Inventive Portfolio Management
Core Skills:
- Strategic planning and management of an established product line
- Injecting Innovation and Seasonal Leadership within the Hosiery Category
- Experience selling into Department Stores
The Opportunity
As the brand manager on Donna Karan Hosiery, I managed a $3MM marketing budget and was responsible for annual sales and operating budget targets. Despite the intimate connection to the designer’s fashion collections, the basic day-to-day business drove the majority of the $25MM+ revenue each year. The challenge in maintaining a price premium for a basic necessity takes considerable consumer awareness and coordinated interaction between the consumer, the retailer and the brand team.
The opportunity for Donna Karan Hosiery was to continue to exceed consumer expectations on product quality while remaining an extension of the Donna Karan fashion line and its intrinsic high-fashion appeal. For many consumers, Donna Karan hosiery was a way to participate in high couture at retail price points. The product’s seasonal offerings were critical to the continued equity of the brand. Just as designers launch seasonal apparel, I went to market twice a year to showcase how my line of hosiery represented and coordinated with Ms. Karan’s apparel. Each season I presented approximately 10 new products in 8 colors for retailers to buy and each year they did.
Actions
The production of two seasonal lines a year meant that I was continuously working with research and development on new color palettes and contemporary patterns and collaborating with retail merchandisers to produce dynamic in-store and point-of-sale execution.
Results
- Successfully built and maintained the Donna Karan Hosiery franchise
- The semi-annual launch seasonal launch of Donna Karan fashion hosiery helped drive new product revenue up +26% from 1995 to 1996.
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