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.

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.
• 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.

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.
• 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.

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.
• 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