Official Show Guide - director-e

Meet the Judges
They’re the famous five tasked with the tough job of choosing our
business manager award winners for 2009
Christopher
Michael Thierry
hris’s extensive
experience in textiles Cmade
him the ideal
choice for managing judge.
Involved in textile clothing for
over 40 years, he started his
career in department stores,
spending his early years in
sales before moving into
buying. His retail career
included buying for the
Bentalls Store Group and
Alders Store Group while
also lecturing on textiles at
the Kingston College of
Education (now Kingston
University). Buying for Top
Man, part of the Burton
Group (now Arcadia), Chris
was the menswear buying
controller for Lewis’s
department store group.
Before joining The
Woolmark Company - now
Australian Wool Innovation -
in 1989 as UK retail general
manager, his last retail
position was menswear
buying director for Owen
Owen Store Group.
At Australian Wool
Innovation, Chris is involved
with the whole UK textile
pipeline from raw fibre to
consumer, developing
products, branding
opportunities, transferring
new technologies and
building marketing strategies
to enhance and promote the
use of Australian Merino
Wool, particularly with the
UK’s major retailers. He has
also been involved with the
ASBCI for over 10 years,
becoming a board member
and chairman of the Student
Membership Committee.
Liz
Leffman
iz started her career in
advertising and Lmarketing.
In 1985, she
became deputy chief
executive of Meridian
Leisurewear, a division of
Courtaulds, and was
responsible for the
management of two
factories that produced
clothing for Marks &
Spencer. Later, she became
marketing and business
development director for
Courtaulds Fabrics.
In 1991, fascinated by the
changes taking place in
Eastern Europe, Liz spent a
year working for Company
Assistance, a Warsawbased
consultancy, where
she helped newly privatised
garment businesses develop
marketing strategies.
Recognising an opportunity,
she went to Romania and
set up Clothesource, a
business offering
management services to
companies wanting to use
Romanian manufacturing
facilities. Clothesource has
now expanded to become a
consultancy specialising in
sourcing in the global
marketplace. Its customers
include businesses such as
Marks & Spencer, Tesco,
New Look, and, in the USA,
Gap and The Limited, for
which it provides data and
market intelligence, plus
training in global sourcing.
Liz is a visiting lecturer at
Westminster University, and
is chair of The Kairos
Foundation, a charity
providing self-esteem
training.
Susannah
Rayfield
S
usannah Rayfield is
the European
CORDURA ® Brand
Manager and the European
sales manager for INVISTA’s
Industrial Nylon Staple
Business. Susannah works
closely with the production,
logistics, credit control and
customer service functions
in the UK, continental
Europe and North America
to improve the
understanding of INVISTA’s
competitive global position.
Prior to joining INVISTA, she
worked at DuPont-Sabanci
Polyester (UK) Ltd in
Pontypool, South Wales, as
a customer technical service
representative. In this
position, she was
responsible for providing the
technical interface between
DuPontSA and the
customer base of the
European automotive interior
fabric producers. She also
initiated and implemented
quality improvements to
target process areas and
engaged customers in
projects involving product
and procedural
advancement.
Susannah attained her BSc
degree in 1997 from Cardiff
Business School at the
University of Wales, Cardiff,
where she won an award for
excellence in the field of
textile science. She later
earned her MSc degree in
textile science from the
School of Textiles Industries
at the University of Leeds.
Carl Anthony
Lawrence
C
arl is professor of
textile engineering at
the University of
Leeds, where he is head of
the Centre for Technical
Textiles within the School
of Design.
The centre undertakes
research and development
into novel fibres, fabrics and
performance clothing and
collaborates closely with
textile companies.
Prior to his university career,
he spent 10 years in
industrial research and
development, working for
Plessey at the Alan Clarke
Research Centre, BTTG,
T&N, and RK Carbon Fibres
and Composites Ltd.
His academic career started
with the University of
Manchester Institute of
Science & Technology
(UMIST), now part of
Manchester University,
where he became a senior
lecturer before joining the
University of Leeds.
Carl has published over 100
research papers, patents
and textbooks on textile
materials and processes
and was awarded The
Textile Institute’s prestigious
Warner Memorial Medal for
contributions in textile
research.
Julie King
King
J
AWARDS
ulie is head of fashion
and textiles at De
Montfort University in
Leicester – the first university
in the world to offer a course
in contour fashion.
She initially studied there as
a postgraduate student
before holding a number of
high profile positions,
including assistant professor
at Hong Kong Polytechnic
University, where she started
the first masters in fashion
and textile design.
When a job at her old
university came up in 2003,
however, she took up the
opportunity to head back to
Leicester.
Today, when Julie is not
running De Montfort
University’s fashion
department, she is working
on a doctorate in colour
trend forecasting. She
already has much
experience in colour
prediction having worked as
a consultant for Global
Colour Research in London,
a company that compiles
bi-annual industry reports of
trends that influence future
collections.
www.director-e.com www.fabricdirector-e.com www.workwearshow.co.uk 11