Last day at KappAhl!

Hi everyone!


Writing this blogpost is kind of bittersweet. Today was my final day at Kappahl. I can't believe that I've already been there for 9 weeks. They have quite literally raced by.

This internship and this journey has been highly educating. To be able to experience the workings of the industry and to actually get to use the knowledge you have gained during the year has been both scary and fun.

I can honestly say that this internship, this workplace has not been what I expected at all. My colleagues have gone above and beyond to make me feel at home and like one of them. They have expressed their gratitude towards me in more ways the one and I'm actually baffled by their kindness.

I have truly enjoyed every second of this internship and I'm sad to see it end.

All that remains now of this field study is to finish my report and then present it to my classmates and teachers. Right now everything seems to go according to plan with my writing and I'm hoping that it will continue to do so.

I would like to say a big thank you to KappAhl for this amazing opportunity and to everyone at the ladies department that I have gotten to know on a personal level.

Have a great weekend!

//Louisa

Strategic Development Intern - part 3

Hello friends!

Three months down and one more to go! This will be my third and maybe last post here :)
A part from that I have been doing my normal tasks, I have had a really great time at my workplace and this week has been crazy hectic but extra fun because we have been celebrating the 70th anniversary of Gant. It all started this monday but mentally it started for me two months ago (since the very first day they sent out the invitation to me 😂).

So this monday started with a big welcome for all our subsidiaries that came from all different places from all around the world and then we were all welcome to have a look in our SMS shops which was exciting since we could listen to our designers idea of every new item that has been created but not realesed in the real shops yet. Moreover, the week continued and on tuesday I had the chance to attend to many different meetings with our subsidiaries from Italy, France, Germany, Russia etc.
I have also been in contact with our suppliers to discuss different things about our swatches and last night I attended to THE MOST AMAZING Award Dinner ever. It was so huge and spectacular and it wouldn't have been fun without all the people that I have come in touch with during my time here at Gant. However, everything will come to an end and now I am working on my project.

This picture might be a bit blurry but yeah...

Hope everyone is having a great time!


Lots of Love - Yasmine Nehmé -

Internship at Hejco - Part 3

Internship at Hejco - Part 3

Hello everyone,

This is my last blog entry. My internship has been over very quickly. I had a wonderful period at Hejco and I really appreciate my time there. The most valuable things for me were to meet such excellent people at Hejco, to create new relationships between Hejco and garment-material manufacturers from Turkey and to get new contacts from the textile industry. Now it is time to wrap it all up.

Hejco increased its corporate responsibility commitment from a Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programme to a Sustainability and Corporate Responsibility (SCR) program in 2015. With this new approach, Hejco aims to provide a cleaner production process with a more equitable, sustainable world. Regarding this, Hejco cares about international labour, human rights and environmental standards.

To become more transparent from supplier to factory, out of concern for the nature and working environments, Hejco have established obligatory standards for Hejco’s suppliers, which means they receive no orders from Hejco before they have made public all the factories that will be involved in making products for Hejco and undergone the review of social and environmental compliance.

In order to ensure the sustainability of human rights and environmental standards. There are some organizations which provide certificates such as BSCI, Sedex, Oekotex, ISO etc. to suppliers by auditing them. BSCI, Sedex and Oekotex certificates are a part of Hejco’s requirements to work with Hejco. When I sourced new suppliers in Turkey for Hejco, I tried to take these requirements into account while contacting the suppliers. There are of course more requirements such as payment methods, minimum order quantities (MOQ) and fabric testing but I am not allowed to explain these requirements here 😊.

Consequently, I am thinking that I found the right suppliers for Hejco and my project has been accomplished successfully. It was awesome to experience the work-life at a Swedish workwear company. This internship has given a lot to me, let me enlarge my experience and to get to know new people.

This is my third and last blog post for this field study. I tried to share my takeaways about my field study and hope that you have enjoyed it! 😊

Have a great summer!

Serkan

Research assistant internship CBMs 3rd

Research assistant internship CBMs 3^rd  

Hi everyone,

In the last entry, I stated about the sustainability and the importance of Circular Business Models (CBMs) to achieve it. In this entry, first I am discussing why certification is important for CBMs. Then the tool and the certifications exist, to cater the business needs, mentioned in the previous entry.

Certification helps to reduce the transaction cost in the supply chain by having standards. Standards simplify, routinize and legitimize the incorporation of the environmental elements throughout the supplier management process. This also reduces the costs involved in developing specifications for each and every supplier, work related to the cord of conducts for each company and monitoring work for compliance. Certifications generally are done by third parties, which increase the credibility and the competitive advantage for the firm/product certified.

I have selected to study three standards namely, “Cradle to Cradle certificate”, “Global Sustainable Enterprise System GSES® measures” and “Higg Index”, which evaluate the circularity in different aspects and levels. The analysis is done to find out how these standards fulfill the needs of CBMs mentioned in the previous blog entry. Since the design of the certifications itself differs to one another, during the final stage of the study the design differences of the selected tool and the standards are investigated. Effective implementation of circularity and sustainability depend on the design of the standard. This study enables organizations to select the most suitable certification or tool to present the circularity of their business or product openly. The general public can understand simply, what is meant by the stated certification when they make the purchase.

Throughout my internship period, I realized that the circular economy is essential to have a better future. This topic had made strong interest within me to study it more. I believe I will be able to do more research in this area in future.

Finally, I would like to thank the supervisor for the support and guidance extended toward the internship.

Hoping a better future!

Varuna

Buying internship part 3

Hi again!

This will be my last post here, I only have 2 weeks left at my internship, which is so crazy, time has really gone by so fast.

I have enjoyed my internship so much and I have learned a lot, which I’m really appreciative of. I got a glimpse of how it is to work within fashion, which has always been a dream of mine.

Anyways it’s not over yet so I´m going to enjoy my last weeks here, and I don’t really have a light schedule for these weeks. One fun meeting that I´m really looking forward to is the brainstorming meeting for the coming seasons, so then the designers will present their ideas for AW20.

Other then that I have gotten a lot more responsibilities which is fun and a bit scary, so now I´m not only checking the samples and writing the product descriptions, now I am also the one that does the size runs to see how much of each size that should be ordered and then I´m also placing the orders.

My project has starting to take shape and I´m really happy with it (for now) but I need to analyze some more data as I have a lot, but then when I am done with that I don´t have that much left. My project is about product description and if there is a relationship between returns and the product description, some interesting information has come from my research, which is very fun that I actually have gotten something from the research. I have hade a meeting with the managers of the purchasing department and told them what I have come up with so far and they seemed to be impressed. And in two weeks when I have my last day I will present my final conclusions to them and maybe the CEO of the company.

Well I don’t have that much more to say, so I will just leave it at this, enjoy the rest of your days at your internship and then have a great summer!

Research internship part 3

Hello Everyone!

This is my last post, and my internship period is coming to an end.

Last time I wrote here it was the beginning of May, and now as the month is drawing to a close I realise a lot has changed.

First of all, I finally got to see paper yarn in real life! While I had seen some samples in the labs, nothing compares to a properly finished piece. Last week I visited the partner company for the project and discussed the yarn and its products with the production manager. A lot came up during our "interview", like early production problems, machine requirements, design considerations and possible market expansions. This visit and interview gave me the possibility of feeling the products for myself and to discuss them and their future developments. It is hard to describe how these products look and feel, so here is a picture I took!

With the company visit and interview I managed to collect quite a lot of data for my report, and after some discussion with my supervisor, I now have a pretty focused topic which relates to paper yarn, but not to the early stages of the research; which would have been too much.

In the end, this internship allowed me to explore a relatively unknown topic from two points of view: the economic side when developing the feasibility model, and the manufacturing side later. In both cases I realised how this project can have a huge impact on future sustainability and future textile manufacturing processes. 

I hope I will be able to explore even more of this topic next year with my thesis.

Have a great summer everyone!

Sara

Buying & marketing internship pt 3

Hi everyone!

This internship is sadly coming to an end, and I cannot find words on how fast these two months has passed by. Since the last time blogging I’ve been finishing up my project, and it is now published on 8848’s website (!!!!).

A few weeks ago, we invited our international retailers and distributors to a kick off; kind of like a two-day sales meeting with fun activities tied into it. We showed the S/S20 collection, where I got the role of wearing each piece to better see the fit, while our designers explained their designs and functionality. After “the show” everyone mingled in the showroom, discussing the collection and I got to learn some very nice people. During the show, all guests wore the most motionless stone faces ever while scanning every look I wore, so it was really hard to interpret if they liked the collection or not (actually it looked like they hated everything haha). But afterwards when chatting, everyone was like “oh loved loved loved it, such a nice collection, love the colors, blablabla” and I thought like “wow didn’t expect that, judging by your faces” haha.

The day after the kick off, my marketing colleague and I went to the e-commerce fair SEBC in Gothenburg. It was a day filled with inspirational speeches, from impressive persons such as Fredrik Reinfeldt, Charlotte Nordén (CEO Cellbes), Alexander Bard, Sara Wimmercranz and Susanne Najafi (BreakIt), Ishtar Touailat (Techbuddy, IT-woman of the year), Daniel Wellington, and many more. The main lessons I will carry with me are the importance of knowing one’s target group, making market analyzes of the far future, and to spot talents and how to keep them and letting them grow to their greatest potential.  

Last week, I held a presentation for the entire company about my internship project, and the findings and analyzes I’ve made. I was quite nervous, to say the least, although my colleagues are the kindest and most supportive persons in the world. The response was incredible and I was kind of surprised, probably since it can be hard to realize the contribution of your own work. Our CEO asked me if I could redo the presentation the day after on our strategy day, in front of board members, including the chairman, and some international retailers. So I did. And also with more confidence this time, thanks to the great appreciation from my colleagues. I received great response again, and I literally floated on clouds for the rest of the day. I also dared to participate a lot for the rest of the strategy day, and was not afraid to propose strategic ideas for their future.

Sorry for the longest blog post ever, but I guess I do this mainly for my own sake, because it’s so easy to forget about these moments. I feel so proud of my work here - that I’ve actually contributed with something meaningful for the company. Above all, I’ll never be able to thank 8848 Altitude enough for these weeks; for doing everything to make me learn as much as I possibly could, for believing in me with this project, and for getting to know the most lovely persons. I am so grateful.

I hope everyone will have a great summer!

See you in September.

Pauline

Buyer assistant internship part.1

Hello my fellow classmates,

My internship has been a hectic couple of weeks. The weeks have passed by so fast that I barely realized that the internship is soon coming to an end... so this explains the reason why this is the beginning of my blog journey here. My internship position is within the buying department, so I am an intern buyer assistant in the product development of the children's clothes. My days have been divided into two different sectors, so in the first half of the day I am with a buyer assistant and my responsibilities are primarily within sample management and making sure that all of the newest samples are in the "collection room" sorted by seasonal drops. The collection room is where the whole product development team holds meetings regarding the upcoming seasons.

The other half of my day is with a buyer of accessories, pyjamas and other things related to this. Here my responsibilities are mainly to have daily contact with suppliers and merchandisers and provide comments on lab dips and strike offs. But as probably everyone has experienced the days are never the same at a workplace, so there is always things to do. I have never had a second where I didn't have things to do, and that is the fun part since the days go by so fast. But this is also the part which is a bit stressful, when you suddenly realize that it is soon over! However, I have still two weeks to go so I will try and take it all in, yet it feels so strange that I will be leaving soon since it feels as if I work there full time! But I will update you all next week on the exciting work tasks that are to come.

Have a great weekend!

Best regards from the busy life in Stockholm! - Samanta

The beginning

Hello hello from Stockholm!

I honestly do not know where to start or what to write. I will say though it is all a learning experience and I try to see the best and most positive side of it all.....

The first 2 weeks we had another intern and we both were from business backgrounds and we got to implement many ideas. I had so many and honestly saw some good results from them. Something as simple as changing a sign outside the shop brought in important contacts and I got to mix my marketing and business backgrounds into this, I was ecstatic! We had an event with bloggers and was able to prepare for this party, it was amazing. Unfortunately the other intern left and this shop is only run by one woman, she is often not there so I just do my tasks.

My company is basically a made to measure woman wear brand and I have learned a lot about this. I absolutely love this concept because I have seen one dress be on different body types and it is beautiful to see how EVERY WOMAN who wore it looked stunning. Now a days we are marketed to be a certain size and honestly this has really changed my view on things, we do not all have the same body so why should we all fit into a size.I really hope in the future I will be able to develop a brand like this one because not only for the sustainability aspect but the mentality and empowerment of different body types is beautiful.

Unfortunately it has not all been rainbows and butterflies and I can honestly say I am experiencing first hand a very accurate insight of how small business owners do things and the hardships they experience. Also how running a business as a one man show without a business background hurts a company. Being honest we do not make sales at all, at least organically, and it is very hard to see. I first coming in thought I could help change some things but it is very hard when of coarse you don't meet eye to eye, so I must just sit back and watch the show run. If there is anything; I am learning how not to run a business and have honestly learned so much about sustainable clothing which really has opened my eyes, so I am very thankful for that. I will try to absorb as much as possible in the next coming weeks and take it with me for future projects.

That is all,

Ana

Internship 3 at RG

Yesterday was my last day of internship at Rudholm Group! I completed 8 weeks internship program. Time flew by so fast. It was really exciting and valuable to learn in a new environment with new people. 

Last 2 weeks, I focused on a new collection. For inspiration and market research, my mentor brought me to a sportswear expo and a trend seminar in Göteborg. The expo is one of the largest expos which hold every year. There were many sports brands, and they displayed many trend products. We tried to take a look at what kind of products, colours and trims / hardware on trend now. The trend seminar is called ‘The Next Trend’ seminar which is organized by ColourHouse. ColourHouse is one of the biggest trend company in Scandinavian. It offers professional tools for design, such as trend books and colour analysis, both online and offline. The company also consultant related design business. The seminar held in a hotel conference room. Around 100-150 designers/buyers from many different companies participated in the trend seminar. In this seminar, there were four trend researchers from 4 different trend company, who is Tony Bannister from SCOUT, Els van Niekerk from OvN, Michael Fisher from Fashionsnoops and Christine from D. cipherfm. Tony from SCOUT and Els from OvN, they mainly talked about life cycles and future-proof strategy in AW 20/21. With this seminar, I always understood that sustainability is the main topic in the fashion industry in every season. Michael and Christine talked about the future; the cultural undercurrents from art and design to science and technology and multitudinous. With these kinds of themes, they also mentioned AW20/21 primary colours, silhouettes, fabrics and products. It was an exciting seminar and got valuable inspirations.

I can’t believe my 8 weeks internship was done! It is one of the most beautiful experiences in my Sweden life. Thank you for everyone, especially my mentor Emma! Emma is the best mentor ever!

Social media marketing

Hi everyone

Here comes an update from my internship at Franchetti.

This week has been really exciting. We have had a lot to do at the buying department, which is very fun. I also had a very interesting meeting with Franchetti's management team a few days ago about a new project that we started this week. They want me to be part of the startup of their social media marketing.

Franchetti's way now of working with marketing is through their sales representatives. They have not focused on social media yet because they are a B2B company, that can’t show their products and collaborations to the consumers, so it is a bit tricky for them. But now they want me (with my education in marketing) and an external marketing firm to work together and come up with grate ideas on how Frachetti can work with marketing on social media. I think this is going to be a very fun and challenging project.    

We had our first meeting a few days ago and I think we are going to come up with many great ideas for them. Next week we are having a workshop about this, together with Franchetti's management team. I think it is going to be very worthwhile.

Have a great weekend!!

/Emma

Business Development Internship - part 3

Hi again,         

So this will be my last blogpost from my business development internship, I can’t still grasp how fast time has passed, it feels like I entered the office for the first time yesterday – but time flies by fast when you have fun? Yesterday, a big milestone in my internship were accomplished. My supervisor asked me in the beginning if I wanted to present my findings for the extended team, where people from the management group is included. I said with confidence “of course” to this, and yesterday was the day when I had my presentation. The presentation went very well, however, I was a bit nervous before since I knew that the duration of my presentation were about 30 minutes – which is quite much according to me, when you are all by yourself. The feeling afterwards, when you have pushed yourself out of your comfort zone and succeed is indescribable, it felt like I walked on clouds out of the meeting room. The content of the presentation was like mentioned the findings from the work I has done at the company, which is a 30-page long report. I got the restriction from my supervisor to only have 3-4 slides, which actually was a big challenge for me – to squeeze 30-pages into 3-4 slides (haha). Another aspect which were challenging to my, was that the company asked me to bring out concrete recommendations in terms of forward thinking, but I managed that as well, and we had a really good discussion/question-round after my presentation. The last 2 weeks of my internship, I have got the opportunity to test and incorporate my findings in an actual case, which is such an exciting opportunity.

I have been really busy with internship related tasks, however I am also soon at the final phase at my academic report, which basically is a short summary of my long report, but of course with more emphasis on prior research. It will be some late nights the upcoming weeks in order to manage the deadline, since I’m presenting 3^rd June. I’m really grateful for this field study opportunity, it has been really meaningful and further one good way to step out of the comfort zone. Like I said in my first blogpost, I can’t wait until graduation, but it’s only one year left and there in between it is summer. Life is good!

Over and out for me,
/ Maria Zetterberg