karin jelnikar

• Head Buyer for Dormeo Home Textile division and Walkmaxx shoes • responsible for sourcing product portfolios of both brands for all 23 markets - in textile mainly beddings, towels, bathrobes, blankets, toys, bath accessories, and for Walkmaxx mainly leisure shoes; • in charge of product development, from initial idea to final confirmed products; preparing briefs, sending inquiries, ordering samples and following up complete process until final PP samples’ confirmation within campaigns’ deadlines, set by marketing teams; • identifying best suppliers worldwide based on their expertise, quality standards and overall price- performance ratio and main contact between suppliers and in-house departments ensuring that communication on all levels is swift and effective; • negotiating prices, quantities, commercial terms, deliveries, and overall cost optimizing; • market research, visiting fairs and suppliers mainly in China, Turkey & Europe in search of new trends and best sellers; • ensuring products’ compliance with legal requirements and highest quality standards of both industries; • substantially reducing average prices and expanding Home Textile portfolio, including co-creating an all-time Studio Moderna bestseller with over 1,5 mio pieces sold

Consulting on various projects: = MORADIGELSO.COM - consulting on how to approach collections, fabric sourcing, sample production sourcing, market positioning and pricing etc. = FARANDULA - advising on how to reintroduce the brand and optimize the costs by sourcing fabrics and production units; = FIT ANALYTICS - translating their size guide app FIT FINDER to Slovenian;

At the time Kash Garments had three factories with over 1000 employees working on 16 operating lines, exporting app. 160.000 pcs of high-quality garments monthly to fashion retailers such as Next, Marks & Spencer, LPP, Zolla, Asos, C&A etc. and had a turnover of 8 million $.‬ My responsibilities included: • identifying new business development opportunities to generate sales by analyzing potential brands, attending trade shows, organizing meetings and follow up the whole process – from initial contact to negotiating final orders; • increasing orders with existing buyers by sourcing latest trends and presenting them in custom-made collections, preparing and negotiating prices, quantities, payment terms, deliveries and overall cost optimizing; • company`s main contact for buyers, buying offices, suppliers and in-house departments ensuring that communication on all inquiries, samples, fabrics &trims and final orders run smoothly; • organizing a design team from Europe, to respond to increased demand for in-house design; As MD`s right hand I was also overlooking that factory`s capacities are filled, bulk is shipped on time and within agreed quality standards. It required optimizing processes and fast, effective decision making in an extremely dynamic garment producing factories where focus and prioritizing are vital to the company`s success.

• product development, managing price & delivery negotiations, booking & confirming orders; • designing and sampling, costing, managing critical path, production follow-ups, factory visits, payment follows, sampling, lab dips, internal and external communication; • advising on the quality levels, shipping instructions & shipments follow up; • fabric & trim sourcing - developing and strengthening relationships with new and existing suppliers mainly from Sri Lanka, China, Korea, and Turkey; • training new team members, optimizing computer monitoring system and managing stock; I was overseeing my team of 7 and ensuring that all day-to-day tasks run smoothly and reporting daily progress to the management. This requires a strong ability to multi-task, be organized and above all being able to make quick decisions and finding solutions in an extremely dynamic environment.

As a fashion unit of Wünsche Group, Duo Fashion provides fashion design, manufacturing and supply chain solutions to fashion retailers all over Europe. I was recruited to increase sales volumes, manage accounts and expand the portfolio with fashion brands outside Germany by: • market analysis, store checks, attending fairs in Asia & Europe and working closely with the design team in preparing cost-effective collections according to latest trends and buyers` requirements; • sourcing latest fabrics, trims & production units, mainly from Asia; • meeting buyers with new collections, preparing costings and negotiating prices, payment terms, quantities & deliveries and following up the whole process, from initial design to sampling, fabrics ordering and production, quality control, final inspections and delivering final goods; • finding leads and recruiting them by preparing collections, price ranges and do the complete follow up from initial negotiations to finalizing first orders; • I have, together with my team, successfully added customers like Forever 21, Primark and New Yorker to our company`s portfolio.

I was assisting with various projects designed to raise awareness on Consumer Rights and the legal mechanisms to protect themselves from/when being misled. It included resolving consumer complaints, writing articles and translating from foreign publications, educating about the organization on fairs, workshops and schools, research on price/quality ratio on chosen products in shops and help to increase their fonds using different marketing tools.

As strong believers in sustainability on all levels, our strength was gathering experts from many different areas and industries to advise companies, NGOs and governmental institutions on sustainable business making. The projects varied - from installing photovoltaic systems on kindergartens, finding ways to reuse compost as bioenergy or proposing returnable glass bottles to biggest food & drink producing companies, but since I believe that only educating young people will eventually lead to changed behavior in the future my main focus was on organizing awareness-raising projects for kids and youngsters.

FRU FRU is an international Puppet Theatre for kids, free of charge and therefore affordable to all underprivileged kids as well. My tasks included organizing press conferences and writing press releases, communicating with the media and mostly acquiring funds for production and execution of the theatre and its festivals.