Business Development Internship Part 2

Hi again, 

Soon it’s one month since I started the internship (crazy how fast time passes!?), and I’m starting to get comfortable in my role as business development intern. I have to admit that I can’t wait until our graduation next year ­– I want to jump into working life soon as possible. During the past month I have found out 3 things of work life that I really appreciate with being at a workplace. 

1. The colleagues – What I enjoy is the broad spectrum of different people when it comes to age, background, knowledge, experiences etc., compared to school where it’s often a much more homogeneous group of people. 

2. Belongingness to the company ­– I like the feeling of being attach to a company and aligned with the corporate values. For me, I see it as highly motivating knowing that the tasks have an actual purpose. 

3. Work within a project model – I really enjoy working within a project model and interdisciplinary. I hope that I get the chance to work in this manner in the future. It suits me and my personality better to work in a dynamic and flexible way, over having a linear schedule.  

At the moment, I’m compiling the data I collected the last weeks, which will be the foundation of my best practice manual.  Hopefully I will be able to use parts from the data collection as well in my academic report. Before I started the internship, my aim was to manage at least 5 interviews during the period. After the last 2 interviews today, I have done 13 interviews. What’s been really pleasurable is that I have captured many interesting perspectives from different functions and roles within the organisation. In my sample, I have people represented from the management team as well as people from the shop floor, and it’s the contrasts that makes it interesting ­to analyse. 

What I also see as highly interesting is the link between a project and its outcome and effect in monetary terms, like return on investment (ROI). Within the meetings, the economic point of view is always taken into consideration and discussed, and in my opinion, I see that this perspective is essential within a contemporary retail context. I think that there are tendencies that retail companies sometimes forget that the most important factor (from my perspective) is about creating value for a) the end customer and b) for the company in economic terms. Instead, retail companies focus a lot on being “high-tech” and do major investments, in order to be fast on digital trends, before having done an accurate calculation on what it actually gives the company in terms of ROI and/or value for the end customer. It’s just a reflection of mine, after my 13 interview sessions...

Now it’s a short downhill to summer – only a few more weeks to go. 

/ Maria 

My first month at GANT!

Hola peeps!

My internship at GANT as a Quality Intern makes me walk around the office with a smile on my face :)

It has been such a journey so far, from the very first second. Intense and so much to take in - but it has given me so much! The first week had a strong focus on introduction and I got a broad and good overview of GANT as a company and what they stand for and how they work as an organisation. I also got introduced to the quality department and the work that is being done here. Since the quality part of GANT will be my main home for the whole internship it´s here my focus is. During my time at GANT I´m going to initiate a project - something I really enjoy. I appreciate that they have given me a task and something to work on and implement during my time at their head office.

My project at GANT will also be the task for the report in this course - seems fun and like a good match to combine school with GANT. My project is about creating clear guidelines and instructions for the packaging process - the packing of GANT:s products from the suppliers to their markets where the products are being selled to the end customer. The project´s goal is to facilitate for both the suppliers and also the different departments at GANT - so everyone knows how the different products should be packed. I have started to have meetings with the different departments at GANT and I have also created and sent out a survey to suppliers - all this to get a clear overview on how the process is working today, to be able to make improvements.

The meetings with the different departments are really interesting and it gives me also a better insight in what the daily work looks like. The plan is also to be able to join in at different departments later on to learn more about their work.

I totally enjoy my time at GANT and now it´s halfway - crazy that a month already flew by! I just try to embrace every minute and squeeze out everything I can! :)

I have learnt so much this first month, and can´t wait fo the rest of the time! I have also experienced how it is to eat crackers in an open landscape office :) haha I have been eaten so many crackers during my days at the office - peaks of getting free fruits and crackers everyday!

GANT:s mantra is "Never Stop Learning" and this is a perfect match with my lifestyle - so hungry and excited for what´s around the corner and what to learn next!

Happy "Valborg" and 1:st of May on you all!

Over and out for now from GANTTORA!

xoxoxo <3

         

The first month here at Shyness Interior

Hi everyone!

Wow, these four weeks have been a lot to take in, it is amazing being out doing your thing in the work field of textiles! But it was so nice to have a bit of a break over Easter and be able to just take it all in and just get some time off.

So exciting reading about the field studies and internships, interesting getting other perspectives and a glimpse of the industry.  

I’m having a blast here at Shyness Interior in Gothenburg as a Sustainability and Circular Fiber Intern. It’s so interesting working with someone that has the same academical background as I do, but with so much knowledge of the big business of textiles, and that has the same passion for materials and sustainability as I do. Shyness offers sustainable luxury bed linen and kitchen textiles, with inspiration from Östergötland with all from interpreting printing techniques, laces and bands creating a Romantic feeling that takes the thoughts back to the Swedish heritage. 

I started out with attending a seminar at RISE in Mölndal, Gothenburg for companies that are aiming to make a difference in how we use materials and that it's not only a matter of excluding certain materials but also finding the right material for a specific product, “Right materials in the right product” were their moto. The seminar which was called Bio innovation was in collaboration with experts of different materials and institutes such as RISE to help companies make better choices and be aware of how to make a change in different industries. It was an eyeopener!

I’ve not only been working with sustainability at the company in front of my computer, but I’ve also been helping out preparing two events with Shyness, it's so exciting, doing some product placement, ironing and all it entails holding events. It is so intriguing meeting all these inspiring people that I’ve had the pleasure to meet on the seminar, the events and on different meetings and just be able to talk about all these things I’ve studied but haven’t had the possibility to use before now. It has been interesting doing different things every single day, having smaller photoshoots, working on the computer, reading, working with technical sketches, have meetings or helping out with events.

    

I’m having a really good feeling about this, just can’t wait to get out working when the Master program is over, so exciting for what the future holds, it’s going to be amazing!

As a reminder in both career and in everyday life, don’t be afraid to take that call, don’t be afraid to ask don’t be afraid to fail, don’t be afraid to be nice to a stranger. I wouldn’t have been where I am today and now on this internship if it wasn’t for my courage to look past my fears.

“you get in life what you have the courage to ask for” – Opera Winfrey

Have some exciting events coming up here at Shyness Interior, so stay tuned.

Even if there is a lot going on, don’t forget to enjoy the sun :)  

Best of luck out there my fellow classmates!   //Sara 

My first weeks at Ellos Group

Hi everyone!

When I´m writing this blogpost I am sitting in the sun with a cup of coffee in my hand. You heard it right, I have officially started drinking coffee since I took my first steps into the head office of Ellos Group here in Borås. With early mornings and long but fun days at the office it is obligatory with a cup of coffee to be as alert as possible for each day that passes by with new tasks and experiences. My internship title is Buyer Assistant for Ladies department and I enjoy every second of it. As a buyer assistant, I have been doing a lot of different types of tasks, everything from placing orders for the website to being along on photoshoots, as you can see in the photos down below. I have been able to see what it is like behind the scenes when you as a buyer collaborate with suppliers through meetings, how to handle samples, order follow up and order quantification. I have also been part of the product development process, which have been inspiring and fun. I will go deeper into these tasks in my next blogpost so look forward to that.

My first three weeks at Ellos Group at the headquarters here in Borås has been really fun and I have learnt a lot of what it is like to work at a fashion company. It has been an eye opening experience from the moment I started my internship and I am more than sure that it is something that I want to work with in the future, which is a really exciting feeling. I look forward to what the upcoming weeks will have to offer and I am sure that they will be as fun and inspiring as the previous ones. 

Happy Easter!

#OneVoiceforCraft: Chapter 1: India - my thoughts after 22 days in India

Dear all,

I will start by sending you all good energies from a magic place in India - Kutch, the District of Gujarat - where I just finished my series of interviews for #OneVoiceforCraft - the individual field study I am conducting in India.

In  have chosen to conduct an individual field study focused on artisans and craftspeople and their relationship with their craft. Whilst the needs and struggles of fashion businesses today are clearly expressed and understood, professional reports on the state of fashion at large appear annually and the industry strives to be a leader in innovation and sustainability, we cannot say the same about the state of the artisans. Not only is there not enough transparency in understanding their activity, struggles and concerns, but often times the work of artisans is plagiarized by the fashion industry and their creative work is not rightfully valued.

As conscious consumers, tourists, artists, academics and entrepreneurs from all fields of business, we should be interested in answers to the following questions:

How did these skilled people learn their craft and what does it mean to them?

What is their relationship with traditional knowledge?

What are their dreams and expectations?

What is the role of the artisan? A creator? A custodian of knowledge? A subordinate?

In this first blog post I would like to focus in on the logistics of organizing an Individual Field Study and the challenges I have faced and am facing here in India - from the planning stage to implementing - an Individual Field Study is in itself an adventure. 
What did I learn so far?

1. To take a leap of faith and redefining the boundaries of trust
It is important to say that given the scope of this field study I didn't want to conduct it through an already existing organisation - like an NGO or one of the many businesses and cooperatives that work with artisans in India in order to avoid as much as possible filtered information. I wanted to gain access to individuals from a diversity of backgrounds, from different levels of success in the crafts world and thus get a more holistic perspective of the voice of craft in India. I therefore had to start planning the itinerary from scratch. 

Since late December until the day I boarded on the plane to New Delhi I have been constantly communicating with various people in India based on a snowball networking system. Someone recommended me to someone else and so on. The only thing I knew with certainty was that I would arrive in Delhi and make my way to Ahmadabad where I would meet the first contact to interview and from there make a 7 hour bus trip to Bjuh where I would meet my cultural guide for the region of Kutch - Kuldip Gadhvi. 

I had to calibrate my expectations and be very flexible in an attempt to immerse in a new culture, a new lifestyle and in the lives of the people I am interviewing. I asked myself very often whether I can trust the people I am in contact with or not and I decided the only way for this to work is to trust them and see where this takes us.

2. Every step of the data collection process is a journey full of surprises 
A set time-frame, clear deadlines and concepts like efficiency or productivity are not compatible with this kind of data collection. Never look for an answer and be ready to grasp any and all information conveyed to you. Having addressed the same set of 24 questions to all individuals, families and collectives I met I realized that the beauty and essence of this study lays in the differences and common threads in their answer. In some cases the answers led to new questions and new answers - information which has proven extremely valuable and interesting and opened new study paths. As such, after 15 days in Kutch I have decided to return to Kutch for a second series of interviews in the second part of my journey (last 2 weeks of May). I discovered more than I expected to find and a lot more than I was always told about India. The voice of the artisans sounds much different than that of the NGOs government representatives or many con-citizens who speak on their behalf.

3. Nomad study life in India is a challenge  
I am living a nomad life for two months in India, travelling from one place to another every week or two. But doing a study while changing setting is much different than travelling as a tourist or simply for pleasure and spiritual growth. The biggest challenge is to feel safe and secure in a new location and at the same time be able to focus on the scope of work. One cannot exclude the risks associated with this kind of project including travel and personal safety.

I have read with great interest all your blog entries and I realize our experiences are very different. It is fascinating for me to read about your experiences and am happy to share my own.

Here are a few stories of the interviews and you can follow more entries on Medium where I am trying to share a bit of each personal story of the people I meet during this process: https://medium.com/@monicamoisin_40284/onevoiceforcraft-chapter-1-india-diary-scrapbook-8ef2cb6032da

Until next time!

Monica

Buying Internship pt.1

Hi everyone,

Hope everyone is enjoying their Easter! This weekend has really been a good time for me to reflect over the whirlwind that these past weeks have been. Three weeks ago, I started interning at the buying department at one of the major Swedish retail organisations with its headquarter in Stockholm. My unofficial title is the “side-kick” of the assortment manager which means that not one day is the other alike. Although I've considered myself to be a control-freak my entire life, I must say that I love being in an environment that constantly changes and where not one day is the other alike.

My day-to-day activities range from attending meetings regarding campaign and marketing planning, check-up meetings with different buyers and their assistants, to attending group sessions that plan and coordinate collection drops of the coming seasons. Besides these meetings, I have frequently made overviews over different product ranges available at the retail organisations, and their competitors, to find gaps for new products or price-ranges that the buyers can fill in the market. I have also worked on another, larger, project alongside my daily activities, but more about that in my next blog post.

All in all, I am very grateful to have been given this opportunity to have an internship as a part of my master studies. Getting real-life experience and to actually put what I've learned into practice has been an eyeopener to all opportunities that exist after graduation. But mostly, I'm overly excited to have seven weeks left.

Talk to you soon!

Research internship part 1

Hi everyone!

Today marks my first three weeks as a research intern at the University of Borås, and I would like to give a small account of what I did these days.

The research project I am working on is called Forest Fabrics, and deals with topics such as bioeconomy and production. In particular, my main subject is paper yarn and woven fabrics made of this peculiar material. The final objective of my research internship is to determine whether a production with paper yarn can be economically feasible or not.

For the past three weeks, I tackled tasks such as getting to know the partner company with whom the group has been working on, researching on paper yarn and its weaving characteristics, and in general accumulating knowledge on how weaving technically works; since I do not have any previous textile education.

Summing up, I have spent these last three weeks doing desktop research to lay the foundation for the next phase of the project, which will start in May and will allow me to visit the partner company and gather more data.

While desktop research may sound monotonous when described like this, it actually gave me the possibility of discovering a whole new world of textiles, revolving around mass produced crafts. As a matter of fact, using paper yarn for high quality and luxurious fabrics is an ancient Japanese tradition. While in Japan paper yarn is made mostly from mulberry and used for exquisite kimonos; here in Sweden the yarn is made from the extensive forests (thus the name of the project) in the Värmland region and is mostly used for woven interior textiles. The project, together with the partner company, is trying to match mass production with an ancient craft.

Moreover, this kind of yarn and fabrics could have extensive repercussions on how raw material consumption will be perceived in the next years. As a matter of fact, the overall goal of the project is to show that it is indeed possible to use renewable resources for textile production, while keeping the same properties and high quality of final fabrics.

Already after three weeks I feel like I have learnt a lot; the topic is exciting and I have received great support from the project supervisor when I had questions or doubts.

In the next weeks the second phase of the research will start, and I will be able to visit the partner company. I look forward to see the practises I have read about in a life-like setting and to see and feel what the fabrics are like.

I'll keep you posted on the future developments!

Sara

My first weeks

Hi everyone!

I am doing my internship at a medium sized e-commerce company that are mostly selling sports clothes. The first weeks have been fun and lots to learn! My position here is product assistant for the purchasing department, but at the company they have divided the purchasing department into two sectors. The first purchasing department is for the commercial brands and the second one is for the exclusive brands. And I am working with the exclusive brands, we are a small group of 6 people, 3 product developers, one assortment manager, the manager of exclusive brands and of course me, the intern.

My main tasks includes checking the samples, as we get maybe 15 a day whereas many are shipping samples for AW19 but we also get many counter samples, pre production samples and photo samples. So when we get these samples I am assisting the product developers with checking if all the measures are correct, if they look the way they should, the color, the quality and so forth. I also check the website so that everything looks correct. I mix and match different garments with each other in order for the customers to find the right products fast and easy. Which generates into more sales for the company ;)

Another task that I have is to write the product descriptions for the coming products, it was a bit hard in the beginning to know what to write, as the product description is so important. As it is an e-commerce business the customer’s can´t touch and feel the garments before buying them.

I am also included in every meeting that the purchasing department has which has been super existing, one meeting was when the product developers went through trends and their thoughts for the coming seasons. 

One of the best things is that they have their own gym in the middle of the office space, where they arrange lunch classes’ everyday; you can also go out for a run if you want. As the company wants us to workout we also get a longer lunch break. 

Thats it for now, happy easter :D