Sarah

Head of Wholesale, Franchise & Licensing

“I love the team here, they are driven, smart, and such interesting creative people.”

• What does a good day look like in your role?

  A good day is when our team is overachieving their sales budgets. And I actually haven't had a month where we haven't! Our wholesale, franchise & licensing business is completely on fire, it's wonderful to be a part of driving this exponential growth. 

  A good day is also when we find solutions for our customer, and improve working relationships. 

  And of course, when our teams are collaborating and working well together. 
  Don't waste time competing, create together!

• What does a challenging day look like in your role?

  Moving over from merchandising to wholesale, franchise & licensing, it's a different way of working. Instead of having your business that you're planning, buying and trading, you are supporting our amazing partners to do this.

  So it's more about customer service, building the relationship and supporting partners to drive their business. There is an aspect of persuasion that is important for this role where it is a bit out of your control, but you know you can control how you approach each situation. 

  We have key mottos, that our director Patrick Heitkam always teaches; the customer is always right; focus on being solution oriented; and find ways to help your customer. 

• What do you get up to in a typical day/week?

  There is a good balance of constants, but also new projects we are always working on in a typical day or week. 

  Our constants are sales and shipping, we review this daily to ensure we are finding all opportunities to overachieve our budget. Other constants are customer facing, meetings, reviews and also working with our wonderful cross-functional directors and their respective teams. 

  Our company is also very nimble and ready to react to the business. With the challenges of the pandemic, Brexit and overall global economic situation, there are always new projects that come up. There's never a dull moment at AllSaints!

• What’s the best thing about working for AllSaints?

  I have to say at least two.

  The first is the team. These are the people you spend most of your time with, so it's important to work at building strong and trusting relationships. I love the team here, they are driven, smart, and such interesting creative people!

  The second is the product. I have worked for fashion companies where I didn't 100% love the product. It is a very different experience in your everyday work life. I feel lucky that every time we are presented the new collection, I get butterflies when I see all the incredible work Catherine Scorey, our COO produces with our talented design, buying and production teams.

• What’s the most surprising or unexpected thing about working for us?

  There is a stereotype that fashion companies are cut throat, and highly competitive. I have been in these environments.

  But at AllSaints, we have Peter Wood, our CEO, and our wholesale, franchise & licensing leader Patrick Heitnam, who live and breathe the motto, "work hard and be nice" as well as "hungry and humble"!

• Why AllSaints?

  AllSaints is such a cool brand. As we grow and expand across the globe, it's wonderful to see how strong the appetite for the brand is. We have cool product, and work with cool people. 

  It's also great to work for a brand that has a wide reach. We reach a wide age range, and customer demographic. And we have a broad offering, with a balanced mens and womens portfolio, and a strong ready-to-wear presence. Plus we are working to grow our handbags, accessories and footwear categories.

• What’s not in the job description but something you’d tell a friend if they were looking to join the brand?

  There is so many positive benefits working for AllSaints. Something that might not be in the job description is how we work. We have quite a flat structure, and truly open door policy. 

  This allows you to take ownership of your business, and grow as an entrepreneur.

• Tell us about your journey with AllSaints so far.

  I originally moved from New York to help grow the AllSaints presence internationally. I started as a senior merchandiser in the UK/EU merchandising team. 

  While supporting here, I started to launch our first retail store in Asia. Then we launched with our first franchise partner in the Middle East. I feel a strong pride, having supported the opening of more than 100 retail stores, outlets, travel retail, digital sites, across 15 new countries. 

  Then I got a chance to focus on the accessories and footwear business globally. And now I am with the wholesale, franchise & licensing team. It's an exciting area of the business, where we have, and plan to drive exponential growth. And we have such a talented team to drive this.