Bike

Dive

Fashion

Lifestyle

Outdoor

Skate

Snow

Streetwear

Surf

Swim

Triathlon

Wake

Yoga

Health & Fitness

Surfing and travel

I am an extremely creative, entrepreneurial, results-oriented fashion professional with extensive experience in merchandising, design, e-commerce, product development and production. I have worked for large corporations, start-ups, and even had my own business where I created a line of surf apparel for women.

My objective is to obtain a senior level merchandising position in the action sports industry. I am a surfer and my dream has always been to work in this industry.

•	Managed all aspects of the business during a Chapter 11 situation and full liquidation of the business
•	In addition to all of my below DMM responsibilities where I managed the merchandising, design and production teams, I took on the management of the planning and distribution teams
•	Created and executed all in store and web promotions in order to maximize sales during a very competitive retail environment

Chief Merchant

•	Managed the design, merchandising, and production teams for all depts, including girls & boys 0-10 yrs, girl tween, all categories including knits, wovens, denim, swim, active wear, sweaters as well as footwear, accessories & bedding/decor
•	Grew retail sales by 250% over 8 years. taking the business from start-up phase to a small specialty retailer with 55 stores and rapidly growing ecommerce businesses in US and Canada
•	Directed a large team of apparel, cad, and technical designers to create trend and market appropriate designs from concept to consumer ; strong ability to communicate in a clear and positive manner
•	Exceptional eye for color and prints with the proven ability to create exciting color palettes and print direction
•	In addition to overseeing all design for the company, I personally designed many of the styles in each line 
•	Extensive trend shopping experience in US and overseas; ability to mesh current trends with historical analysis to build compelling assortments that drove bottom line sales and profitability 
•	Managed all buying for main stores, e-commerce and outlet stores and identified opportunities for each sector that were maximized with unique buys and SMU’s
•	Created tops down and bottoms up financial plans with a focus on maximizing sales and GM%
•	Managed OTB and forecasted sales and margin by store and at a company level
•	Determined markdown strategy for each season; created and executed all in store and web promotions in order to maximize sales during a very competitive retail environment 
•	Played a key role in the creation of the company’s website with a focus on  providing a great user experience
•	Managed many of the back-end web functions  like loading products and managing promotions
•	Trained, mentored and managed merchant, production and design teams
•	Was instrumental in creating and overseeing a production office in the US
•	100% responsible for the final look of all products; handled all approvals including color, fabric, trim and  fit
•	Worked collaboratively with production team on fabric/trim sourcing, cost negotiations , cost engineering, and trouble- shooting production issues

Divisional Merchandise Manager

•	Designed, sourced and developed one of the first lines of functional surf apparel and sportswear made specifically for women 
•	Handled all product design, created all cads and tech packs, sourced and developed the product overseas, fit garments and perfected specs
•	Oversaw a team of  freelance graphic designers to create exciting graphics and prints
•	Handled all financial matters pertaining to the business
•	Developed a 6 page color catalog for a direct mailing to 1000 stores

President/ Founder

Managed various departments including Men's, Women's, and Kids

Merchandise Manager – Old Navy Boys (2002 – 2003)
•	Volume 2002  = $205 M•	Increased retail sales in 2002 by 12%, and gm$ by 17%
•	Served as the cross-functional leader of the entire baby boys division; cross-functional team includes merchandising, production, planning, distribution, design, visual, and tech services
•	Reviewed sales, receipt flow, inventory and margin projections in order to maximize sales and minimize risk.
•	Effectively trained, managed and supported the career development of 3 direct reports in order to ensure job satisfaction and retention
•	Used my men’s logo experience to turn around a down-trending graphics business; achieved a +32% increase in rtl sales, and increased gm$ by +57 %


Merchandise Manager – Old Navy Women’s Knits (2001 – 2002)
•	Volume 2002 = $400 M
•	Increased 2002 retail sales by 19%, and gm$ by 35%
•	Turned around a down-trending knit business by offering fashion-right, democratic silhouettes in a more saleable color palette
•	Used chase strategies to react to trends and turned liabilities into volume drivers; generated an additional $1 M in gm$ by turning a $10.50 key item knit into a $16.50 fashion polo
•	When overseas travel budgets were cut, I was sent to Asia to handle all of the vendor negotiations for the division because of my strong negotiating skills


Merchandise Manager – Old Navy Women’s Denim, Dresses, and Outerwear (2000 - 2001)
•	Volume 2001= $410 M  
•	Increased 2001 retail sales by 3%  
•	When I took on the department, it was severely over inventoried, but I was able to get it back on plan within 3 months
•	Re-strategized the denim business completely changing the face of old navy denim by focusing on fashion silhouettes and washes 
•	Worked closely with technical designers on fits in order to meet the needs of a younger, more fashion-forward customer
•	Negotiated factory costs and placements overseas, resulting in a cost savings of $ 5 million, and an imu  improvement of 4 %


Merchandise Manager / Senior Merchant / Buyer – Old Navy Men’s Logo/ Active (1999-  2000)
•	Volume 2000= $230 M – grew logo to be the # 1 retail contributor in the men’s division taking it from worst to first
•	Repositioned the logo business in order to maximize sales opportunity, and become the fastest turning dept in Old Navy; improved turn by 1 week, and improved net gm% by 2.2 %
•	Reduced our chase turn-around time from 8 to 4 weeks by implementing a blank storage strategy with my key T-shirt vendor.
•	Planned the largest T-shirt buy in the history of Old Navy, buying 8.2 million units, and creating a chase strategy for an additional 1.0 million units. 
•	Expanded sourcing strategy to India, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Korea, resulting in an improved level of quality at a lower cost; improved imu by 3%
•	Worked closely with screen printers on new graphic techniques and washes to ensure that my assortment was fashion-right and exciting

Merchandise Manager

Find out detailed information about Sandi Woleslagle Graham,  in Pacifica, CA

Sandi Woleslagle Graham: in Pacifica, CA

Sandi Woleslagle Graham

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