Tuesday, August 24, 2010

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, August 23, 2010

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.

Sunday, August 22, 2010

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, August 19, 2010

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.

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

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, August 16, 2010

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, August 13, 2010

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, August 12, 2010

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, August 11, 2010

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, August 10, 2010

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, August 9, 2010

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, August 6, 2010

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, August 5, 2010

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, August 4, 2010

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, August 3, 2010

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, August 2, 2010

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.