Michele Cartigiano Email & Phone Number

New York City Metropolitan Area

New York City Metropolitan Area

Oversee Product Operations development on new product initiatives for all brands and categories. Lead the Design, Merchandising & Production teams through all aspects of development, costing, and manufacturing. • Manage all product development initiatives while enhancing operational efficiency and expediting product launches.• Develop and commercialize product in women’s and men’s sportswear, swim, cold weather, lounge, active, outerwear brands and home.• Instituted a Merchandising Creative Development (MCD) strategy to connect the creative and operation teams to innovate, at cost, on time. • Provide direction and leadership to our global partners on strategies, process, development, fit and lifecycle operations timeline.• Worked directly with overseas factories on production timelines, cost negotiations, production yields, CM and production quality to deliver great quality product, on time and at cost.• Strategically locate, onboard and develop new factories and suppliers that are in line with corporate vendor strategies.• Oversee all product development strategies from design concept through the development lifecycle on 300+ styles annually.• Monitor all quality control and ensure all production adheres to the quality standard requirements for all testing methods. • Review prototypes from various sampling stages to ensure design and quality meets standard, oversee fit sessions, review inspections and advise as to whether approved or if corrective action plan is needed. • Directed technical team on all phases of the fit, PP and TOP process, along with directed all communication between NY Tech team, PD team and overseas suppliers/factories.• Manage resolution of issues/concerns with the internal cross-functional teams, as well as with the suppliers. • Cost engineer all products and negotiate cost with factories to obtain margin goals.

Iselin, Nj

Led and expanded the Product Operations team of 14 high performing managers for new product launches in development and delivery for all brands and channels. Oversee product development on 400+ launch styles annually in Product Lifecycle and Engineering. Cross functionally manage product commercialization from concept design to factory full scale production ensuring Time & Actions deadlines. Lead a global cross-functional process including Merchandising, Engineering, Design, RMD, Sourcing, Forecasting & Planning, and MAL (Maidenform Asia Ltd – Hong Kong, Bangladesh, Indonesia, China).• Built “First Time Right Strategy” resulting in 95% on time delivery for new product launches. Utilized business intelligence to prioritize operations and meet corporate goals.• Drive the creative design intent with Design, RMD and Full Package process to ensure fit, fabric and creative vision is executed. • Spearheaded the “Field Ready Strategy” to ensure product costs and margins are adhered to and the production viability standards are met.• Recruited, developed and led a motivated team of Product Operations Managers and Engineers to achieve maximum output.• Effectively realigned the Calendar Operation process significantly reducing standard timeline.• Increased company profitability by ensuring corporate calendar adherence resulting in reduced product lateness.• Drastically reduced air freight 2011-2013 for all new product launches (90% reduction).• Instituted a Merchandising Creative Development strategy to drive innovation, at cost with speed to market. Developed metrics to monitor progress and adherence to calendar and process while ensuring integrity of finished product.• Spearheaded collaboration between Engineering and Design to establish best sewing methods to optimize production settings while utilizing best yields.• Key member in Executive Corporate Strategy meeting for decision making on innovation and growth initiatives.

Iselin, Nj

Provided visionary leadership for newly formed functional area responsible for timely execution of key milestone tasks. Led cross-functional meetings to ensure corporate goals were communicated and met with clear understanding. Formulated strategic lead time calculations for raw material suppliers and manufactured finished products. Provided leadership and direction to the Product Development team, International Production Contractors on all Global brands for all styles. Managed a team of up to 10 Product Engineers and Operations Managers.• Leveraged strong collaborative leadership style to link multiple functional areas to maintain single focus of product innovation and customer satisfaction.• Established processes for all Maidenform product initiatives globally to achieve improved vendor collaboration.• Advised cross functional teams on delivery risk and potential impact to the business; including spearheading task force to work towards a condensed calendar.• Consolidated various product lifecycle processes into a digestible summary and cohesive communications plan to build alignment and achieve goals.• Directed engineering to expedite delivery of product construction specifications to T1 suppliers for all internal development styles across all brands ensuring mass production feasibility and esthetic/fit intent of the garment.

Iselin, Nj

Creative Merchandiser for Walmart, Target, Kmart, Private Label and Victoria’s Secret product lines. Worked with suppliers to develop new products, fabrics and trims. Main point of communication to sourcing/HK office on all design aspects, pricing and negotiation. Represented Design/Merchandising in corporate meetings.• Led the internal design team on creation of new product launches and fit intent for mass and private label customers that drove $273M in annual sales.• Drove seasonal color selections aligning with global trends for all mass and private label styles.• Negotiated with Asia manufacturers to achieve the lowest cost with the best quality.

Iselin, Nj

Iselin, Nj