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Fashion professional with 10+ years of experience in merchandising and buying within domestic and international retail, wholesale, and e-commerce channels.  Strong analytical and trend forecasting skills to curate a collection that is customer-focused and elevates the brand.  Recognized as a solution-oriented, self-motivated, cross-functional partner with strong attention to detail and a desire to drive results.

-Bought and executed in-season management for North American monobrand stores, Canadian concession stores, and e-commerce for men's and women's RTW, footwear, bags, underwear, beachwear, special projects, and licensed accessories
-Partnered with e-commerce to create galleries and marketing strategies that communicate and elevate stories to provide a seamless digital and brick and mortar experience
-Initiated and led North America price grid re-alignment in partnership with Italian based teams
-Piloted launch of new global assortment planning tool for North American region and partner with Italian based teams to improve the system and buying/merchandising processes and efficiency
-Mentored and trained the junior buyer
-Created presentations and lead product knowledge training seminars for stores
-Traveled 4-8x per year for store visits, product training, and seasonal presentations in Italy

Prior areas of responsibility: 
West Coast buyer - Men’s and Women’s denim, apparel, and accessories, Kids, and Eyewear
Southwest buyer - Men’s and Women’s denim, apparel, and accessories, Kids, and Eyewear

Omnichannel Buyer

-Managed Denim and Woven Bottom categories to deliver on-trend and balanced assortments in partnership with the cross-functional team
-Increased fashion projection in stores and minimized risk by identifying opportunities to tier styles
-Created weekly pricing and promotional strategies that maximize gross margin potential
-Selected product and managed product development for chase and test light weight knit assortment adopted from in-house designs and third-party vendors
-Initiated a chase and test calendar to determine deadlines for off-calendar knit product adoption
-Discovered and successfully on-boarded 3 third party vendors for private label product
-Attended monthly markets and seasonal tradeshows to identify trends and opportunities for product and cultivate vendor relationships

Prior categories of responsibility: Short/Long-Sleeve Knits and Light-weight Knit Chase

Associate Merchandiser

-Edited and bought fashion-forward Women’s Sportswear, Day, Evening, and Petite Dresses assortments for major wholesale accounts and specialty stores
-Projected at the style/color level to ensure proper inventory positioning to support financial plans
-Initiated and led weekly meeting with planning, NY sales, and merchandising teams to discuss best sellers and opportunities for re-cuts and re-orders
-Built tool and managed monthly open-to-buy to track flow of receipts
-Created collateral to educate and aid the sales teams for market appointments

Associate Buyer

-Managed Women's Outerwear and Woven categories to deliver a cohesive and on-trend global collection that met or exceeded margin targets
-Partnered with the Director of International Merchandising to develop product strategies for international accounts that leveraged mainline offerings for the Women’s, Girls, and Bird divisions
-Collaborated with sales and design to offer a contemporary and sophisticated exclusive Nordstrom dress capsule, generating an additional $2M for Q3/Q4 in 2011
-Reviewed sales plans and buys through the bulk commitment process for domestic and international retail and wholesale channels
-Created domestic and international sales and competitive recaps that identified key opportunities


Prior categories of responsibility: Denim, Sweaters, and Hosiery

Junior Buyer

-Managed product lifecycle from concept to delivery for the Boys RTW department
-Analyzed the business each week and hindsighted at the end of the season to identify successes and opportunities to affect change for current and future buys
-Researched and presented a proposal to change the age segmentation breakdown of the Kids RTW division to senior executives which led to the addition of a Toddler department
-Presented each assortment to Marketing and senior executives for the seasonal Magalog presentations
-Collaborated with artists to introduce a special line of Pre-School and Tween focused graphic tees

Assistant Merchandise Manager

-Managed the product approval process and samples for the Strategic Accounts team
-Served as a liaison between the Strategic Accounts team and over 20 licensees
-Researched and presented an analysis of the Boy’s category for mid-tier stores to determine missed opportunities which assisted in future plans for growth
-Produced quarterly forecast reports for each licensee which confirmed sales plans for the quarter
-Tracked selling of booked product for the Juniors/Ladies category and identified best sellers
-Presented updates during monthly style-out meetings for the Girls/Tweens category
-Constructed a PowerPoint deck for a Kmart Maternity sales pitch and a mid-tier category recap for the vice president of North American Softlines

Softlines Undergraduate Associate

Find out detailed information about Kristine Lim,  in New York, NY

Kristine Lim: in New York, NY

Kristine Lim

Diesel

Aeropostale

BCBG Max Azria Group

Juicy Couture

The Disney Store

Disney Consumer Products

University of California, Riverside