Fritz Winans

Fritz Winans

Liz Claiborne

Group President (Brands), President (Apparel)

Fritz Winans

Hudson’s Bay Company

President/COO, Specialty Retail and Global Sourcing

Fritz Winans

The Tamara Mellon Brand

President/CEO, Board Member

Fritz Winans

Contact:

fritzdwinans@gmail.com

Empowerment and Delegation Build Successful

Organizations


Situation

The fashion industry has some of the longest lead times in creating product. In general, development calendars are anywhere from 42-52 weeks from inception to actual delivery to the retailers floor or stockrooms. When product is being developed this far in advance trends can be missed, which in turn affects bookings and ultimately customer orders. The company needed to implement a program to capture more business that was current and relevant.


Strategy and Execution

To capture missed trends and opportunities that have arisen in the past 3 to 6 months an initiative needed to be formulated to get developed products from concept to market in a six to eight week time frame.

· Started a program called LizQuiks to achieve these goals

· Aligned with key department store buyers and divisional merchandise managers wielding influence in their organizations

· Built a team using innovative thinking to incorporate design, merchandising, sales, and production

· Worked directly with a limited number of vendors and bypassed Asian offices

· Drove decision to air product and eliminate putting it on vessels to satisfy the initiative’s guidelines

· Developed a packing-tape system to fast-track this product through both company and retailer distribution centers


Results

· Achieved over $100 million in sales over 18 months

· Extra profits allowed business growth of 10% in the first year and 5-7% annually for subsequent years