Raquel Helena Simões de Castro

- size 275 stores in Brazil
At this company I had the opportunity to drive a team of designers where the main goal was delivering seasonal collections and coming up with new ideas on a weekly basis, meeting short deadlines in a fast fashion environment. The day to day included tasks as managing the product development with the design team such as, spec, tech pack material, sketches and patterns aimed for suppliers and manufacturers. Weekly conference calls to follow up with them about samples and prototypes. Following up and visiting the local manufactures, both in Brazil and overseas as China and Uruguay were the main partnerships for such given product category.

I worked for this company in 2014 as a Design Manager, developing products manufactured in Brazil , China, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. For the time I worked in Loungerie, the company was in its early stages. Loungerie operates its stores and sales management only in Brazil, however it outsources its operations, business functions and production processes, all overseas. The company is defined as a virtual organization with its supply chain partnership based in different countries l believe that working at this company I was able to contribute helping the design team grow as well as gaining a vast amount of knowledge through the outsourcing processes and its complexities.

For the time I worked at this company, I was able to learn many things about the fashion industry environment and greatly expand my knowledge into the manufactures process.
Some of the daily routine included; design coordination in different categories of product, lingerie and its functional attributes, pyjamas, tights and socks. The main role was focused on the management of the range and assortment definition with price and target analysis.
Many other tasks also included market study, evaluating business opportunities, trends research, themes and mood board aimed to inspire the new collections. Technologies research by attending international events in order to guarantee and delivery innovation and product quality.
Product management in licensing projects of some commodities brands, such as, Olympikus, Speedo, Mormaii, Red Nose and Turma da Mônica, causing a 40% increase in sales in 2010 in the youth category compared to the previous collections.
Finally, catwalk show coordination when training for the sales team used to be offered by the design team twice a year.

In this corporation I held the position of fashion designer where the main role was focused on the product development. The day to day used to include technical sketches, patterns and garment artwork development for two brands and its different concepts, Bad Boy and Sideway. The company also used to manufacture its products for massive retailers in Brazil, such as C&A and Riachuelo (both department stores). We also used to design four collections per year, as per the briefing that had been given to the team, delivering to these companies, appropriate design solutions and supplied of products.

My first contact with fashion. I started as an intern, at this company I was able to explore as a hobby my real passion, which was drawing and coming up with new ideas for a young boys´ brand and surfers´ lifestyle. My daily tasks were designing patterns and artworks on athletes gears and casual garments such as denim, trousers, boardshorts and other accessories.