Mary Katharine Bowen

Marolina Outdoor designs and develops high-performance fishing, hunting, and outdoor apparel for global markets. Product Innovation: Leads development and quality enhancements for knits, wovens, and accessories in active apparel markets, implementing streamlined protocols to optimize product lifecycle management, strengthen quality assurance, and accelerate growth. Team Leadership: Manages two direct reports across Product Development and Technical Design, aligning resources and priorities to meet targets for aesthetics, quality, cost, and lead time across all product categories, delivering 700+ SKUs per season across eight categories for Mens, Womens, and Kids, totaling approximately 1.5M–2M units each season. Cost Savings: Implemented a tariff management strategy within vendor base across Asia and Central America, achieving over $2M in savings within one season through strategic sourcing and vendor negotiations. Lifecycle Management: Oversees full product development lifecycle from concept through in-store, partnering with Technical Design, Design, Supply Chain, and Sales on textiles, trims, and garment development. Margin Growth: Improved gross margin and reduced costs through strategic sourcing initiatives. Vendor Alignment: Created standardized testing manual and seasonal GTM calendar, establishing consistent expectations for key vendors. Grew vendor base in Fleece and Bottoms/Performance fabrics by securing lower-cost, higher-quality suppliers with multiple COO options. Fabric Expertise: Expanded fabric library and increased product knowledge through ongoing partnerships and site visits with mills and manufacturing in China, Taiwan, Guatemala, Colombia, Peru, and India. Process Optimization: Launched new product lifecycle management (YuniquePLM) tool streamlining workflows and enhancing cross-functional collaboration. Revamped Fit Process timeline, reducing sample rounds (3.5 to 2.3) while diversifying the product base and increasing style count.

A leading apparel manufacturer specializing in activewear, socks, and hosiery sold under company-owned brands and licensed private labels worldwide. Full-Scope Management: Directed all aspects of product development involving textiles, materials, costing, and design blocks for private label business in collaboration with strategic partners, including Adidas, Fanatics, and Amazon. Oversaw core product categories, including T-shirts and Fleece, with manufacturing based in Central America to support the U.S. market. Team Leadership: Managed one direct report and guided cross-functional teams in Honduras, ensuring completion of development milestones. Leveraged FlexPLM and Adidas costing tools to build BOMs, evaluate internal costs, recommend sales prices, and deliver external customer cost breakdowns. Margin Optimization: Exceeded corporate margin goals and met customer pricing needs by analyzing and negotiating BOM items and cost elements with core suppliers. Process Standardization: Implemented standardized procedures to ensure accurate, timely delivery of samples and product development packages, aligning with requirements from strategic partners and production teams. Partner Growth: Propelled Fanatics’ volume growth by 52% and Adidas’ volume growth by 26% in 2021 through strategic, innovative development initiatives. Style Expansion: Increased style count from approximately 17 to 42, driving a 150% commercialization gain by designing concepts, revising prototypes, and approving samples. Program Launch: Led pilot Amazon program launch, managing textiles, trims, garments, and value-added services (VAS) from concept to Buy Ready. Oversaw fabric development in Honduras and garment manufacturing in Nicaragua, producing CAFTA/duty-free blanks for Amazon by leveraging the U.S. Cotton model: directed costing, fit process, and labeling to ensure compliance and speed-to-market.

A public liberal arts and sciences university offering global business programs and resources for regional companies. Team Direction: Supervised five interns per semester, 30 in total, in compiling data and global market reports for small- to medium-sized companies. Program Development: Leveraged global trade expertise to set program parameters, build a speaker series, coordinate outreach programs, and expand educational workshops.

Advocates for sustainable development and environmental conservation in South Carolina. Economic Analysis: Conducted a South Carolina regional economic analysis to support agricultural development and land use, forecasting demand by aggregating and quantifying customer data. Scenario Modeling: Guided strategic business decisions by modeling potential supply scenarios from collected data to predict production rates and establish profitability outcomes.

A global nonprofit advancing human rights at work through standards, training, and capacity building. Corporate Research: Supported corporate responsibility programs by assisting with supply chain and compliance projects for multinational brands, with a focus on manufacturing bases in Asia and India Standards Application: Contributed to projects involving SA8000 and other ethical sourcing frameworks, providing research and data analysis.

Gap’s Strategic Alliances and International Franchise division manages global product development and production for franchise partners across multiple continents. Team Leadership: Promoted to lead product development and production for adults, kids, and babies' knits and wovens in markets across Europe, Russia, the Middle East, Asia, and Australia, managing five direct reports. Cost Management: Managed costing of exclusive collection and development for flagship franchise product, contributing 22% of total sales volume, driving cost-effective fabric purchases across divisions. Global Launch: Partnered with internal teams to launch Gap Strategic Alliances, expanding to 136 franchise stores in 22 countries, capturing $16M in annual retail volume and 8.7M units. Sales Growth: Increased sales by 48% and doubled store openings from 2007 to 2010 by leading production for the franchise division, including samples, resource allocation, and seasonal calendar development. Process Improvement: Improved on-time delivery by 20% and increased cost savings and reporting transparency by developing a comprehensive tracking tool for Gap franchise accounts.

Manager of Product Development and Production for Gap International division. Regional Oversight: Directed product development and production for European, Middle Eastern, and Asian markets, achieving $630M in annual retail volume and 11.7M units. Sourcing Strategy: Developed multiple sourcing strategies to meet market-specific needs in bottoms, denim, outerwear, and woven tops for adults, kids, and babies. Sourced: China, Sri Lanka, India Vendor Innovation: Led vendor innovation strategies, sales sample creation, cost negotiations, and in-season quality monitoring through a global travel program. Sourced: China, Sri Lanka, India Label Compliance: Collaborated with Legal and Design to launch the Global Care label, ensuring compliance with EU and international labeling regulations.

Development Execution: Managed global development and sampling strategies for wovens, outerwear, and leather categories, capturing $157M in annual retail volume and 2.8M units. Global Sourcing: Recommended raw material and garment sourcing strategies, traveling internationally to assess factories, mills, and tanneries. Sourced: China, India, Sri Lanka, Egypt, Singapore, and Hong Kong.

Managed production processes for on-time delivery of accessories, wovens, outerwear, and leather, troubleshooting and resolving major problems or quality concerns. Implemented seasonal factory placements, maintaining department gross margin goals to support global brand profitability; ensured satisfactory product quality through store visits and fit & construction reviews