That I love product development and the behind-the-scenes of the fashion industry is not a surprise (or it would not be if you have read all my previous posts. Literally ALL of them lol). But did I always love it? Or DO I always love it? Well, no. I faced and still face some pretty good challenges. At the end of the day what matters is if you love what you do and if you are happy with your results. But obviously, it takes a minute to figure out what our passion is.
When I started in product development, one of the first challenges I had was the language barrier, of course! Honestly, this might seem like a “normal” issue for anyone who is foreign, but not really… I actually started studying English when I was in the seventh grade, I lived in different countries just to study English, I went to college for business management here in NYC, I spent a year and a half studying English when I first moved to the US in 2016, I have a bachelors and a masters in fashion, but looks like none of these matters when you have no work experience.
Back home I did a little bit of everything. Fashion designer, graphic designer, editorial coordinator, buyer, retail manager, visual merchandiser, and fashion writer for many different blogs in the South of Brazil, but I never had any professional experience in America. Dealing directly with clients, which words to use when handling shit and simply “how to be professional” on a daily basis are details I had to learn and faced a lot of challenges. I believe that is something all immigrants can relate to. Sometimes it is not even the language, but “the way how to act” and handle different situations that we have to adapt to once we embrace a career in a foreign country.
What I always knew is that once I found something I love, I would prove that I was worth teaching and invest in. And that was exactly what happened! Every time shit used to hit the fan I would automatically start with a defensive attitude. I still do. At the end of the day, there is always a voice on the back of my head saying “don’t forget you don’t need this! You have a family back home which will always be waiting for you with open arms and you know you don’t NEED any of this… you can always go home and never worry about anything”. And I got it: this voice will always be with me. But this voice also reminds me that, even with an open arms family waiting for me, I want to be in NYC and I want to be successful and build a career on my own. These are the moments I have to remind myself to shut the fuck up, listen, and get shit fixed - most likely fixing bs.
Product development is pretty hard. Nobody wants to do it because product development is when shit gets real. Shit hits the fan. Shit starts to happen. Shit keeps happening through the entire process (lol, but for real). During product development, we go through all stages. Since sourcing materials, sketching ideas, all the way up to creating perfect samples with the perfect fitting our designers dreamed. Saying like that seems great, and it is (lol), but we face challenges which most designers (who tend to think only about the creative aspect) do not realize that need to be organized and prepared way ahead before even starting development.
Usually, seasonal collections start to be prepared a year ahead. Everything needs to be drafted on paper. Sketches, materials, budget (BUDGET FOR FUCKING SAKE), business plan, timeline, and where everything will be happening (locally or offshore?). Thank god designers have us to guide them through the entire process and fix shit, but it can get pretty hard and some designers are not as organized as they should be. We have seen so many designers failing before even launching their new brands for lack of organization or for just not listening to us (lol, but for real).
Turns out to be hard and, sometimes, frustrating because when helping them build their entire collections from scratch we, as their team and mentors, want to see our designers being as successful and as happy as they can possibly be. We face a lot of challenges when working with designers who are building collections with styles only they will like, colors only they will wear, and are not conscious about their budgets. This mirrors back to my post about product development in 2020… sometimes it is not about having a big brand with a lot of styles and a billboard in times square, it is also about making the sale.
Facing challenges with designers is something I deal with on a daily basis, but learning how to handle all these situations and how to be professional was the actual challenge here. Always being honest and putting my heart and goals as a priority was what helped me to build my way up from intern to production manager. But I am going to admit that it is not always easy and being “nobody” in NYC when I already was “that person” back home is a constant challenge and handling problems is what happens daily in this industry. The reality is not as glamorous and perfectly done as most influencers and bloggers tend to show.
Comments