![]() As a leader, when you think about motion decisions, you want to go to someone who knows how to mobilise multiple people.Īnother important skill set is to be able to quantify what you have achieved - to be able to elaborate with the data facts.Īnother important skill set is to be able to quantify what you have achieved - to be able to elaborate with the data facts. My manager called me to rally the team, and I realised I enjoyed doing that. ![]() For me, it was the ability to somehow convince people to come together. I think for a lot of beginners, you don’t really know “this is the skill I need to have.” You go through everyday and you see what connects. What core skills did you accumulate to receive a promotion? You know how to negotiate, how to find the middle ground.” She was right and I’m grateful for those humble production beginnings. But my manager told me, “After you learn every aspect of production and making the garments, you can go anywhere because you have that product knowledge, that attention to detail, that math understanding, from wholesale price to retail margins. So, I remember feeling that was not enough for me and I wanted to make a difference and get to the top. I don’t think many started with supply chain because it is back of the house - you support, you don’t speak up. I looked around me and the CEOs of the other fashion companies to start in merchandising, or marketing, or design. Production is interesting because, for the longest time, I did not appreciate a supply chain background. How did a supply chain and production background lay the foundations for your career? I love the brand and I think one day, I will be able to bring Ralph Lauren to greater success financially and from a brand awareness perspective in China, because I know the people there.” It just came out and that’s when he gave me a three-month work placement in the newly acquired Ralph Lauren Hong Kong headquarters. Lauren, I’m your only mainland Chinese employee out of your New York City headquarters. ![]() When I was in the elevator with Ralph Lauren, I just said “Mr. Any exposure to your founders and CEOs is a good one, and if you can, talk a bit about yourself: your name, who you are, and what you have that no-one else has.Īny exposure to your founders and CEOs is a good one, and talk a bit about yourself: your name, who you are, and what you have that no-one else has. If people tell you, “don’t go in the elevator” with the founders or CEOs, I’m going to give you the opposite advice - go in the elevator. Whenever I see him, he’s a reminder for me that I still need to treat everyday as if it was that day. I remembered, “One day, if I make it, I can tell this story.” Eventually, I went back to the same building and the same security was still there. Within two minutes, a security guard came up and said to me, “you’re trespassing,” and I was escorted off the building. I started talking to people and they friendly and even took my resume. ![]() I followed to the third floor - and that was the Ralph Lauren floor. Through the freight elevator in the landmark building in the garment district, I saw Oscar de la Renta, Ralph Lauren and Gucci, but I couldn’t get in. How did you land your first job in fashion? Now, BoF Careers consolidates Hirata’s advice from the LinkedIn Live event on building a career in fashion. Indeed, PwC’s “Unravelling the Fabric Ceiling” report in 2019 found that just 12.5 percent of clothing companies in the Fortune 1000 have female CEOs, while a Harvard study reported this year, the average age for a sitting CEO today is 58. In early 2020, as the Coronavirus pandemic was spreading across the globe, Hirata joined Diane Von Furstenberg as head of the APAC business before she was appointed president and CEO a year later - at the age of 31. From there, Hirata took on senior management roles in production at New York-based Japanese luxury brand Adeam before joining Jill Stuart in 2019 as chief strategy officer. I just followed to the third floor - that was the Ralph Lauren floor,” Hirata told BoF in a Live event hosted on LinkedIn last week.ĭespite security escorting her off the premises, Hirata was offered a role in the supply chain and production department at Ralph Lauren, where she worked for over 5 years, in the New York and Hong Kong offices, and assisted in the launch of Polo for Women. “When I look back, I cannot believe how crazy and how desperate I was. Īs a new graduate of art history and Japanese from Franklin and Marshall College in Pennsylvania, Gabby Hirata landed her first role in fashion by sneaking into the Ralph Lauren offices in New York to drop off a resume. Acceptįollow in the path of fashion insiders: apply for your next job on BoF Careers now. 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