Leslie Foti

Oversee Knitwear and Graphics line for Specialty Stores, Department Stores, and Mass Market Accounts for Women. Shop domestically and internationally for trend, color, and body direction for incoming seasons. Orchestrate full process of the Art Department with regards to sample generation, color, and strike off approval. Manage team of an Art Director and 12 Designers, ensuring presentations are cohesive, deadlines are met, and projects are prioritized.

Develop monthly market line for key accounts such as Forever 21, Target, Hot Topic, Kohls, Wal-Mart, and Urban Outfitters.
Work with variety of licensors including Disney, Warner Brothers, Marvel, Nickelodeon, Paramount, Nintendo, Peanuts, and Live Nation.
Awarded for Outstanding Creative Leadership, 2012.
Guided the Women’s team to achieve highest sales in company history in 2010 and 2011; Exceeded 2011 sales in 2012 by 11%.
Successfully led and won creative pitches for Nintendo, Hello Kitty, Transformers and WWE for Women’s license rights.
Attend market appointments and work directly with Buyers on product development.

Directed all aspects of business including preseason assortment planning, test strategies, and preparing business recaps for monthly product finals with CEO. Negotiated with vendors daily regarding purchase orders, delivery terms, pricing, and production issues. Partnered with Planner to monitor all financials including OTB, margin dollars, inventory levels, monthly reorders and markdowns, weekly and month ending sales, color, and size selling. Assisted Visuals
Team in execution of product placement, store fixture capacity, and merchandising documents to ensure strong floor sets that drove sales. Managed all product development and design direction for both Retail and Direct business.

Managed $30M business, representing 25% of total company volume for 100-store specialty chain.
Drove sales to 20% comp for 2nd and 3rd quarter 2008, in addition to eliminating markdown inventory with development of a monthly test strategy.
Increased graphic tee volume from 9M to 21M and sweatshirt volume from 5M to 9M in one year.

Buyer for 10 store contemporary vertically integrated chain responsible for 60% of total company volume and all Merchandising functions including Buying, Planning and Visual Merchandising.
Partnered with Womenswear Designer to create seasonal line and work with Production Coordinator to ensure product standards and on time deliveries.
Standardized weekly reporting and established purchase order approval process
Work with Merchandising Manager to plan line, review competitive analysis and sales history to build product delivery flow for the season.
Conceptualized and executed the first Brooklyn Industries Outlet Store, which liquidated overstock and out of season merchandise.