Vitali Autukas

Eskandar is a high-end women’s RTW label, designed in London and produced from high-quality Italian textiles. Working on 2 annual collections dropping monthly and selling in Harrods, Liberty, Matches Fashion, Bergdorf Goodman and its own 6 flagship stores in London, Paris, New York, LA, and Chicago. Key Responsibilities • Managing annual production cycles from the raw material development stage to final delivery to distribution centre. • Planning seasonal allocation based on technical capability, target margins, capacity, and supplier performance • Negotiating production payment terms, prices, quantities, and delivery dates; ensuring target margins were met each season. • Sourcing new suppliers; developing and maintaining strong relationships with factories and mills; ensuring delivery, quality, and margin expectations were met; managing quality control and dispute resolution. • Creating seasonal financial forecasts for raw materials and factory costs, prioritising payments to ensure smooth operations of production processes. Approving all POs and production prices. • Arranging bulk shipments from factories, including documentation and efficient courier selection; reviewing couriers’ rates, and proactively negotiating prices. • Creating and managing seasonal critical paths for the production team, to ensure all internal dates were met. • Conducting weekly production meetings and collaborating closely with the Design/Development team to assess potential production issues early on and advise solutions. • Providing support for pre-production and fit meetings and ensuring they aligned smoothly with the critical path. • Continuously reviewing and implementing new processes and structures in the production department to enhance accountability, transparency and efficiency. Recruiting, training and mentoring team members.

Vilshenko Fashion is a luxury RTW label specialising in the design of high-quality womenswear, produced using the finest fabrics and craftsmanship, intricate embellishments, and embroideries designed in house. The label is stocked in leading European and its own London stores. Key Responsibilities • Creating and implementing the production strategy to achieve desired outcomes. • Actioning and managing production and PPS sampling critical paths, ensuring all teams deliver on time, including design, technical and supplier base. • Sourcing and managing factories in the UK, Italy, Romania, Lithuania, India, China and Nepal: planning seasonal allocation based on technical expertise, volumes, capacity, target margins, and supplier performance; building and maintaining strong relationships based on win-win scenarios to ensure the brand remained a top priority. • Issuing production orders and negotiating prices, minimum orders, delivery dates, payment terms, and special conditions; achieving the best possible prices without compromising on quality and lead-time. • Effectively managing raw materials: raising POs using Zedonk, splitting and allocating across factories ensuring everything is delivered on time and at the correct cost. • Running fit sessions, checking all PPS comments have been executed by internal team and suppliers. Setting and maintaining high-quality standards for the entire production run through daily communication with manufacturers. • Organising international bulk shipments, ensuring timely deliveries and best price freight company selection; overseeing all quality control, and resolving quality issues. • Budget management, invoices sign-off and financial forecasting to ensure continuous cashflow. • Identifying and analysing problems and proposing solutions and improvements for production methods and operating systems. • Managing the daily workflow of the production team, supporting with training and development as needed.

Eudon Choi is a contemporary designer brand specialising in high-quality tailoring, outwear, and soft separates. It features in the London Fashion Week official schedule and is stocked worldwide. Key Responsibilities • Creating and implementing the production strategy to achieve desired outcomes. • Actioning and managing production and PPS sampling critical paths, ensuring all teams deliver on time, including design, technical and supplier base. • Sourcing and managing factories in the UK, Europe, and Far East: planning seasonal allocation based on technical expertise, volumes, capacity, target margins, and supplier performance; building and maintaining strong relationships based on win-win scenarios ensuring the brand remains a top priority. • Issuing production orders and negotiating prices, minimum orders, delivery dates, payment terms, and special conditions; achieving the best possible prices without compromising quality and lead-time. • Effectively managing raw materials: raising POs using Zedonk, splitting and allocating across factories ensuring everything is delivered on time and at the correct cost. • Running ‘fit’ sessions, checking all PPS comments have been executed by internal team and suppliers. Setting and maintaining high-quality standards for the entire production run through daily communication with manufacturers. • Organising bulk shipping from factories ensuring deliveries arrive on time, and best price freight companies are selected; ensuring labelling and packaging requirements are correctly executed; overseeing all quality control and resolving issues with bulk deliveries. • Managing the budgeting and financial forecasting within the production department, ensuring continuous smooth cash flow; has financial control of all production invoices. • Managing the production team which involves supervising the team’s daily schedule, ensuring they meet their targets, and providing training so they develop their skills.

Joined a 20-year-old leading London Fashion Week label (stocked in 45 countries) as main line Product Development Manager; considered a critical part of the Production Department. Promoted within a year to take on additional responsibility as Sourcing Manager for the runway line (Preen by Thornton Bregazzi) and the diffusion womenswear line (Preen Line). Key Responsibilities • Implemented the strategic sourcing direction across the two lines; ensured the brand had the appropriate number and level of suppliers to support the designers’ vision on a seasonal basis. • Continually sourced factories across both lines: recruited companies, influenced and negotiated small order quantities, prices, and T&Cs, conducted sampling to test work standards/quality and the right cultural fit. This resulted in designers being supported and the creation of a fresh competitive range through new and exciting manufacturing opportunities. • Constantly assessed the performance of factories, focussing on the improvement of business terms; renegotiated surcharges, payment terms, and general pricing levels whilst striving for quality improvements and early deliveries; built and maintained strong relationships based on win/win scenarios, briefed partners on long-term objectives; offered vendors support, guidance, procedural explanation, and margin goals to meet needs.

Key Responsibilities • Developed the full lifecycle of womenswear collections from initial concept to salesman sample (and requisite post-selling development) in line with critical path and commercial objectives. • Liaised with creative directors, design, sampling, sales, and production teams to ensure the product was true to brand DNA and fit for purpose. Collaborated with in-house sampling teams and independent vendors, progressing sample development from prototype to SMS samples for CMT and fully factored product groups. • Sourced and negotiated prices of raw materials; developed fabrics/trimmings from scratch where required; approved all trims, fabrics, lab dips, strikes, and embroideries, whilst considering target margins. • Calculated fabrics/trimmings consumption across all product categories, confirmed final prices, and logged accurate raw materials data using Zedonk. Prepared development and production technical packs and wrote detailed development/technical comments in clear and accurate terms. • Calculated product costs and set wholesale and retail prices across all product categories using Zedonk in line with commercial objectives and historical pricing patterns. • Ran post-market production handover meetings ensuring all relevant information from all departments was gathered and passed to the production team; suggested post SMS changes leading to products being more production-friendly and higher quality. • Developed seasonal factory allocation plans, approved and set manufacturing prices for the production team to follow, and supported the team during PPS approvals with technical advice.

• Developed womenswear collections aligned with the brand aesthetic and range plan, whilst achieving critical path and commercial objectives • Progressed sample development from prototype through to salesman samples for CMT and fully factored product categories, working with factories in Portugal, Turkey, Romania, Italy, Poland and China

Contemporary womenswear label specializing in high-quality outerwear, tailoring, shirting, and leather. Collections produced using the finest Italian materials and manufactured in Europe. Label represented in European capital showrooms and stocked internationally. Managed the entire production cycle for each collection, from sampling to bulk deliveries.

Took a challenging interim role in a reputable high-end fashion brand in London (www.vilshenko.com) • Reported to the Creative Director and successfully led a time-pressured end-to-end project, overseeing full production in the UK factories for despatch to top stores internationally including Harvey Nichols, Avenue 32 and My-Wardrobe • Worked on highly complicated items, liaised with Moscow sampling team, sealed all pre-production samples. Reviewed/mended construction make technology to meet target make prices.

High-end fashion label, producing complex, very detailed, heavily embellished RTW womenswear collections using finest Italian/French fabrics and trims. Head office/studio located in London, label stocked mainly in Russia, China, USA, and online. • Reported to the MD and Creative Director; responsible for sample room and development of 2 annual collections. Managed 7 direct reports. • Managed overall product development/sampling calendar; planning and scheduling work based on business requirements and resources. • Worked in all stages of product development of both show and commercial styles. Interpreted designer ideas supporting brand DNA and style direction. • Managed sampling processes from 1st proto to pre-production sample. Translated creative director brief into garment specification packs, detailing design features, bill of materials, construction requirements and measurements. • Orchestrated the development of the collections, in terms of schedule, data management, budget and resources, number of fabrics & prototypes. Managed major steps in a timely manner (fabrics orders, handover of sketches, sketch to fabric, collection launch…) all within assigned studio budgets. • Led a team of design assistants, fabric/trim buyers, pattern cutters, garment technologists & sample machinists.

Based at the HQ factory (700 employees) of the largest garment designer/manufacturer in Lithuania, with 5 factories and 1,500 employees, producing own-brand clothes for 33 stores as well as renowned global fashion retailers including Burberry & Pentland, UK and Hugo Boss, Germany. • Reported to the Head of Design, designing and developing collections for a local retail chain and international customers; working in close collaboration with a team of 50 machinists, pattern cutters, sample cutters, technologists, cost engineers, and quality controllers to design, develop garments, before overseeing bulk production in factories.