S9 E7: From Buyer to Bangladesh with Nadya at NEXT

What does it actually look like to leave the familiarity of UK retail buying and move to Dhaka, Bangladesh, to work on the supplier side? In this episode, we sit down with Nadya - a buyer turned product manager at Next Sourcing- who did exactly that.

With a background spanning REISS, Crew Clothing, and lululemon, Nadya shares the career moments that shaped her, the leap of faith that took her across the world, and what she's learning from the other side of the supply chain.

Nadya's story starts, as so many do, with a spark of inspiration at a young age, digging through her mum's '80s wardrobe and knowing instinctively that fashion was her world. But it was a chance encounter at a careers fair in Sweden, where a buyer from H&M was speaking, that made everything click. From that moment, every decision- moving to London at 19, studying buying and merchandising at the London College of Fashion, her roles at REISS and Crew Clothing was working towards that goal.

But after years building a solid career in UK retail, Nadya found herself at a crossroads. A recruiter reached out about a product manager role at Next Sourcing in a role she'd actually first heard about years earlier from a colleague and quietly filed away as a dream. This time, she took the leap. Within two months she had her visa, had packed up her life, and was on a one-way flight to Dhaka.

We talk about what her day-to-day actually looks like now, weekly factory visits, fabric sourcing, trend scouting, pitching new product ideas directly to Next, and how being embedded in the hub of manufacturing has completely changed the way she sees the industry. We also get into the bigger conversations: the future of sourcing trips, the impact of geopolitics on supply chains, the rise of AI in product development, and what sustainability really looks like from inside a factory.

Three Key Takeaways

1. Being on the ground changes everything.

Nadya is passionate about the value of factory visits and sourcing trips - something she feels is being quietly eroded by budget cuts. Whether it's understanding why a supplier physically can't do something, or seeing what's being produced right now (and therefore what will hit stores in a few months), there are things you simply cannot learn from behind a laptop. Her message: fight to keep those budgets in.

2. Pivoting to the supplier side gives you a whole new lens.

Moving from buying to product management hasn't just been a change of scenery - it's completely reframed how Nadya sees the supply chain. Those delivery delays and last-minute requests she used to push back on as a buyer? She now understands exactly why they happen. The empathy and insight she's gained in just two months in Dhaka is something she says no amount of time in a UK office could replicate.

3. AI is coming and you have to use it, not fear it.

From AI imagery in design packs to 3D model-making, Nadya is already seeing AI reshape how product development works. Her take: it's not going backwards, so the only option is to figure out how to make it work for you. The upside? Less over-sampling, less waste, better hit rates and ultimately a more sustainable industry.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:10

Hello and welcome to Buying and Beyond, the podcast that takes you behind the scenes of retail buying.

SPEAKER_03 0:16

We're Kate and Linz and we are talking all things retail buying and beyond with real people in retail. So grab your drink of choice and come and have a giggle with us.

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This episode is sponsored by the Buyers Club, our membership created for buyers by buyers.

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If you work in retail buying, you'll know that this role is unlike any other. It's creative, commercial, fast moving, and incredibly rewarding. But it can also be high pressure and full on. The Buyers Club exists to support you through it all.

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Built from feedback from over 400 retail buyers, it's a dedicated community designed to help you grow, connect, and thrive in your career. Inside you'll find in-person networking events, monthly online catch-ups, career clinics, mentoring and sounding board support, curated trend edits, retail insights, members-only podcast extras, and a few exclusive perks along the way. Because while tools and technology can support your role, nothing replaces community.

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If you want to feel more connected, more confident, and more supported in your buying career, head to our homepage for more information on how to join our club.

SPEAKER_02 1:33

The future of buying isn't just smarter, it's more connected. Now let's get into today's episode. Hi everybody, welcome to our episode. One of the reasons we started our podcast was because we knew there were so many brilliant people in the retail industry, real people building careers behind the scenes of the products, the brands, and the businesses that we see every single day. And today's guest is exactly that. We actually first met Nadia at our first ever networking event last year, which feels very full circle. It was great to meet her and so many other amazing people at our pilot event to see firsthand how valuable it is when people in the industry come together and share their experiences. Nadia has built her career across the fashion retail space with experience spanning, buying, product development, and sourcing for Reese Crew Clothing and Lily Lemon. And I'll let her for you in where she is now because it's a very exciting story. Nadia, thanks for joining us. Thanks for coming on. Thanks for having me. I'm really excited. Amazing. So do you want to tell our listeners where you are right now, just to set the scene?

SPEAKER_01 2:44

Yes, absolutely. So I'm currently based in Dhaka, Bangladesh, which is obviously very different from London. Made the move out here about two months ago in sourcing, basically, yes, on the supplier side, which is something I've never done before. But yeah, I'm really enjoying myself so far. So super happy. Fantastic, fantastic.

SPEAKER_02 3:02

So we always ask our guests to give us a little bit of a whistle stop tour of their careers, how you got started. So should we start right at the very beginning and tell us how you got into buying?

SPEAKER_01 3:13

How did it all start for you? So I've always been really into fashion. So I feel to start from the beginning, I'd have to start in my childhood bedroom at 10 years old and digging through my mother's closet of like all her old stuff from the 80s. I always wanted to work with clothing. I think when I was young though, I didn't really, I didn't realize what kind of past existed. When you think fashion, I think you think designer or these big fashion houses. I didn't know the role of a buyer existed and what it was. So I started doing research, trying to figure out where my place in the industry was. And I went to a career sphere in Sweden, actually, where I'm from, and a buyer from HM was speaking, and she was talking about her job and why she loved it, and it kind of clicked. I was like, this is what I'm supposed to do. I found my calling, my job. So everything from that point onwards was working towards that goal. So I moved to London at 19, got my degree in buying and merchandising from London College of Fashion, and then stayed in London and started working in the industry. Um, and then yeah, lived in London, and now I'm in Dhaka basically. That's amazing.

SPEAKER_03 4:19

What was it particularly about retail buying that you really liked the sound of?

SPEAKER_01 4:25

I think for me it encompassed three things that I'm quite interested in. So obviously, you have the clothing aspect, like the fashion. For me, fashion is art, and I always really enjoyed playing with textures, colours, styling, all that stuff. And I feel like this year's Met Gala theme was like spot on. I was like, I was saying that 10 years ago, but yeah, but have that aspect, but then you also have the more financial side of it. Like you're obviously trying to sell a product, make money, make margin, there's numbers, trying to figure out that side of it. And I've always been quite financial in that sense. So I thought that kind of suits me well. And then lastly, you have the sort of global aspect, you're obviously creating a product for a global consumer. Uh, you're working with vendors and retailers, sorry, vendors and suppliers across the world, communicating with them on a daily basis. And I've always been very interested in culture, other people's cultures, traveling, all these things. So I feel like buying really encompasses these three elements, and I think that's why I knew it was like a field for me.

SPEAKER_03 5:26

Yeah, you're so right. It's got such a good balance of all of those bits. So, what was your first role out of university? You've just graduated, you've got your degree, and you're like, I'm ready for it.

SPEAKER_01 5:37

Yeah, um, I actually graduated in the midst of COVID. So I think having that degree, I was like, okay, what do I do now? Who's even hiring? But I was actually fortunate enough to start my career at Reece. So I started working there as a BAA. Um, and I think immediately I was like, Oh, they didn't teach me this stuff when I was at uni. I actually got into it, it was so different. But I really loved my time there. I got to meet some amazing people, obviously, their product is incredible, and I took my first sort of small baby steps into the fashion industry from there. And what were the what categories did you work on? So I did knitwear in Jersey in the beginning on women's, and then I work on Kidswear. So at the time, Kidswear was like a brand new endeavor for Reese, they were just launching it. So I remember that, yeah. It was really fun to be a part of that quite small team that sort of brought that off on them. Yeah, that's so fun.

SPEAKER_03 6:30

And they have really nice fabrics, don't they, Reese? Definitely, yeah. Gorgeous quality. And then so from Reese, where did you go after that?

SPEAKER_01 6:40

So I worked uh at Reese, and then after that, so only the only reason I left really was because there it was divided between products developing and buying, so that was like a split role, and I just felt like that was a part that I wanted to be involved with with as well. So I moved to Crew Clothing, again, like British sort of retailer. I worked there as an assistant buyer on women's, so I was back on women's again, which I actually really enjoyed, and then I got to do the product development side as well as the buying side as well. So I enjoyed my time there as well, and then I only really left crew because I wanted to go travel, have a bit of a sabbatical. Want to see the world a bit more on your own terms. Definitely, definitely. So I was quite happy with that experience and being able to take a sabbatical as well, and then be able to come back into the world of buying and back into the industry.

SPEAKER_02 7:31

Yeah, I think you can get so swept up in it, can't you? And you before you know it, so many years have gone by and you're like, hang on a minute, I just need some time to go and do stuff for me. And and part of the role is traveling, isn't it? I think that's what I loved about buying so much was the travel and just getting out there and seeing new cultures and how people make things and the stuff that they can put on it.

SPEAKER_01 7:53

It opens your mind up, doesn't it? Definitely, I think it's so important. I think, unfortunately, though, with buying these days, I feel like with budget cuts and stuff like that as being quite cut out. I know a lot of buyers nowadays or like more junior people that say that they've never been on any buying or sourcing trips. So it would be fun to see that coming back into people's budgets and even an inspirational trip, I think it's so important to get out there. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 8:18

Totally agree with you. Yeah, we so are on this campaign, aren't we, Kate? To literally be like, oh, keep the budget, keep the budget in there for this because it's so needed. What do you what's your opinion on it in terms of what do you think it gives a buyer? What in your words would you say an inspirational trip gives a buyer?

SPEAKER_01 8:37

I think an inspirational trip, I think especially if you work for a global retailer, I think you just need to see what is trending in other parts of the world. I think that is very important. And I think especially for buyers as well as designers as well. But then from a more product development point of view, I think seeing the way clothing is actually made, visiting factories, seeing. I think I used to work with activeware for a while, and one of our suppliers was trying to explain to me how they didn't physically have a certain machine to do something. And she sent me a video of how the machine was supposed to look like. And I was like, I would have never known that had you not showed me that there's certain things you can't learn or grasp if you're not physically there to see them. I think you can become a bit disassociated from it if you're just behind your laptop and trying to get your prices or trying to get your deliveries. But I think you do need that on-the-ground experience.

SPEAKER_03 9:36

I think you're so right, not just from a technical point of view, which is so important, but also from that relationship building face-to-face. I think one thing Lindsay and I have definitely been leaning into is with a lot of the companies wanting their workforce to be back in the office because of the importance of face-to-face, that ultimately surely should mean then we should be reinstating trips because it's important to be face-to-face with not just colleagues and people, but people you work with every day, which includes your suppliers.

SPEAKER_01 10:04

Definitely. And I think, especially in certain cultures, especially like Bangladesh, that is incredibly important. You are gonna be prioritised in a different way if you actually show that time and commitment and that sort of face-to-face is so important in this territory, especially.

SPEAKER_03 10:23

Well, we have to at that point, I have to say, we've got to talk about where you are at the moment and what you're doing because it's so exciting. Yeah. I'm guessing a lot of what you're doing on the supplier side is building those relationships, and you're in the factories and you're seeing everything.

SPEAKER_01 10:38

So I'm currently in Dhaka, Bangladesh, and the reason I am out here is because I've pivoted a bit from buying, and now I actually work on the supplier side. So I am a product manager and I work for next sourcing, and I've been here for about two months, and I'm currently really enjoying my role and everything that comes with that. How did it come about? How did you know that this role existed? So it's actually a funny story. When I worked at Reese, there was the head of product development. She actually did this role, but in the Sri Lanka office years ago, and then she told me about it. And I was like, Oh, that's so cool. I'd love to do that somewhere down the line. And that kind of just stuck in my head. And then years later, I heard from a recruiter that told me about this job, but they were looking for a product manager, but in Bangladesh instead. And I was like, Oh, okay, that sounds cool, but just signed a fixed-term contract. I just come back from traveling. Um, she's okay, I'll reach out to you again in six to eight months. And then she actually did. And she's are you interested in this role now? And I mind you, I heard about this years and years ago, and I was like, Okay, I have to take the leap now. If I don't do it now, it's just gonna be one of those things you say you said you wanted to do but never did. So yeah, interviewed for it, and my director here actually knows the head of product development that I was speaking about. They work together in Sri Lanka. Wow, yeah. So interviewed for that, and then it moved fairly quickly. So in two months, I'd gotten my visa, packed up all my things, and basically yeah, got on my direct flight, like my one-way flight.

SPEAKER_02 12:15

What was running through your head on that plane? Were you just super excited? Daunted.

SPEAKER_01 12:21

Quite scared. I've done I've moved a bit in my life. Obviously, I've moved from my hometown to London. I lived in Amsterdam for a while as well, doing an internship. So I've I have moved around a bit, but obviously nowhere this far away. The culture is very different. I didn't quite know what to expect. But I was lucky enough to be put in contact with a girl who did this role. And she was out here for about five years, and we had a really long FaceTime conversation, and she told me everything about it. So after that, I did feel a bit more at ease, and I didn't feel very scared as well. So, yeah, I was very excited. Honestly, as soon as I got off the plane, I was just really excited to be here, and so far, I'm really enjoying my job as well. So, what does your role involve while you're out there? So, as a product manager, to put it in simple terms, our job is to be sort of eyes and the ears of the territory. So, we do a lot of we have a lot of contact with suppliers, we go visit every week. It's about building that relationship. It's also about reporting on intel trends, we do fabric sourcing, we also work, so not me, but our merchandisers work with costings. So, as a supplier, it's basically our role to come up with new and exciting products and pitch that to our customer, which is next, and get sales through us as the supplier. That's exciting. What's your favorite part of your new role? Oh, oh god, I love a lot about it. I think I really love the trend scouting and the trend looking at that. I think that is really fun to trying to figure out what's coming next, looking at fabrics, what to pitch, but still being able to use a lot of the skills that I developed working in buying, being cost conscious, being in this bulk, feasibility, all of those sort of things, keeping all of that at the back of your head while still trying to push the boundaries and also being on the ground, visiting factories, seeing how they're set up, and actually learning about how physically the clothes are made, because I don't think a lot of people actually do agree.

SPEAKER_03 14:28

That was always one of my favourite parts was going to the factories, and obviously was not doing it as quite as written as you are. But whenever I had a trip, I really enjoyed going and seeing how things were made and really understanding the end-to-end process, and exactly as you say, understanding the costing part of it and if you and what you can do, and as you said about having a supplier that sent you a video to show you something that they were unable to do and understanding actually, okay, how has this been manufactured and how could we maybe manipulate the product slightly? Or we did a lot of you know costing into a product, so rather than it's a very different type of buying, the product development buying, branded buying, isn't it? When you're thinking about how you're costing a product, you're really designing it from the ground up and then taking things off and adding things on and switching materials. So, how often are you out to the factories now?

SPEAKER_01 15:16

So I try to go every Wednesday. So today was actually a factory day, but sometimes I might do two visits a week that I feel very. So we sometimes have buyers come visit here, and then if I want to have some intel ready, I might do a few extra visits to trying to get that. So yeah, this week is going to be a two-day visit as well, actually. So I'm going tomorrow as well.

SPEAKER_03 15:38

Oh wow, and what kind of particular product categories are you working on? Are you across a widespread of different products or so?

SPEAKER_01 15:46

I'm currently working on wovens, so I do women's dresses and blouses, and then I also do girls' dresses and blouses, and then I also do boys' shirts, so those are like my areas. So you have different, we are, I think we're about 10 product managers, and then we all cover our areas. Oh, amazing, incredible.

SPEAKER_02 16:05

And you mentioned about trend spotting. How how so someone that sort of doesn't really understand what that means? How do you do that in Bangladesh? What's the sort of things that come through? Is it because from my experience, trend spotted would be going to a factory and just seeing what other markets in the world are doing and trying to see if there's any sort of repeat patterns there? But what does it actually mean? And because that sounds super exciting.

SPEAKER_01 16:31

So there is definitely that element like going to factories, seeing what is being currently produced, because what is being produced is what's going to be hitting the stores in about a few months. So then you see the trends before they hit basically. But we also do inspirational trips, so we do a lot of market trips as well. So South Korea and Japan are two quite popular destinations from where we are, but we also try to, if we're going to the UK for business, we will also try and do some around Europe. So we are actually out a lot as well. But then there's also that element of doing it online as well. So research like WGSN and other sites like that.

SPEAKER_02 17:07

Yeah, incredible. So is Japan on the cards for an inspirational trip for you?

SPEAKER_01 17:11

Oh, hopefully soon. I'm supposed to go to I'm supposed to go on sourcing trip to Shanghai in August, September. Fabric Fair. So hopefully I'll see some cool things there, what they're emerging. But I also think a good way to find out what the trending is. I speak to mills a lot. What are people buying? What are you pushing big units on, big volumes on? That's also how you get that intel because again, that is what's going to be hitting in six months' time.

SPEAKER_02 17:38

Yeah, no, exactly, exactly. And so, what would your advice be to someone that's thinking about going down this route of getting out of the UK and going and doing something completely different and getting into the supplier side and being in the hub of manufacturing? What what do you wish someone told you now you're two months in?

SPEAKER_01 17:58

Wow, I think a lot of the product managers I have met out here, everybody has such a different story. So it actually does make me wonder like, how have we all gotten here? Because it's a very it's quite a varied background, varied ages. But I think one thing everybody has in common is they just reached a point where they're like, I want to try something different, and then through different avenues, this up they heard about the opportunity, or they got in contact with somebody. I think when I go on LinkedIn, I do see a lot sort of expat roles. I think if you're interested in doing something like this, keep keep your ear open about sort of expat roles, and usually you'll spot them. And there's other destinations as well. If coming out here seems quite daunting and far away, there is other places as well.

SPEAKER_02 18:46

Yeah, no, exactly. And I think we've we've seen so much change happen in retail over the last certainly accelerated massively after COVID. Do you think that there's a different way of now suppliers work working with buyers? Is there have they had to adapt quite a lot? And obviously, we did literally everything on a VC, didn't we, when we couldn't even get into the countries? But do you think there's more connection now there now? And how do you think suppliers have adapted to that?

SPEAKER_01 19:16

It almost feels like post-COVID, everything has almost just bounced back, which feels a bit scary. I think with this that unprecedented disaster, everybody was so scared, but it feels like everybody's relaxing almost and forgetting that happened. And it feels like everything's gone back to normal, to be honest with you.

SPEAKER_02 19:38

Are you seeing a lot more buyers coming out as well? So there's more trips on the horizon, or is it has it still been quite stemmed back?

SPEAKER_01 19:46

I think it's been stemmed back, but I think that has more to do with the economy, to be honest with you, budget. I also think currently with the war, to be able to get out here, we would lay over in the Middle East. So currently, a lot of trips have been cancelled out here, and so it is a bit quieter than usual. But hopefully, if the situation changes, it'd be a bit more that would change.

SPEAKER_02 20:11

Yeah, because as we all know, it's so beneficial too. But geopolitical situations recently have been so hard to master around as a buyer and must be so incredibly frustrating for the supplier side as well. Yeah, definitely. It's a really difficult time to be in retail at the moment, and it's probably really difficult to be a supplier out there when you've got all these geopolitical situations to balance from deliveries, transportation, yeah, actually getting buyers out to see your factories and things like that. I think it is it's a hard time.

SPEAKER_01 20:46

Yeah, definitely for everybody, other industries as well, sadly.

SPEAKER_02 20:50

Yeah, yeah, no, exactly, exactly. No, I'm so jealous. I want to be in your situation. I feel like I'm my younger self is screaming to have done what you're doing. So now I know you're only two months in, but what's been your favorite moment so far?

SPEAKER_01 21:06

I think oh, this is work related actually. But I think my favorite moment was actually Bangla New Year. So that was actually quite recently, and just seeing the carnivores on the streets who had these blows, the way people celebrate, everything was so colourful, everybody wears red or yellow. I think the culture is just so vibrant, and I'm really loving it. I'm trying to really immerse myself in that. My goal with coming out here was not to just do my job and keep in that lane, it was really to immerse myself in the country as a whole as well. I'm teaching myself Bangladeshi food. I really want, I want to get, I want to buy a Bangla sari. They're slightly different than Indian sari, so I want to get that. So I think that has been my favorite part, actually.

SPEAKER_03 21:50

And yeah, I think it's things like that that keep you motivated as well, right? And keep you uplifted. Imagine being just Phil sounds so inspirational to be surrounded by so much colour. And joy and celebration that can only uplift you and inspire you to do really well in your role because you're surrounded by so many positive things. Definitely, definitely. Yeah, I'm super, super happy. And it's all about, not to put it to networking, but it is all about that kind of communication that you have and that kind of connection that you have with people. So just to take it very quickly back to when we first met, what was it that attracted you to coming to the event? And what do you feel like the biggest thing you got from it was?

SPEAKER_01 22:32

I think what really motivated me is because I wanted to just meet other people in the industry. A lot of my friends have actually they're doing slightly different things now. So just be nice to have friends that also work in the fashion world and get it. Telling somebody that I was going to this event and they're like, Oh, are you looking to change jobs? And then I was like, Oh, then I felt like almost a bit embarrassed to be saying it out loud. And I was like, No, that's not what I'm doing. People, and then I had a really great time. I was chatting to some girls about their experience and the brands that they work at. I had a really lovely time, so I was really happy to come and join for the second one as well. But yeah, it was quite like a relaxed environment as well. We're at a pub, everybody was chatting, happy. So yeah, I had a great time.

SPEAKER_03 23:16

I'm so pleased to hear that, but I know exactly what you mean. I think sometimes there is that kind of hesitation, and I think we've struggled a little bit with is what do you call it? Do you call it networking? Do you call it a meetup? Do you call it it's not necessarily I hate my job and I want to find something else? Or it is just about finding like-minded people and actually just having a really nice evening where you can chat about people that just get it rather than going home and seeing flatmates or partners or whatever that just want you to stop talking.

SPEAKER_01 23:44

Yeah, stop talking about late delivery and they don't have the same illustrations with the container ships.

SPEAKER_02 23:54

Yeah. Which is so interesting that you're on the other side of that now. It must be so incredible to just see the other end of these challenges.

SPEAKER_01 24:02

Yeah, it is. I think it's really opened my eyes because when I'm on the buying side, they'd be like, Oh, I'm so sorry there's a delay. And I'd be like, Why is there a delay? But now I'm like, There actually is a delay, and there's a valid reason for delay. You need to understand.

SPEAKER_02 24:16

Yeah, I remember working, I can't remember what country it was, but I remember working with someone and they were saying, Please can you give us a bit more time? Because the products can't dry because it's the wet season, and I just we just need a few more days for them to dry. And we're like, This is just an excuse.

SPEAKER_03 24:33

I remember that. Yeah, I had exactly the same. We're like, don't have time for that. But I don't know, get a hairdryer out, dry them quicker. Yeah. Once you go into a trade meeting and they're like not gonna wash, guys, you're like, Why they're not dry.

SPEAKER_01 24:46

Yeah, and we're actually in the monsoon period now, so I'll tell everything is quite wet here.

SPEAKER_03 24:52

So, everybody, if you're expecting a delivery, just remember that actually might not happen, might not come on time. Yeah, exactly. Because you can't predict it, can you? There's a general understanding, and you don't as a supplier or a buyer, you don't want to put too much buffer into your critical path, do you? Into your lead times, because it may or may not rain for another five days. It's a really hard one to predict. But as we all know, you can't talk about the weather. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 25:25

Yeah, they used to hate when you said that, didn't they? When you talked about the and that's it's a really valid reason that affect our sales.

SPEAKER_02 25:31

Like, why can we not talk about your garden center forgot crying out loud? We had to say the weather, yeah. No, so bringing it back to some trends conversation again. What sort of trends are you loving at the moment? Because it's really exciting to see it from the other side.

SPEAKER_01 25:49

Oh, I think so. I was speaking to Mill, and some of the trends that we're really seeing right now is obviously linen. Obviously, we're buying into spring summer 27, so you're gonna have all that linen coming in. I think we're also seeing a lot more shimmers, beading. I think it's the whole Zara Larson effect, you know, summer, eternal summer. I'm seeing a lot of that sort of shells, hardware, beachy styles. I think I'm loving that. As somebody who's more of a maximalist than a minimalist when it comes to dressing, I'm loving all the color. I love that. I love layering, so I'm really keen on seeing all that hit the shops. Some of the stuff we're working on right now is so lovely. One of our key things that we'll always try to be really on hot on is fabric newness. Find newness. What is the new techniques? What are the new colours? What are the new bases? Really trying to, and there's so much innovation in this area. Something I spend a lot of time immersing myself in. Yeah, I'm really excited for spring summer 27.

SPEAKER_03 26:53

What sort of colours are you seeing coming through? I'm loving seeing lots of colour too, but what sort of tones are being the hot ones that you're noticing? We're going back into pastels.

SPEAKER_01 27:04

There's a lot of pastels out there, yeah. Then some fluoro, so quite bright shades, but then washing those back, that garment wash effect, seeing a lot of that. And then also on stripes, we're seeing more mono monotone stripes, like which is slightly different, which I really like as well. But yeah, that's what's coming.

SPEAKER_03 27:24

So I think for it. And when you talk about innovation, where does sustainability sit within innovation for you?

SPEAKER_01 27:31

So that's a really good question. It's not something that I am particularly working loads on, but I think that is definitely something that I want to focus more on as I settle into the role, looking at more sustainable ways of dyeing and producing, but also looking more into sort of Ecovera, responsible cotton, all of those sort of things. I think the more regulation comes up in that area as well, it kind of forces the industry to pivot that way as well. So definitely something I want to look more into.

SPEAKER_03 28:06

And how on board do you think the factories are there on adapting to it? Have you I know you're not really having that many conversations now, but have you noticed already that some of them are maybe changing some of the ways that they work?

SPEAKER_01 28:17

I think you have to be on the board with those sort of things to stay competitive. There's a lot of suppliers, so I think a lot of them are looking into how can we reduce energy usage, water usage, all those sort of things. A lot of them have different verifications and environmental sort of standards that they have passed and able to be able to advertise doing that. So I think a lot of them are actually really hot on this area because they want to be able to stay competitive because they know that has become so important in the West.

SPEAKER_03 28:52

And in the time that you've been in buying your time from Reese to Crew Clothing to Lulu to where you are now, have you seen that change over time and become more important? Or when you started, was it already at a level where it was super noticeable that the consumer and the supplier and your current retailer were actually really interested in how you were gonna move that on?

SPEAKER_01 29:15

I think it's definitely grown in the last few years. I feel like, yeah, I think with the times, everything keeps changing. I think people just become more and more aware. I think this area is one of those areas where we're never really gonna go backwards, we can only move forwards, and I think we're accelerating forwards even faster than before. I think seeing the I read somewhere that the third biggest retailer in the UK right now is vintage, which is so that is a bit reselling items. I think I think a lot of people are just looking at how to reduce their purchasing, if anything. We've reached a point where they're not even they're not happy with just producing things in a more sustainable way, they're trying to buy things that already exist because they're trying to think really sustainable. And I think it'll be interesting to see how that affects the industry as well.

SPEAKER_03 30:08

Definitely, I totally agree. And so when we think about the future of buying and the future of your role, and we're thinking about one sustainability, but I guess more even bigger, hotter topic right now is AI. How do you see the future of buying and the role kind of changing?

SPEAKER_01 30:26

This is actually something I have thought about. I think AI is, I think, similar to sustainability. It's one of those things where it's just going to accelerate forward. We're not going to move anybody, move backwards. And that just means you have to figure out how to use it to your benefit because it's not going to go anywhere. I'm already receiving quite a lot of design packs that have AI imagery in them. We're obviously using AI to prompt sort of our 3D model making. I think it's going to make the job easier in certain aspects. I think it's going to help developing patents much easier. Again, visually showing a CAD in an AI as well. I think that's going to help factories understand the construction as well, like how the end product is supposed to look like. I think you're right.

SPEAKER_03 31:22

We always focus on the efficiencies, but I think what's really interesting is you say there that actually that could reduce wastage. If we're managing to share it in a much more in a much clearer way that's easier to understand, the amount of time going back and forth, sampling, resampling, and also sales as well. The getting exactly the right amount of stock in the right places.

SPEAKER_01 31:49

Definitely. And I think as well, the sampling thing. I think a lot of retailers have this problem that they all over-sample, being able to AI certain things and look at them visually and not just on a CAD, it'll be able to you'll be able to choose like where you actually want to proceed on sampling and where so that's going to make things a lot more sustainable as well.

SPEAKER_03 32:11

Definitely improve your hit rate and ultimately your profitability. Because we all know that you're only going to have that built into your cost price.

SPEAKER_02 32:19

Yeah, definitely. Yeah, we're not silly. Yeah. No, it is super, super exciting. Is there anything else just touching on the factory side of things from AI? On your now you're out there and you're not you're visiting factories every day. Are they taking on board different ways to use it? Is there anything else that they're doing that we're not really aware of?

SPEAKER_01 32:40

I I'm not a hundred percent sure. I know a lot of them do their own sort of trend forecasting. They obviously do their own developments, they might be using AI for that. Um, some people wonder if that is actually a sample that's made up or if you've just AI'd that in that way. And then also they do a lot of 3Ding as well. Maybe they're using AI to maybe make that side more efficient. I should ask next time I'm out. Go, go find out for us.

SPEAKER_02 33:11

I'm super excited to just follow your journey out there. Maybe again, because I'm just FOMOing your life at the moment and you're living vicariously mad yeah. So it'd be so interesting to how you're doing and what's going on, and yeah, how it's all going. Thank you so much. Yeah, thank you for joining us. It was incredible to chat to you. And yeah, we absolutely loved meeting you at our event, as we've said multiple times. I think we are going to be as part of our membership club, actually, which we've launched a few months ago, we're doing online networking events as well. So if you ever want to join one of those, you know, it'd be amazing to get people all over the world on those because I think we can all share so many different perspectives, different buyers from different countries and also yourself, like in from the manufacturing point of view. It's it would be brilliant just to Yeah, that's thank you for having me joined today. Amazing. Thanks very much. Speak to you soon. Kate, are you a drama queen? No, drama just makes things interesting. That's true. All these thoughts and opinions are our own and based on our own experiences working for a wide variety of retailers. These are all in the hope to entertain and educate and not to reflect negatively on any place we currently or have previously worked.