collaborations with social media influencers be for brands? We hope you enjoyed today's episode and if you want to learn more about Bakertown Consulting and how they can positively impact your brand please visit https://www.bakertownconsulting.com Looking to launch a fashion brand? Email us at info@suuchi.com and our team of experts with guide you through the process! Explore Suuchi Inc. to learn more about our solutions, technology, and capabilities. https://www.suuchi.com
On today's episode, Irina interviews Shermin Lakha, Managing Attorney & CEO of LVLUP Legal, which is a modern-day law firm that specializes in giving clients in a unique, transparent and refreshing legal experience. Shermin came to New York City mainly because she always wanted to be surrounded by ambitious people. She worked for the Attorney Generals office, as well as Goldman Sachs and an international law firm in the city. Although she loved the work, she just didn't feel connected to her clients, which is when she decided to rewrite the rules and start her own legal practice. LVLUP strives to help businesses, companies, entrepreneurs, and social media influencers make smart business decisions and "level up" to some of the big companies that they need to work with. There is a notion of traditional lawyers being expensive, disconnected and stuck in traditional, stodgy practices, which can be very intimidating to people. Shermin breaks down all those barriers and focuses on building relationships with her clients. She never charges for emails, phone conversations, or texts. She doesn't charge the big retainer fees that most law firms charge. She does everything on a flat fee basis which creates a level of transparency that doesn't really exist with most attorneys. She serves as a virtual legal team member for her clients and can work with anyone, anywhere. Through the use of Skype, zoom, texts, and emails, her clients can always feel connected. The biggest challenge when making the jump from the corporate world to being an entrepreneur is the fear that financial comfort and stability will be threatened. But being her own boss is what motivates her. Shermin advises that if you're passionate about what you want to do and confident about what you want to do with it, money and success will follow because ultimately you're making your dreams come true. She believes that taking chances is something you should always do. She believes in manifesting your goals. While discovering your passion, you might discover something about yourself during the process that makes it all worthwhile. You make your own future and life so just live it! Through her experience in working with small business owners, entrepreneurs and creatives, she has found that many tend to focus on their craft and not so much on the legal and business side. But it is critical to get your arms around that in order to make it and be successful. In the future, she aims to make LVLUP a full-service firm that can provide outsourced services like HR, financial services, and accounting to her clients in a one-stop-shop. To learn more about LVLUP, visit: http://lvluplegal.com/ Looking to launch a fashion brand? Email us at info@suuchi.com and our team of experts with guide you through the process! Explore Suuchi Inc. to learn more about our solutions, technology, and capabilities. https://www.suuchi.com
Hey, fellow brand owners! Thanks for joining us on today's episode, where we sit down with one of my favorite people and co-worker, Lizzie Sessa. Over the past 1+ year that Lizzie has been with us, she's personally spoken to thousands of emerging, mid-market, and enterprise brands in regards to design, production, and supply chain issues that they're experiencing. That said, this episode is meant to extract some of that knowledge and deliver it to you, the listener! In this talk, we cover the following topics: Learnings at Suuchi Timelines Sourcing Pricing / Business Model Americas vs. Asia Supply Chain Fragmented Supply Chain Connecting to Production Floor Tips for Emerging Brands We hope you enjoy today's talk and keep moving forward and building a digital-first brand. Below you will find the link to our "Path to Building a Digital-First Brand" webinar where we showcase the 3 paths that you're able to take for your brand and how it's all housed within our platform. LINK: https://webinar.suuchi.com/digital_first_brand See you on the next episode!
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