Last Day at Camilla :(

Today was my last day of internship at Camilla:( Just like any other day it was busy in the Camilla office. We had a morning appearance on the morning show. You can check it out at: after you get to the site go to video archive and then to sexy summer fashion video. On the show you can see Camilla the head designer and all the models on the morning show are the girls that I work with. After getting all the garments together and having them steamed for the show this morning, I continued working on getting the new babylon collection on the floor. Once the collection was priced and displayed on the store floor, I helped Hannah put together the order of the models for Sydney Fashion Festival. We organized what model would walk when, what story of the collection she would be in, and what garment she would be wearing. The garments were already chosen by Camilla for each model, but we had to make sure that each garment that will be in the show had the models head shot attached to the garment. This is so when it comes time for the actual show we know what each model will be wearing. The garments with the head shots attached where then put in place by orders of the show. We also typed out an excel sheet of the run order for the show. We put the models that had stronger walks in the opening of each story of the collection. The rest of my last day we spent organizing for Sydney Fashion Festival. Even though it was my last day I worked till the very end. After the busy work day, Camilla and the entire team took me out to a very nice dinner, and also gave me a gift voucher to the store to thank me for all the time that I spent helping them this Winter in Sydney.

I had an amazing time at Camilla and I am truly going to miss it:(

Monday

Today I worked on visual merchandising for the Bondi Store with Isobel. She is the retail manager for all the Sydney Camilla stores. We had to tear down the old display, clean the area, and then put up the new display. The display resembles a fairy tale garden. Since the new babylon collection goes in store this week Camilla wanted everything in the store to be new to her customers. The fairy tale garden goes well with the new collection, since the idea of the collection came from Camilla's childhood. Camilla says that the entire theme, colors, and prints comes from her childhood as inspiration. One of the stories in the collection is even called lost gardens. After all morning and afternoon working on the display, we started sorting and pricing the new babylon collection that arrived for the Bondi store. The collection features about 300 garments, so it has been very time consuming to get it ready for the store floor and to have the back stock organized in the stockroom.

Friday

Friday started out with receiving a box of samples from one of our manufacturers. I opened the box and took production notes with Britt on the sample garments with Camilla's input. After going over the samples with Camilla, I started working on putting a compare and contrast image file of the things that we liked and didn't like with the samples. i put together the comparing image file for the samples and then sent the image to the manufacturer for changes to be made. I also sent the sample pieces back to the original manufacturer through harrison logistics. Once the sample project was taken care of I worked with Bec (national sales). Bec and I put together invoices for all the national orders through our POS system Retail Express. We had over 100 orders to enter into the system. Entering the orders to up the rest of my day.

Thursday

This week is flying by its been so busy in the office. Today I entered about 10 more garments into the POS system retail express. Then I did research on customized teepees that are design by Alice Temperley. Camilla is thinking about showcasing her new winter collection that we are currently working on in teepees at Centennial Park. So I put together some images and all the contact details along with quotes on the teepees for Camilla. During the morning and all afternoon until 5:30 we constantly had models come in for fittings for our parade at Sydney fashion festival. Camilla already chose what garment each model would wear based on headshots. Today the models came in, did their walk with the garment that they will be wearing while I took pictures of each model. The pictures will be references for the actual day of the parade to help with the behind the scenes. In between taking photos I worked on putting together an inspirations folder for the next collection, and updated the excel sheet of samples that have been sent to our international agents and what they still need from our manufacturers. Constant revisions need to be done to the excel sheet, because every couple days we get updates from our manufacturer as to what they have made and shipped to our agents. By updating our excel sheet we can then send our agents an e-mail letting them know what they will be receiving in the next couple days.

Tuesday & Wednesday

Sorry for late the late post for Tuesday..............Tuesday I worked on sorting out line sheets that consisted of sample garments codes and descriptions for our 2 U.S. agents. What I was doing was seeing what samples each agent had and what samples they needed. The line sheets that they sent us didn't have all the information on them, so I had to correct them so it was easier to decipher what they need or what they have. An example would be: Navi-short hooded kaftan. When the line sheet should have the code, type of embellishment, fabric type, and the discount price. Once I added all the details I then decided what samples needed to be shipped to each agent. What the agents do is take our look books, press kits, press banners, and samples and display the collection at show rooms to potential boutiques or stores that would like to sell the Camilla label. After sorting it all out I sent the samples that were needed to each agent. Once, I did that for international sales I helped national sales by entering more details of the babylon collection into the POS system retail express.

Wednesday was a very stressful busy morning. As soon as I got in I was asked to put together a projection report with Bec (national sales) that would be presented to Camilla at 11am. In 2 hours we were to have all the orders from every national stockists in Australia broken down by state, boutique, and the number of garments that each store ordered by style code. Very time consuming, and it had to be very accurate. The report also included the Camilla stores that we own in Australia. From there Camilla decided what styles of what garment she would need more of. From there she would work with Britt and the manufacturers in producing more of those garments. She also used the report to decide what styles where going to be sent to each Camilla store and the amount of each style that should be stocked at those stores. After finishing the report I did research on vintage pieces from another designer that Camilla looks to for inspiration. I saved several images of the designers vintages pieces to the S drive in the inspirations folder for manufacturing and design. After researching I figure out what garments we have at the warehouse and what garments we need from out manufacturers for an upcoming photo shoot for a new look book/style guide.

Monday

The start of another week at Camilla. This morning it started out with no internet:( So the wonderful task was given to me to get it back and running. We do have an IT person, however that person never seems to answer their phone. i think I called about five different time before I got ahold of John our IT guy. Once, I got ahold of him he said that he was working on a different project about 15 minutes away and couldn't give me an approximate time on when he could get to Camilla's. NOT GOOD:( A high-end international fashion label can not function or get much done without internet. John said he would come to Camilla's right after his other project. While we all were waiting on John I worked on updating the press folders with the latest press that we have received. Our PR agency keeps track of every Camilla piece or story that is in the press, and they send it to us to update our files and folders. We keep a digital and hard copy of all the press. John finally showed up at 2pm:( and would get the internet working on one computer and then it would go down on another computer. John ended up working in our office until the end of our work day. Today was pretty unproductive for everyone without internet. Besides working on the press I helped the retail girls at the Bondi beach house with the organizing the stockroom and getting it ready for the babylon collection to come into stores.

The only good news of the day is that I will be attending Sydney Fashion Festival!!!!!!!:)

Friday

TGIF!!!!! Another week done!!! Today was pretty uneventful. I spent the majority of the day entering wholesale prices into the retail express POS system. Now that I have all the wholesale prices entered in retail express it will allow us to do invoicing through the system. After working on the POS system I helped Britt (manufacturing and production) by taking digital images of samples for the new winter collection and sent the images to our manufacturers. I also received a fax from UPS today stating that a return shipment from one of our international agents was stuck in customs. So I had to call UPS and give them all the company details in order to move the shipment through customs. Sorting that problem out was a nightmare....lol The task wasn't hard, it was just time consuming.

Thursday

Today was a very productive day!!! I continued working on an excel sheet of all the garments descriptions, collection story names, fabric types, and embellishments that I started yesterday. The reason why I had to updated the excel sheet and cross reference it, is because our manufacturers changed the codes. Only Britt (manufacturing and production) had the right information and all the other different departments were getting confused with the miscoding. After I finished that I worked with Bec (National sales) I worked on an order for David Jones Department store in Doncaster. I put together an invoice for them through our retail express POS system. On the invoice I had to include the quantity of each garment that they ordered, the garment description, the wholesale price, the GST, and total. After working on the David Jones order I started a huge project for Bec. Since the retail express POS system is new I am working on finding the wholesale price for each garment and entering the price into the system for every piece and putting it in look book order of each collection story.

Wednesday

HUMP DAY!!!!! Another day in the busy office of Camilla Franks!!!!! This morning I scanned more inspiration pictures in to be saved to the S drive for manufacturing and production. I then organized the inspirations folder by cuts, prints, embellishments, shoes, accessories, lifestyle, etc. Then worked on putting together a line sheet for all the garments for the Babylon collection. I made the line sheet so national accounts, international accounts, and manufacturing would have all the same codes and descriptions to work off of. The garment descriptions and codes have been changed by the manufacturer so I updated the line sheet so all departments have the same information. After the line sheet I helped the retail girls tear down the pop up shop at fashion ave. from this past weekend. Then shipped more samples back to our manufacturer through harrison logistics.

Tuesday

Today was a busy day again. I finally finished up my international project of sorting the samples that have been sent and the ones due to arrive by country. I also put together an international order for one of our clients in Maldives. In order to do that I had to pack the stock we had in the back, print out an invoice through MYOB, process their credit card information for the garments and cost of shipping, then book it through Harrison Logistics. After I put together the shipment I worked with Britt (manufacturing/production) we checked legging samples that were sent to us from a manufacturer. Since the Camilla label is a one size fits all brand we had all the staff try them on for comfort. Once we received everyones feedback on the cuts and fabric hand of the leggings I shipped them back to our manufacturer before 3pm. By shipping the leggings back by 3pm production can start right away on the pair of leggings that we chose to go into production. The timing on shipping the sample pieces is crucial. Since our manufacturer is in India our shipments need to be on a plane by 5pm. The faster the approved samples are back to the manufacturer the faster production can start, making it easier for the manufacturer to meet our deadlines of getting the final garments in stores. I also worked on scanning inspiration cuts and prints to be saved on our S drive in the inspirations folder for Britt and Camilla.

Monday

The start of yet another week. Today was a very busy day again. It seems like when I get one project I get a whole pile of projects all at once. Today I started my continuos project of sorting out the sample garments that have been sent and the ones that will be sent from our main manufacturer for our agents in Greece and Milan on an excel sheet. While doing that I had several other tasks going on as well. I shipped a garment through mail call to our PR agency, and checked in five boxes of scarves. I also checked in 15 sample garments from 3 manufacturers for Camilla and Britt to approve, so production can begin on the style of garments that samples were sent for. I took production notes with Britt when we met with Camilla. From there I took digital images of the garments and identified the areas on the garments that needed adjustments, and sent the digital file to the appropriate manufacturer. After working on the production project I went back to my international sales project, sorting Milan and Greece. I was also told to update the press folder and put together and international shipment. I didn't have time to get to my other tasks, because I still haven't finished the international project. I stayed at work late today and still didn't have enough time. So I still have three projects awaiting me in the morning.

Friday

TGIF!!! Today was interesting................I walked in the door to work ten minutes early, barely had 5 seconds to throw by bags down. Immediately had to get in the car with the girls from work to go set up the pop up shop for the weekend. I had no clue that I was going to be involved with the pop up shop since I normally work in the office. However, because our office over looks the Bondi shop the retail girls and office girls work like a family and help each other out. The retail girls had a lot to get done in a short amount of time so we all went down to Fashion Ave. on Bondi Beach to help set up the pop up shop. We brought all the garments that Hannah and I sorted from the studio the other day to Fashion Ave. It took us from 9am-1pm to set everything up. Our little section for the pop up shop had the Camilla look with press banners, chocolates, candles burning, show cards, look books, Camilla hangers all facing one direction and all evenly spaced apart, etc. After setting everything up, we went back to the office. As soon as we got in Britt( Manufacturing/Production) noticed that we were supposedly missing a shipment of samples that were sent by one of our manufacturers. Which created a high stress level in the office, because the samples were to be approved by Camilla on Monday morning. So everyone was frantically running around tearing the office and back rooms apart to look for this shipment of samples. We could not find them anywhere.....we then started calling our PR agent to see if we accidentally sent them a sample instead of a regular garment for a photo shoot. They didn't have it, so then Britt and I drove up to the design studio to see if maybe it had been taken there. Come to find out the tracking number for the shipment was wrong and it was for a sample that we received two weeks ago and the sample that we were looking for was still in India........lol.....all that stress for nothing:)....lol Pretty much a stressful day and waste of time at the office....lol A very crazy, busy, and yet unproductive day all in one.

Thursday

A very long long day. I worked in between manufacturing/production and International sales. International sales wanted to know what garments have been produced by our manufacturers and sent to us, and what garments are still to come. Manufacturing and production gave me all the information that I need to compile the excel sheet for all the garments that should be sent to the US, Greece, Milan, Japan, and, UK and what is still to come for each country. I sorted it all out with the directions that I was given by manufacturing/production then sent it to International sales. To find out that international sales wanted it set up differently and in a specific format. So pretty much everything I did from 9am-12:30pm I had to redo:( Today I only finished sorting all the orders by garment correctly for what has been sent and what is still to come for the US, Japan, and half of the UK. It is a very time consuming task and I will be finishing Greece, Milan, and the rest of the UK hopefully tomorrow.

Wednesday

Today I got to work with Bec (National Sales)! I helped her research boutiques in Melbourne that carry similar labels to the boutiques/stores that we currently are stocked in. Bec will be making a road trip to all our stockists in Melbourne and surrounding areas. During her road trip she will also be seeking out potential stockists. In order to help her I was looking at boutique/store websites to see what kind of labels they carried and where they were located. The location of the boutique/store is important, because we don't want two or more boutiques/stores that carry the Camilla label to be right next to each other. If the boutiques/stores are to close together it will create market saturation. After a little research I helped Hannah (retail stylist/in house model) up at the studio. We sorted through about 500 or more old Camilla garments that could be sold in a pop-up store this weekend. The pop-up store will be selling the past seasons garments at a discounted price. Once we chose about 100 garments out of the 500 that we thought would sell the best, we took them back to the Bondi store.

Tuesday

Today I got to work on the store floor instead of in the office. I spent the majority of the day working on a little visual merchandising with the retail team. Camilla told Isobel, Hannah, and I what she had in mind of what she wanted on the store floor. The same as everyday Camilla only had a limited amount of time to work with us, which in reality means a 5 minute brief of what she wants done. So, we rearranged the merchandise to make the floor layout look better and gave it a fresh new look. We also rearranged some of our old props/displays. Camilla wanted the store to look good, because the new babylon collection will coming to stores in Australia mid August, and she wanted the store to have a new look. After doing the rearranging on the floor I spent the remainder of the day with the retail girls doing a stock take in the stores stockroom.

Monday-Week 11

The start of week eleven. I can't believe it has been that long already. This morning it started out compiling all of of the sample tables that we currently have into a folder to take with to the design studio. Britt (design assistant/ manufacturing & production) and I took the sample tables to the design studio for Camilla to go through. Since, Camilla is always busy she only had a select time frame that she could work with us. We showed her what sample images we had received from current manufacturers. From there Camilla told Britt and I what she did like and what she wanted changed or slightly adjusted. So Britt and I were frantically writing down all the production notes on what Camilla wanted changed. We met with Camilla from morning to midday. Once we were done working with her we went back to the office to type up the production notes and send them to the appropriate manufacturer. Doing this took a lot of time, because you have to attach the image of the garment that you want changed and then highlight or circle what needs to be changed on that garment. On top of that you have to give specific directions to the manufacturer so they understand exactly what needs to be changed. The more precise we are with the directions/production notes the more likely the manufacturer will change it the right way. The less time going back and forth with a manufacturer the better.

Friday

Today was a calm day because we had an action plan team meeting in the city. The team meeting was an action plan for the next thirty days. It was a meeting where Camilla delegated to each position what needs to be done in the next month. In the meeting specifics were discussed on up coming marketing events, international trips for Camilla to check on how the production is going at the different manufacturers, production, and national sales. By Tuesday Camilla wants projection reports from all positions, so she can see where she stands financially. The reports will help show were the company is standing. Finances are always really important in a company, but currently it is especially important because Camilla is opening two stores and recently purchased a new office.

Thursday

On Thursday I packaged all the press banners, press kits, show cards, look books to our international agents. I sent them to Greece, Italy, Japan, England. In order to ship the packages that I had to create a customs invoices for each shipment and booked it through Harrison logistics. After sending the packages off, I downloaded some prints that were sent to us by a print developer. Then I saved the prints to the S drive for Britt (design assistant) to use when designing with Camilla for the next collection. The prints were also put together and printed off in a sample table for Camilla to go through, since she likes to see things visually on paper. The table included the print image, print name, and code. From there I helped Deva (international sales) with getting shipments ready for 2 international orders for our over seas stockists. I filled half the order from our stockroom and the other half from our warehouse.

Wednesday

Sorry to everyone for late posts, but this week I worked a lot of hours. 30 hours in the past two days, 15 hours on both Wednesday and Thursday. Wednesday and Thursday we hosted a style night for all the owners/managers of all the national stockists. At the style night Camilla opened up the event with her story of how and why she chose the silhouette, colors, and prints. She explained the inspirations behind the designs. After that Hannah our in house model and our stylist/retail manager explained how to wear each garment several different ways. The style night was created in hopes to show the owners/managers how to sell to their customer in order to drive sales. When the customer knows the versatility of the garment they are more likely to buy the garment knowing that they can get more wear out of an expensive garment.

Tuesday

Well, today started out with implementing images into a sample table for manufacturing. Then arranging our split orders to get to the head office to be sorted through from the warehouse. Getting that task sorted out was a nightmare...lol It took forever to get everything worked out. Once the warehouse had all my orders ready I booked a courier to pick them up and had the courier deliver the boxes of garments to the head office. I more than likely will be packing what I received from the warehouse and sending it to our international boutiques tomorrow. I then put together 100 press kits, 5 press banners, 10 show cards, and 350 look books together to send to our overseas agents to use to promote the brand. What I have definitely learned from this internship is to always follow up. Constantly checking that people are doing what they promise to do and that shipments are coming and going. As far as tracking shipments, making sure faxes and orders have been sent or arrived, phone calls are followed up etc. It seems like a never ending trail of follow up, especially with orders and samples coming from the manufacturers. I also worked with Bec (national sales) by putting together a run sheet for the style night that we are hosting tomorrow night at the Bondi store. The purpose is to show the national stockists how to style the garments, so they can use it as a selling tool to their customers. It will be from 5pm-9pm Wednesday. So a long day tomorrow about 7am-9pm:( But it will be fun and a great experience to be a part of!!!:) The style guide that Hannah and I created will be used as examples of the styling tips that will be demonstrated at the style night. It will be for the stockists to take home and help jog their memory of what was shown at the style night.

Monday

The start of a new week! Today was a full on day. I started out by sorting international agents orders. While organizing the orders I noticed that we had some stock in our stock room, some at the warehouse, and some still coming from the manufacturer. Needless to say there was a lot of tracking going on. I had to figure out how to use what we had and what we were planning on getting to complete some of the orders. On each order I marked a garment as have on hand, have at warehouse, and will be receiving. After that I packed what we had on hand, and left the packages open to continually add to as we received garments from the warehouse and manufacturer. In order to get what I needed I had to email the warehouse what I needed and have them send it to me at the head office to be sorted through. I followed up the e-mail with a phone call making sure the workers at the warehouse received my e-mail and understood what I needed and the urgency of the orders. Tomorrow I expect to receive the garments from the warehouse and manufacturer to complete my orders. After that I worked on adding manufacturing notes from the India trip that Camilla and Britt took to our manufacturing folders. I also worked on putting in images from a few manufacturers into the sample table that I created. The table makes it so much easier to read and understand, it especially makes it easier for Camilla to go through manufacturers proposed ideas for samples. I also booked a few international orders through Harrison Logistics.

Friday

A late post for Friday. On Friday in the morning I worked on sorting a shipment invoice that we received from our main manufacturer. The invoice showed that it was a partial shipment, meaning we were short on the amount of garments that we needed to ship to out international clients. Therefore, I had to organize a way to split the order from the manufacturer to complete our priority international clients orders. There was only enough garments to ship complete orders to 5 out of the 9 international clients that needed orders at the time. Later on I worked on putting together a sample table template to send to our manufacturers. This way the images and product information per garment that is sent from each manufacturer will be more organized. The idea of the template is to save us time and it will be easier to read since it will be coming back to us the same way from each manufacturer. I also worked on scanning in magazine inspirational clippings for the new product line that Camilla wanted. This way we have a hard and soft copy of the inspirations. Then I organized both the hard and soft copies by category and put them in folders such as beading, fabric, color, etc.

Thursday

This morning started out by entering an order for one of international stores on MYOB. Then I worked on putting together a sample table for Britt (Manufacturing). It had images of the garments sent by one of our manufacturers along with style name, code, prices, and fabric type. I also organized an inspirations folder of magazine clippings for color. prints, style, cuts, and embellishments for the next collection. Not only did I make a hard copy folder of them, but I scanned them to add to the inspirations folder on the S drive. After that I took two different sheets of information one containing samples that we needed and the second one was samples that had been produced by a manufacturer. I used the two sheets to cross reference which samples out of the ones that we needed were produced and what ones we still needed. I made an excel sheet of what we still needed to send to our manufacturer to remind them what we were still missing. We sent it as a reminder to get production rolling a little faster. We are really rushing the production processes of our manufacturers in order for us to make sure we meet our deadlines for getting our garments in store. Then from there I saved images that other manufacturers have sent us, recorded their codes, saved them on the S drive, and then printed them off for Camilla to look over. Since Camilla is a visual person we always have to have a hard and soft copy of everything.

Wednesday

Hump day!!! I can't believe today is Wednesday already. This morning and afternoon I worked in the showroom up at the studio organizing the collection for the shooting of the reality tv show for channel 9. The show is called THE BOSS COMES TO DINNER. It is about 3 contestants who are trying to get the PA position for Camilla. Thats about all I can say about it, I can't get into anymore detail. I was actually in the shoot today. A five minute clip took about 3 hours to get ready for, fixing up the room, hair and makeup. I was just working in the background nothing big, it was fun though!!!! After the shooting I went back to the office for 2 hours and worked on putting together a sample table for manufacturing. It contained images, styles, codes, colors, and prices for one of our manufacturers. Then I recorded last orders prices to the current ones we received, this way the prices from the manufacturer can be questioned or negotiated on to bring production prices down. If the prices can't be brought down then we will see if their is alternative material of fabric that we can use or another alternative.

Tuesday

Today was a great day! I got a lot accomplished. First, I worked on updating our potential agent and boutique list for international sales. Then I worked on putting together an order for four seasons resort in Hawaii. I looked at their two previous orders to see what they had received from us. Together with the previous orders I went through our stock from soleil and gelato to see what we had left. With the look book, their previous orders, the style numbers that we had available, and the resorts consumer in mind I put together an order for them. I took awhile to compile the order with keeping all the information in mind on top of their $6,000 budget. It was time consuming, but a lot of fun especially since I got to do it on my own with Deva's (International Sales) final approval. After putting together the order for four seasons resort I went with Bec (National Sales) to the studio to set up the Babylon collection in look book story order for the shooting of the reality show tomorrow.

Monday

So my day started off with placing orders from our international agents into our accounting program MYOB. By entering the item codes from the agents invoice an invoice from us is created of what we have available to send them. After entering the orders on MYOB I ran the agents account numbers to be charged for their orders converted the currency of the total sales, then package the order and sent it through Harrison Logistics. Once I finished doing that for international sales, I worked with Britt (manufacturing) we went through our latest samples that we received from India. The samples that we were looking at were the garments that were discussed on by Britt and Camilla when they were in India. However, the samples that we received were still not exactly what Camilla wanted. Therefore, Britt and I decided to change the length on one of them and took photos of the other things that we wanted changed to send back to the manufacturer to fix. Today was also the first day of filming for the reality TV show for channel 9 in the office. Not sure If I was even in any of it...lol thats ok I rather not be on TV.

TGIF!!! It was a calm day in the office with only two staff members and myself. Since it was a slow day and not to much to do I worked on my SWOT analysis with the two staff members Bec and Isobel. Bec is national sales and Isobel is the retail manager. A slow day at Camilla' is unheard of. It was nice though to have time to concentrate on my project. Next week should be full on though, since there is so much to do for winter production and the reality TV show that will be shot in the office. So if anyone watches Sydney's channel 9 I will be the intern in the background...lol :)

Thursday

So we found out today that we will be getting a new office and will be moving there in about a week. Which will be really nice, it's brand new and a lot more space! Today I processed some accounts from our international agents. Packed the garments that they ordered, processed their account information, then booked them through harrison logistics. After that I steamed close to 100 Babylon pieces to send to HUSH our PR agents. I bagged them and booked them through a courier. Then I put together a invoice which contained look book images. The invoice had the image of the garment next to their proper codes and descriptions. It was created so that our international agents would know what could be ordered. The invoice with the images were of stock that was left over from our two older collections Soleil and Gelato. Instead of shipping the international agents two look books and an invoice stating only the pieces that were left over. We e-mailed the international agents images with codes so they wouldn't get confused, and it was a lot faster than mailing look books. The invoice was made so it would be straight forward for the agents because it was images of only the garments that we had left. I guess in the past the agents were told specifically what we did and did not have and they still put an invoice through including garments that we no longer had stock of. So I put together a dummy version of an invoice. It took a while because I had to create an invoice of what we had left over in the stock room and then find all the look book images that matched the codes on the server to put into the document. Then I had to use my own look book to match the images on the server with the codes that matched the invoice of the left over stock because all the images on the server are just pictures none of them are coded.

Wednesday

Camilla came back today!! We had a team meeting this morning of a recap of her trip overseas of the things that she got accomplished and what needs to be followed up on now that she is back. Then there was a celebratory lunch of her being back and what she had accomplished for the company, and for all the hard work that the team put in while she was away. Needless to say it was a nice day out with the boss. After Camilla had met with various agents and manufacturers it will be full steam ahead following up with everything through international sales and especially manufacturing for the new winter collection. So much to be done. The winter collection woodstock rock should be completed by the end of August! It will be exciting to be apart of the newest collection.

Tuesday

This morning myself and the entire office staff were helping tidy up the office before Camilla gets back tomorrow afternoon. We cleaned out old files, sorted and hung up samples that we have received from the manufacturers that she visited while she was gone. We made sure that everything that was on the agenda to get done before she got back was done. A precise run through on the press was done by me to make sure it was up to the Camilla standard for approval. I then worked with Deva (international sales). We took inside pictures of the Camilla beach house store, and pictures of certain garments and how they are hung in store to send to her international agents to use as reference. This way no matter who is selling the Camilla label they know the proper way to display the garment. We sent the pictures along with specific descriptions to all her international agents. After that I worked a little bit with some visual merchandising for the beach house store.

Monday

This morning I put together an invoice for a few international agents. Japan, UK, Greece, America, Milan were a few of the places that I did invoices for. The invoices included the product code, product name, product color, product fabric type and the amount of that product that the international agent needed for their area. Then I booked a mail courier to pick up samples from Camilla's assistant that she went with during her international travels. Once I received the samples from the mail courier I counted and went through the samples. Some of the samples needed to go back to our show room and the others needed to be sent immediately to one of our manufacturers. So I frantically had to book through harrison logistics to pick up the samples no later than 3:30pm to guarantee that the samples would make it on the airplane tonight in order to arrive at the manufacturer tomorrow. I then processed invoices that we received from two of our stockists. Again worked on press, who ever knew that a designer would be in the press 3 times a week including when she isn't even in Australia the press is still writing about her. All in a positive way though, so that is always good! Camilla's press definitely one of the companies strengths that is driving there sales and customers attention.

Friday

TGIF! Another week down. Today I packed up two shipments worth of garments to send to two different international stores. I took both invoices and collected the merchandise from the stock room that needed to be shipped. I then boxed both shipments up, recorded it in MYOB, printed up an invoice from us containing the information of what we sent them including customs paper work. The invoice that we send to them lets them know what should be in the box, and what garments we had on hand to send to them. The shipments might not include everything that they requested on their invoice to us, just because we might be out of what they want and will be sending it to them once we receive it from our manufacturers. I shipped both boxes through Harrison Logistics one to the U.S. and the other to UAE. After that I processed the credit card information from both of the stores after converting the exchange rates. Then I worked on some research for the SWOT analysis that I am working on for Camilla.

Thursday

This morning I shipped some stock with all the appropriate information for customs to one of our U.S. agents through Harrison Logistics. Then a little work on the press folder. After that the big project of the day was organizing all our international stores/boutiques accounts that we are stocked in on MYOB. I organized all the stores by including all their invoices of stock that they have bought from us by collection and then by how many drops they received per collection. By doing this it will help Deva (International sales) project the next seasons estimated sales in total for international sales. The project was huge: many stores, three collections, and some stores had 5-10 drops per collection, very time consuming. A little nerve racking because I was aiding in the projected sales for our international department. So if I recorded something under the wrong collection or forgot to record a drop it could be crucial in figuring the totals. Needless to say I was double and triple checking myself. Even though Deva would be double checking it too I still felt very responsible in case she still doesn't catch something that I did.

Wednesday

This morning I started off with working with international sales receiving an invoice from one of Camilla's U.S. agents. So I went through our stockroom to see what we currently had available for them on hand. The kaftans that we did have that they wanted I boxed up, wrote up an invoice of what was packed, included the AUD and USD prices per garment, then booked it through DHL with all the customs information and country of origin data. I then recorded what I sent the U.S. agent in MYOB which is the accounting system that we use. After that I processed the agents credit card account for the shipment of goods. Then worked on the Press Folder a little bit more as per usual. Then at 1:30pm I attended at meeting with Bec (National Sales) with David Jones. David Jones is one of our biggest stockists, it is probably comparable to SAKS at home. We were meeting with them to show them the latest pieces from the Babylon collection that was on the runway in May. David Jones will be having a fashion parade in a few weeks showing casing all the brands that they will be having for their summer collection. Before our garments drop into their stores they wanted to take some sample pieces that we had for their parade. Bec and I met with them because Bec deals with all of their sales and knows what garments they have already bought from the collection and wanted to make sure that they only chose pieces that they will have in-store, and that they didn't choose any that the David Jones Buyer hadn't already purchased. The people that we met where the David Jones Stylist and the Assistant Stylist. We met them in Sydney at HUSH. HUSH is our Public relations firm. After the meeting I continued to work on the press folders.

Tuesday

Starting off my day was finishing up the organization of the look book quote folders that I started last week. Then I transferred some pictures off a camera from the one off sale party to the server to use for marketing and PR. After that I took some pictures of the best one off pieces that were left over from the party. I used the images of the one offs to send to our overseas buyers, so they could have the opportunity to purchase some one offs for their stores. Once I took all the pictures and sent them to the buyers I updated the press folder with the most recent press from this weekend. In the middle of updating the folders we received 20 sample garments for the upcoming collection. I checked all the samples in and hung them in the back room to look over for correct details and quality with Britt. Following the shipment of samples that arrived, I researched some potential stockists in Norway, Finland, and Denmark. The list of potential stockists that I was working off of was a list of places that Camilla came across when she was overseas. I was in charge of looking into each potential stockist more thoroughly. I would peruse their websites and record all their important information that we could use to contact them. Finally after researching I frantically was splitting orders, repacking and booking shipments. Due to the fact that one of our manufacturers was behind we had to split up some of our shipments. We sent partial shipments to some of our stores to hold off the stores a little longer before the real shipment comes through. This one manufacturer is causing the whole Camilla team a lot of stress, because it is causing some places to cancel their orders due to not meeting the deadlines of promised shipments.

Monday

Today went by so fast. I worked in the stockroom today checking to see what we had in stock and the quantity that we had in each style. While I was checking the stock I was organizing and making the stockroom look nice. Once I went through all the stock I made a list of every style that we had three or more of. Then I logged onto our online merchandise and edited what we had available. So anything that we have three or more I made available and anything that was online and that we are now out of I made it unavailable on the website. Needless to say that project alone took up a lot of my day. When I was done working with the stock I worked on the styling guide book. The style guide will be used as a selling tool. It will also help the customers see how differently they can wear their kaftan. While increasing their confidence level in how they feel when wearing the kaftan.

Friday

A late post for Friday. On Friday I helped put together a folder on manufacturers pricing, negotiations, and correspondence for Britt to take with her on Sunday for India. It will be used when Britt goes to check on the samples at the manufacturer in India. She will be checking samples to make sure production is at high standards and that it will all be able to be produced on time. If certain garments are not produced correctly and on time penalties will apply toward the manufacturer. She also will be double checking the prices that were negotiated per garment. Since, the pricing list that was sent to us with the garment image that it corresponds with does not match the price that we thought we had agreed on. Therefore, Britt wants to question why the prices are not matching. After that I talked with Isobel the retail manager about all three of the Camilla stores in the Sydney area. Our discussion was on the sales and how she sells to her customers and looked at monthly sales per store to see the percentage of increase or decrease. After gaining a little insight from her I spent the remainder of the day doing research for my SWOT analysis. Since there is so much that is confidential I had to figure out percentages since I can't use exact figures and eliminate the names of the manufacturers that Camilla uses for the research.

Thursday

WOW.....what a day. I packed more boxes of garment samples of cuts, prints, and embellishments for the India trip at the design room. Made another customs invoice to send with the package of samples. Sent the boxes through Harrison Logistics to the hotel were Camilla and Britt will be staying in India. I definitely will be tracking the package to make sure that it gets to the hotel by Monday for Britt and Camilla to go through before they meet with the manufacturers. Went over the India schedule again to make some changes and confirm appointments with manufacturers. Then I steamed all the one off garments for the VIP "one off" sale party. The "one off" party was invitation only from 6pm-9pm. The entire office crew and store crew worked the party. There was champagne and appetizers and about 100 frantic women grabbing as many kaftans as possible. It was crazy busy and the line to try on the kaftans was about an hour long. It was similar to crazy brides at a bridal sale it was so busy. I worked 7am-9:30pm today, but it was all worth it because we brought in about six digits worth of sales. Overall it was a long day, but I had so much fun at the VIP party sale!!

Wednesday

Yeah hump day again! This morning Britt "manufacturing/design assistant" and I worked in the design room which is at the same location as the showroom. The design room and showroom are at a different location separate from the offices and the Bondi store. Since Britt will be joining Camilla on her overseas trip in India I helped her pack all the sample pieces that she is taking to India. This is the India trip that I helped in organizing weeks prior. The majority of the Camilla garments are manufactured in India, so Britt needs to take all the sample pieces with her for the new first ever winter collection. Typically Camilla has only done resort, holiday, & Summer 1,2,3. So this new collection that they will be monitoring the production on in India will be the first winter collection. I also worked on cross referencing design images for the cut, print, and embellishment references that will be used for the new collection. The design images and the sample garments is what Britt will be using to show the manufacturers in India as examples of what she wants for the winter collection. After packing all the garments that needed to be taken with Britt we realized that the suitcase was 21 kilograms over the weight limit. So then I had to unpack half of the suitcase and ship the remainder in a box through Harrison Logistics. Harrison is the freighting company that Deva and I had met with a few weeks prior for better international shipping. Just like yesterday I had to compile an invoice for the sample garments for customs use only to include with the shipment. After the box was shipped off to India I worked with Britt in making changes to the India schedule that we had made weeks ago. The specific changes that we made to the trip should make it run smoothly.

Tuesday

The day started off with compiling invoices for customs use only. The invoices were for sample pieces that our agents in London had and were being sent back to us. Since the pieces are just sample pieces and not garments that we are going to sell we record them as $5.00 instead of $150.00. This is done on shipments of sample garments for customs. Sample garments are not as important as shipments of actual garments that are going to actual retailers. After that Deva “international sales” and I went through an order from Alteena a spa that sells Camilla garments on consignment. We were double checking to see if their records matched ours as far as how many garments they had of ours, how much they had sold, and how much they still have not sold. Deva and I had to go over DDP and DDU for all our international invoices and shipments that we worked on today.

At the end of the day I worked on the press folders again. I added the most recent press to the folder. The press folder is used as a marketing tool for the buyers who are unfamiliar with the Camilla brand. The buyers can then see how popular the brand is and the amount of famous people who wear it.

Monday June 28 another week at Camilla's. Today some how just flew by first it was 11am then it was 4pm in no time. This morning I attended a meeting with Deva "International Sales" with Mickey Muae ( not to sure on how to spell her last name) . Mickey is a native Australian who lives in L.A. and is Gerard Butler's personal assistant. She happens to be a huge Camilla fan and wears kaftans around celebs in L.A. She wants to help Camilla target more celebs in the U.S. Since Mickey happens to have connections and has worked with several U.S. celebs in the past she thinks that she has some ideas on how to get Camilla in the U.S. celebrity market. She had a list of celebs that would be interested in the Camilla style and their contact information. She even had Oprah's contact info. I was impressed!:) AFter the meeting with Mickey I organized folders of three different collection look book shoots. I organized Soleil, Gelato, and Babylon. Again Babylon is the latest and was on the runway in the beginning of May and is available to view online, but won't be in stores until August. Gelato is old here, but hasn't even gotten to the U.S. yet. For each look book shoot folder there is the photographers information that was used for the shoot, the run sheet, quotes/invoices, models info., inspirations (hair, makeup, & poses), and the overall debrief on how the shoot went and what could have been different. Having all this information organized and handy will making it easier for putting together the next look book shoot.

TGIF!!!!! Today I arranged the garments on the store floor by color, so a little touch in visual merchandising today. Then I attended a meeting for channel 9 with Sarah who is in charge of marketing and PR. The meeting was for channel 9 doing a week of filming in the office for a reality show. The show will be about an Australian who is applying to be Camilla's P.A. So in July there will be filming done in our office for a week. Not sure how I feel about that. After the meeting I spent the rest of the day working on my SWOT analysis of the Camilla brand. I was collecting data from all three Camilla stores, national sales, and international sales to find the % increase in net sales over the past few years. I was researching other SWOT analyzes that were done in the past to help me get an idea on how I am going to set up my analysis for the Camilla brand. So for the most part I just worked on research for the SWOT analysis that I am conducting for Camilla.

This morning I hung all the one off pieces on racks with the Camilla hangers in order by their stories. I used the the look book to help me organize them into the stories. The task of putting them in order took a long time because there were about 100 or so garments that had to be organized and put on hangers. The reason they needed to be on display today was because we had the famous Christine Anu come in to pick one off pieces for her wedding. Christine is a famous Australian pop singer/actress. She was in RENT, Moulin Rouge, The Matrix Reloaded, and Judge of Australian Idol. What Christine really wanted was Camilla to design a dress specifically for her, but to source and assemble for just one garment instead of several garments of the same type would be very pricey, more than $10,000. So what Britt and I did was show Christine all the pieces and had Hannah model some of them. From there Christine chose some pieces and decided that she wanted them altered in a certain way to put her own twist on them. So, overall Christine chose garments for her bridesmaids and herself since they are all one size. Britt and I took down notes as far as all the changes that she wanted and will have them changed to Christine's liking. The meeting lasted 3 hours, which was a big chunk of my day. Then after Christine left I went with Deva "International Sales" to show garments to Shawni a lady who sells on her own at trunkshows or to boutiques in Lebanon. Shawni went through the garments that we had in stock and chose what she liked. Then Deva and I went through and put all the ones that Shawni chose and tried to organize them by color to give Shawni a better idea of what she picked. Since Shawni will be taking all these pieces together and displaying them on a rack at trunk shows there should be some kind of theme throughout her rack. We organized them by color and style to make it more aesthetically pleasing. Shawni ended up purchasing 80 garments. So it was a good day for Deva and I.

Finally, I wrapped up the spreadsheet of 500 hotel/resorts for the hotel folder. The folder that I have been working on along with the potential stores/boutiques the past few days. Tomorrow I hope to finish up the store folder. While Camilla was in L.A. she was approached by Rachel Zoe. Rachel commented on how she loved Camilla's work. So Camilla called us and asked us to send some things to Rachel. So I sent a letter, 2 scarves, and our latest look book that features the "Babylon" collection. Babylon was in this past fashion week May 3-7 and is featured on the Camilla website, but won't be hitting the stores until August. Then I went up to our showroom to get some "one offs" to bring to the store for the one off sale that is held for the crazy VIP camilla fans. One offs are pieces that were pulled from the collection that were never put on the runway. They are one of a kind that will never be made again and that no one else can buy, similar to couture. The VIP customers think of it as artwork. The one off pieces are also 25% more money than the normal kaftans that are sold at the store every day. I brought about $60,000 worth of one offs from the showroom to the store today.

Starting out today I continued to work on the research for the potential stores and hotel resorts like I have been doing for the past three days. It is an ongoing project that will be continued on even after I am done working on it. I will be rapping it up for the most part tomorrow. I won't have all of it done, but after three to four days of research on potential sites to sell the Camilla product it's time to get some experience in a different area. Today I also attended a meeting with the manufacturing assistant "Britt" on importing and exporting our products through a Harrison Logistics. Harrison Logistics is an international freighting company. Then after the meeting I worked a little bit with Hannah the retail stylist. We worked on putting a style guide together for the Kaftans. Hannah is also a model, so we had digital pictures of Hannah wearing the Kaftans that we added descriptive styling notes to for the styling guide. The styling guide will be used to market to the customer. The guide had Hannah wearing several different Kaftans in a variety of different colors, prints, and cuts. For each Kaftan we described about six different ways to wear it or style it for different occasions. For an example we would say, "This blue navi tie string kaftan can be worn on any casual summer day or converted into a cap sleeve dress that would be perfect to wear when attending a summer wedding."

Monday the start of week 5. Today I worked with Deva in international sales. I went through a very unorganized folder of potential boutiques, resorts, hotels and some marketing and PR. Today, I began the huge task of making a spreadsheet of potential boutiques and hotels. There wasn't a whole lot of information on the boutiques and hotels. It could be as little as a website or a name of a boutique or hotel. So I spent hours researching the hotels and boutiques, then recording all their data. I was looking for the name, country of location, phone number, e-mail, and address for each hotel and boutique. Not sure exactly how long it will take me to compile the spreadsheet. Once, I get all the information compiled I will be contacting all the boutiques to see if they would be interested in carrying or product by e-mail or phone call along with a follow up call. The information on the hotels will be kept for future travels for Camilla. Although some of the resorts would be good locations to stock our resort wear. So they can be used for potential stores and hotel information.

Friday, June 18th

So totally frustrating once again......I haven't had internet since thursday night. So here is another late post from Friday's work day. Friday I continued to do more research for Camilla's overseas trip. Instead of looking for potential stores or boutiques in NYC I was looking for places in Stockholm. It was very time consuming and complicated since most of the websites were in a different language. I didn't even know where to go on the websites for women's wear, let alone dresses or swimwear to see the styles and prices. It was surprising that a lot of the websites didn't offer an option to view the site in English. On the side I also looked up nice restaurants for Camilla to go to in Stockholm. So Friday was again another long day of research.

Today it was very cold and rainy, and work was pretty slow. Slow at Camilla's is surprising. Since a few people weren't at work because of the flu, Camilla is overseas, and the dreary weather it was pretty calm in the office. I organized a little bit of the marketing folders, and re tagged some scarves and shipped them to Camilla in the states in the morning. Then the remainder of the day I continued to do the same research as the day before. I specifically looked in the New York area for boutiques that could sell the Camilla label today. Since, Camilla will be in New York this weekend she can actually go to the boutiques that I find, and determine if she wants her product to be sold there or if the boutiques would let her sell there.

YEAH hump day!!! Even though it is a short week, because there was no work on Monday I am glad to know that the week is half over. This morning I was able to learn the different ways the kaftans can be styled. Amazingly I found out that about each style of the kaftan can be worn about 6 different ways making it look completely different each time. The 6 ways of styling the kaftan is a huge selling point. Since the average Kaftan is around$500-$600 knowing that it can be worn 6 ways (6 outfits in 1) gets the customer almost every time. After about an hour and a half of a styling session I spent the remainder of my day doing research. I was looking for potential areas to market in the U.S. for Camilla. I was looking for cities with good income levels and warm climates where the kaftans could be worn. Camilla does have a few boutiques that are in the U.S. that her kaftans are sold in, but she is looking to expand. Once I found good areas with high incomes and warm weather. Then I looked to see what stores would possibly consider selling the Camilla label. I worked off a list from modemonline.com. It had a list of boutiques that are in the United States. I would check out their websites to see if they represent the label or to see if the Camilla product would have a chance at selling it that particular store. I compiled a document of about 23 possible stores Camilla can try to get her products into. I had the store name, the city that it was located in, the store address, the website, and the phone number in the document that I put together. Checking out all the stores websites from the modemonline website was time consuming. It took my entire day to find 23 stores, that we might be able to put the unique Camilla brand in.

Tuesday, the start of week 4! Today I helped Deva, she handles international sales. I helped her get together essential things to ship to Camilla overseas. Camilla left this morning for her 3week trip. We got together press banners, look books, press kits, swing tags, garment bags, Camilla hangers, etc.. We had to pack several boxes with all of these things in it to ship to the different locations that Camilla will be stopping on here journey. Camilla already will have the latest collection with her "Babylon" that she will be show casing to her potential clients. During the trip Camilla will not only be promoting her product, but will also be checking out new places for manufacturing. After all the boxes were packed with the right amount of all the items, I put together some marketing folders, and press kits. After doing that for awhile I went back to work with Britt in Manufacturing/Product Development. Since the Camilla label "is a label that doesn't discriminate" the garments are made for all shapes and sizes all personalities and walks of life to make women look and feel beautiful. I was able to be a test model for Britt today with the sample garments that she received. She was checking to see where the garments were hitting or falling on me. As far as how long the garments were, where the neckline was falling, sleeve length, etc. After being a test model I did yet again another comparison document to send to manufacturers. I took several digital images of embroidery from two different manufacturers of the same garment and did a compare and contrast of the things that we like and don't like. This way the manufacturers can try redo the garments to get it closer to what we want. From there which ever manufacturer gets it to the closest to what we want we will go with.

Great way to start off a new week!!! No work today, a public holiday the Queens Birthday!!!!

Friday June 11th

Yeah.....I am finally caught up on my blogs for this week. So, Friday was a great day at work a lot was accomplished. I went to Camilla's mansion where she has her house, show room, and design room. (Her place was amazing!!!) From early morning till afternoon Britt, Camilla, and I went through the pieces for the next collection. We looked at previous silhouettes and put together fabric, color, and embellishment changes that Camilla wants for the up and coming collection. Britt and I were frantically writing as fast as we could trying to keep up with Camilla, because she talks so fast and has such a limited amount of time that she can work with us one on one. We had to write down the code of the silhouette, code of the color, and codes for fabric and embellishments per garment. After working in the design room I helped Bec in the show room. Bec does all the national sales for Camilla. I helped her write down what pieces were bought from her last showing and bagged the garments and booked a mail courier to take it to HUSH. HUSH is the company that purchased all the pieces that I was bagging. After working at Camilla's house we all went back to work in the office the rest of the day. I was helping Britt track sample shipments that didn't arrive. It was frantic in the office. Camilla leaves for her trip on Tuesday, Monday is a public holiday here so no mail and it was Friday afternoon and we had missing shipments that Camilla needed to take with her. One of the largest shipments was idle in Singapore. We were waiting for it to reach the Sydney airport and then we had to organize someone to run up to the airport Friday night whenever it reached the airport.

Thursday June 10th

This is for Thursday's work day. Again, I don't know what is going on with the internet it went out while I was posting Wednesday's post. So annoying....... Anyways, Thursday I rewrote the disclaimer tag that goes on the kaftans. In hopes to reduce our returns. People will wash them certain ways that damage the garment and then want refunds or exchanges. So, I worked with the design assistant to come up with a detailed disclaimer tag. Then I received some more prints from a company called print studio and unit 2 designs. I printed them out, put them in the inspirational prints folder, coded them, and burned them to cd in tiff. layers format for Camilla to take with her to other manufacturers on her trip. Again Britt the design assistant and I worked on putting together a detailed agenda for Camilla's trip after Camilla's revisions. I think this was take 3 of changing the itinerary for India. However, in order for Camilla to get the most out of this $78,000 trip she needs to have a precise agenda of where she is going and what she needs to discuss.

Wednesday, June 9th

So finally I am able to connect to the internet where I live it has been a frustrating couple of days without internet. I am really dependent on having internet here. One to keep up with my blog and two for communication back home through skype. This blog will be about my work day on Wednesday. Today we received 30 sample garments form a manufacturer called Bakson in India. I checked them in with the invoice and then checked them for quality with the design assistant, and to see if they were changed to our terms that we sent them last week. Unfortunately they weren't exactly what we wanted. Therefore, I had to take more pictures of what we wanted and what they had sent us to reiterate what we want them to produce. I also received several sunglass images that needed to be recorded by codes and put into the accessory folder for potential manufacturers for accessories. To get ready for Camilla to go overseas with samples Britt the design assistant and I had to sew 100 labels on to sample garments for Camilla to take with. Needless to say that took the whole afternoon.

I started off today by researching high heels. Camilla is leaving a week from today for a trip around the world to visit all the different manufacturers. She will be checking on garments that are already in production, and also seeking out new manufacturers for better prices. Also, she will be looking at manufacturers that she has never worked with, because she wants to start selling more lifestyle items that she has never sold before. The reason I was researching high heels today is because Camilla wants to work with a manufacturer that can make a more durable high heel than the ones that she has sold in the past. Therefore, I was looking at material details and construction of a high heel. After the research I worked with the production assistant with compiling a folder that has inspirational images in it for Camilla. The folder will be for her to take with her to India. She can use it to ask her manufacturers if the items, prints, and materials would be do-able to go ahead with production. I also put together a schedule of what days and times she will be meeting with each manufacturer. She is meeting several throughout her trip so I only compiled her schedule for India. Along with that I put together a contact list of all the manufacturers in India. It consisted of the company name, the contact person and their position title, address, phone numbers, e-mails, skype ID's, etc.

Monday, the start of week 3 already! Today I just checked a few e-mails, ran to the post office to ship back some samples to a manufacturer that we are currently using. Then attended another team meeting in Sydney. The meeting went from 11:30am-4:30pm. It consumed most of my day to say the least. In the meeting today we discussed in more detail personnel, administration, marketing (Product, Price, Place, Promotion), Retail, Wholesale (National), International Distribution, Business Development, Manufacturing, Product Development, and Finance. Again, to give you an example of how in depth we went I will go over what we talked about for business development and product development. For business development we want to look at how we want to be represented in the markets that we want to be in, we do have one distributor on each continent and some cruise liners, we need to have budgets and targets and actually meet them, close the deals that Camilla initiates, and bar-coding. As for product development we considered all options for lifestyle products and decide which to introduce when-the evolving of the brand, reviewed our product development including what worked and why and to use those learnings in going forward, effectively market researched trends and products based on Camilla's inspiration ( continually ongoing), and the need to keep to our budget for research and development expenses.

More of the office. This is where Sarah works and she does all the marketing.
Deva, she handles all international sales.
Brit, she is Camilla's production assistant. I am currently working with her the most.

This is Bec, she handles national sales.

Me working on the never-ending press folders. They continually need to be updated, because Camilla or a Camilla garment is in some type of press weekly. P.S. don't pay any attention to the date and time on the actual picture it is totally wrong.:)

This is a late post for Friday June 4th. The entire day on Friday the whole Camilla team attended a conference meeting in downtown, Sydney! We worked on putting together an action plan for the company. As far as where we want to be in the next few months and as far into the future as five years. We talked about manufacturing, delivery schedules, national/international client relationships, staffing, point of sales, inventory, procedures and folders, marketing, public relations, and budgets. We discussed each section in great detail. I won't explain each section that we talked about, but to give you an example of the depth we went into I will tell you about manufacturing. For manufacturing we talked about our communication with manufacturers, consolidating manufacturers, the procedures for receiving sample invoices, creating budgets for sampling, looking at potential manufacturers in the areas of: sunglasses, shoes, swimwear, undergarments, and jewelry. Then production with existing manufacturers, timelines for sample production, managing production delivery schedule, consolidating production for stores & collections, pricing and coding, and bulk order production. Needless to say I had a long meeting on Friday that I attended. Everything that I discussed was only for manufacturing which was only 1 of the 10 topics that we talked about in detail.

Today I did another comparison document of 2 samples from manufacturers. I updated our contact details for both our summer and winter manufacturers. Then I worked on downloading several prints through circle line. Once, I received all the prints that were invoiced for us to receive I coded them with their correct codes. The codes make it easier when it comes time to order a product in a certain print. This way Camilla and her design assistant can say what garment they want with what print by recording the proper codes for the manufacturers. The remainder of the day we had a promotional event with AUDI.

Wednesday, of week 2. Today was interesting! For once it started out calm and not crazy busy. In the morning I researched all our manufacturers that we are using, as far as getting all their most updated contact information that we might need. Then I took an invoice from one of our boutiques and burned a cd for the owner of all the images of the products that she ordered along with their product codes, fabric content, and style description. That took awhile seeing how all the images in the data base are not labeled, so I had to find the image then find it in the look book for its product code that matched the invoice. After that I took pictures of our latest samples that we received from our manufacturers and put them on the server to be reviewed by Camilla and her design assistant Brittany. I also did a compare and contrast document of digital images from 2 manufacturers. We decided to go with one of the 2, but liked some things from the one we didn't choose. Therefore, I put together a document that had arrows pointing to the details on the garments from both manufacturers. I would indicate what was a good example or what was faulty, if a certain detail could be changed to look like the detail that the other manufacturer offered. Details like bad seam stitching, beading, embroidery, pom poms that looked faulty, etc. Hopefully now the manufacturer that we decided to go with will understand specifically what we want changed.

Week 2 day 2, June 1st. Today I worked on putting together modeling agency folders with their contact info. and their models names. Then I worked on compiling a document that contains some of Camilla's potential manufacturers for her sunglasses and purses. I organized the images of the potential products along with their product codes that were sent to us from the manufacturers for Camilla to go through. From there she will be able to choose what manufacturer she wants to go with and what products she will order from them. I continued to work on the press folders. I also was going through manufacturers files to see if they have signed the manufacturing agreement, if they sent us images of the products, samples, and if we have paid the manufacturers.

The beginning of week 2. Today, I spent hours upon hours working on the press folders. I have come to find out that Camilla is huge here. She would be comparable to the brand ED HARDY at home as far as popularity. She is featured in all of the style magazines here. As far as her prices only the well-off people can afford her kaftans. Although Bondi Beach, which is were the store and office are located is a very ritzy area. She does have other stores in Sydney, and sells through many boutiques in Australia and around the world. We had a team meeting this afternoon on what each persons goals and tasks are that Camilla wants achieved by the end of the week. After the team meeting I organized more information from manufactures into their proper folders. I also went through manufacturers that we are currently using to see if they have signed the Camilla manufacturer agreement and to see how much we have already paid them and if we have received their samples yet.

Week 1 completed! 45 hours later it is FRIDAY! Today I checked in sample garments from manufacturers. I checked to make sure they sent the right garments in the right colors and that the invoice matched what we received. I also worked on examining the details of 2 samples from 2 manufacturers. Both manufacturers made the same sample, but I was looking to see which one created it closest to what Camilla was looking for. As far as quality, stitching, beading, etc. From there Brittany and I chose the one that had the best quality. We took digital pictures of some of the details from the other sample, and sent them to the manufacturer that we wanted to go with to make changes for the final production. The hardest thing for me to keep remembering is that it is winter here which is our summer and they are currently creating the summer collection. Which will hit the stores here around Oct.-Dec.(their summer) and the U.S. won't get it for another year. I also continued to work on putting together the press folders. I look for any page in any press that has the Camilla brand on it and organize the press by date in folders.

Day 4, Today I did some visual merchandising in the store. I put together a display at the beach house store, and am currently experimenting with de-cluttering the clothing racks to give the store a more rich feeling for its customers. Seeing how the price ranges are $250-$600 for a kaftan. I thought that by putting less amount of each style on the rack would make it feel less like a typical store like a Target or a Macy's. Since all the styles are a one size fits all there is no real need for having more than one of each style on display. Especially when there is 260 styles and there is several of each style in the stockroom. If a customer wants to purchase a garment that is on the floor the sales girl can let them try it on to see how it looks, but can sell them a garment from the stockroom. Not only will it de-cluttering the store and make it have a more rich feeling, but it will possibly make it easier for the customers to see the garments more easily. After the visual merchandising, I sat in on a meeting with international sales and a rep from the Australian government. The Camilla brand is trying to open it's own stores to sell it's merchandise internationally. Currently Camilla clothes are sold internationally, but the merchandise is being sold through existing boutiques. In order to do this international sales wanted to know what duties and taxes would apply and want grants they could receive. The Australian government gives 50 cents to the dollar for all marketing. Therefore websites, fashion shows and anything that is international marketing will be reimbursed 50% by the government up to 50 million dollars. When the meeting was over I went through magazines to look for anything that had Camilla in it. First I sorted the magazines by month, then I would take out what pages that had anything of the Camilla brand on it and would put it in her press folders.

Day 3 of working at Camilla. Again, a never ending of day of rain. So far there has only been one day without rain since I have been in Australia. I am beginning to pick up on some differences between Americans and Australians. Today I was asked to get the all of the "Hetch" manufacturing folders, meaning all the "H" manufacturers. I also found out that I was writing the dates wrong on the invoices I was writing 5/26/10, and they write 26/5/10. Another interesting fact is M:, means cell number because the call it a mobile and not a cell. Today I spent hours checking, double checking, and quadruple checking the newest look book for product name, description, and product codes. The look book is going to be sent to the printers tomorrow so there is no looking back now. After the look book I sorted through all the manufacturers A-H looking at what samples they sent us and if they sent us the amount of samples that we requested. From there I had to make note of how many samples each manufacturer owes Camilla.

Day 2 at the fashion house. It was crazy busy today. I worked with Sarah the girl that I am working under at Camilla checking quality assurance for the samples that we got in today from different manufacturers. Some of the samples had the labels sewn on crooked, wrong stitching, or horrible bead work. After sorting and checking in the good quality garments we had to accept them and record them in the manufacturers folders. Then we coded new garments for the latest look book. Once we frantically finished the coding that Camilla wanted done yesterday. We began organizing the Camilla press folders. So far in the past two days I have just had a dabble in the Camilla brand. Camilla, is a very happening brand that is exploding making the company overly busy. I am excited and anticipating putting together my SWOT analysis for the company.

1st Day @ Camilla

Today was my first day at Camilla. It was exciting, busy, and stressful all at the same time. The fashion industry is so fast past and trying to learn everything for the brand is going take some time getting used to. The crazy disorganized offices over look the store. With all the phones constantly ringing and all the customers going in and out makes it hard to concentrate in the offices. It was to my surprise that Camilla herself was working today. I met the "CAMILLA" my first day! Sarah who is the girl that I will mostly be working under went over how I will be able to complete my goal objectives and SWOT analysis for the company during my time here. After discussing the basics. I spent the majority of the day organizing manufacturers by the season. Can't wait to see how tomorrow or the rest of the week goes.

Pictures of Bondi Beach, which is located across the street from Camilla's. So if the weather ever gets nice and sunny. I will have a great view from work.

Internship Site

So, I arrived to Sydney Friday May 21st at 6:37 am Australia time. The remainder of Friday I spent unpacking and walking around Waverley, which is a suburb of Sydney that I am living in. I wanted to figure out where the public transportation was in Waverley and how to use it to get to Sydney and other suburbs of the city. I didn't last long exploring do to the fact that I was exhausted and had been up for 43 hours.

Saturday, I took the train into Sydney from Waverley and met up with Mario a representative from global experiences. We discussed my first day of starting work at Camilla's and what type of public transportation would be the best for me to get to and from work. To get to work I have about a 20 minute walk to the bus station in Bondi Junction, and from the bus station a 10 minute bus ride to Bondi Beach which is where my internship at Camilla's is located. After meeting with Mario I went to the Market to get some food. I knew that items would be more expensive here, but never thought that I would be paying $6 for a small brown sandwich bag of apples. Adjusting to their prices is going to take some getting used to.

Sunday, today was pretty low key. I walked in the rain again for the 3rd day in a row to Bondi Junction. I think packing my umbrella was the smartest move that I made. It is has been cold and rainy since I have been here, but that is pretty typical for their fall/winter here. From Bondi Junction I took the bus to Bondi Beach to make sure I could find my internship site for my first day of work on Monday. I took a picture of the outside of Camilla's and will be posting it shortly. I am very excited and eager to start work 2moro. Let the internship begin Mon.-Fri. 9am-6pm.

Does this look like enough room to pack 4 months worth of clothes? I think not.

For those of you that know me really well I am not a light packer when it comes to traveling. So, the stress begins on how to strategically pack for 4 months. Wish me luck!

May 16th

This is my first entry for the beginning of my down under adventure:)

I will be leaving MI on May 19th for Sydney (Bondi Beach), Australia!!!!!!! During my time in Australia I will be working 600 hours for a fashion designer named Camilla Franks. For those of you that are unfamiliar with her work check out the Camilla website: http://www.camilla.com.au/collections_babylon.cfm