My first internship with VF! --Abby Wongsuwan

My internship is at VF Asia Ltd. This is my first internship so I didn’t really know what to expect at first. Turned out, I liked it so far.

VF Asia Limited (VFA) was established in 1974. It is recognized as VF’s regional headquarters. It currently has about 770 employees located in Hong Kong and about 3,000 in Asia Pacific.

Timberland’s showroom.

I am working for Timberland, mainly assisting the merchandising team for the accessories line. The Hong Kong office oversees headwear, gloves, scarf, and socks. We handle all the process from product development to production. We are currently working with nine factories. Each factory specializes in producing certain product. Most factories are located in China.

Timberland’s accessories line.

SmartWool Logo.

I am also working for SmartWool. SmartWool is relatively a new brand for VF. It’s a lifestyle brand providing high quality active outdoor apparel, sportswear, and accessories. The Hong Kong office handles all product line except for the socks. The main factory that it deals with is in Vietnam.

Although the office environment is rather casual, both teams are very busy. I work with a relatively smaller team. There are only two people in each team. All of them are very nice and friendly. They took time from their routine to teach me about what they do. I understand both the big picture of what the team is doing and also the details on what each person is doing.

My cubicle.

The dress code at the office is casual. Most employees wear jeans with a T-shirt, polo, or a shirt. Most of the employees wear VF brands such as Timberland, Northface, and Lee.

So far I enjoy interning here very much. I feel that the corporate culture here is suitable for me.

Abby Wongsuwan

VF

Interning with Under Armour--Kristyn Daly

I had no idea what to expect from this entire experience. Being in another country halfway around the world for two months with a group of people I didn’t know sounded insane. We’ve been here for two weeks now and I can honestly say that this experience is once in a lifetime. I’m loving Hong Kong, minus the humidity, and growing closer with the group every day. I was worried about time going too slow and having seven weeks drag by. It turns out that time is flying by and I wish it would slow down.

I’m interning with Under Armour this summer, which is crazy considering the headquarters is about an hour and a half from UD in Baltimore, Maryland.  My supervisor is from the home office and is in Hong Kong for the next 2 ½ years. The Hong Kong office employs 65 people on one floor in the building. Rumor has it we’re on the 37^th floor because that was the founder and CEO’s college football number.

Under Armour's mission statement is mounted on the wall in the reception area.

In the 8 days I’ve worked at Under Armour, I’ve started working on a few projects. I was first assigned to redesign the “War Room,” which is a room that has a series of spreadsheets, graphs, etc. that are snapshots of every vendor the office is responsible for. The day after I was assigned that project, I was told to forget about it and work on two others—vendor scorecards and vendor profiles. The scorecards haven’t really been completed before, so I was expected to create a template for the scorecards. It was a two-week deadline, which seemed impossible, but I knew I had to find a way to get it done. Under Armour is all about finding a way, which is really encouraging. I’m quickly realizing that adjusting to change and being adaptable is really important in the corporate world.

Throughout the office there are
manikins dressed in UA gear.

The scorecard project is currently on hold, so I’ve been focusing a lot of my time on vendor profiles. I’ve been in contact with all the vendors for information and have also contacted multiple people at the home office. The time difference is a huge adjustment because I know my questions won’t be answered until after my workday is over.

The newest shoe, the SpeedForm, is expected to hit the market soon!
http://gizmodo.com/speedform-under-armour-has-built-a-bra-for-your-feet-510120541

I’m learning a lot about sourcing, the different vendors, and Under Armour products. In the next few weeks, I’ll be visiting a factory that’s making a new pair of shoes that will hit the market in the very near future. The shoes have a seamless heel-cup so they fit like a sock. It’s never been done before, and it’s proof that Under Armour continues to be innovative.  I’m so excited to be a part of a company that's growing at an incredible rate.

Kristyn Daly

Under Armour

First week in VF Corp. --Eva Hu

The first week working at VF is pretty exciting. I am glad that Abby and I are working with the same company, even though we have different teams and departments. I am working with the Kipling and Eastpak team under product development and product assurance. It is a great opportunity for me to gain practical experience on textile usage and the flow of production. The people in my office are friendly and hardworking. They actively show me almost everything in the office.  I know VF is a huge global company that maintains over 500 employees, so knowing certain rules in the office is very important as an intern. The overall working atmosphere is pretty casual, so I don't have to dress formally everyday. Denise Lam, HR of outdoor coalition, introduced me to every team member. I am so impressed with their experiences and professional knowledge in the fashion industry. I feel this is something I will never get chance to learn in the classroom.

This is my phone with my name
and personal code on it. 

They gave me laptop to use. 

Day one, I learned briefly on PD structure, daily operation system and material test procedure with my coworker May Lai, who is senior merchandiser on Outdoor Europe Coalition.  Day two, I worked with Cherry Huen, a senior merchandiser, help her with all kinds of overseas vendor emails. Day three, I worked with Carol Lo on SPG14 material review, basically about the textile cutting and organization. Day four, with Excel, Yoo, who is a fabric manager from Korea, we worked on new season concept sample review with PD team and fabric leaning. 

One of my coworker, he is from New Jersey
and now is his fifth year working with VF.

After my first week at VF, I am totally refreshed. I know how each fabric could cause so much difference on product usage. Even though I took the textile courses in school, the real applications are more complicated than just plain studying. This is just my first week, I believe there is more  for me to learn and explore. Thanks for the opportunity, I enjoyed a lot! 





Eva Hu
VF

Bittersweet in Hong Kong--Amanda Ritter

Ten days have started my journey in Hong Kong. Having never traveled across seas before, this internship has already made such an impact on me and has become an experience that I will never forget.

My first day of work at Li & Fung was not the best. I became lost within 15 minutes from my hotel. After finally getting off at the MTR station, I found the LF Sourcing building with no problem. The staff was fairly friendly with tours of the company building, introductions, and my boss took me out to lunch. After lunch, work became sour. I stayed 2 hours later than my scheduled time on my first day. This was not a huge problem but the material I was working with was difficult because I am not familiar with looking through thousands of data of e-commerce on Excel spreadsheets to create additional spreadsheets of specific data.  The rest of the week, I spent my time at work researching the branch I work with and continuing with Excel spreadsheets. I hope that my boss will allow me to do other fashion related things soon. On a positive note, there were a few things about work that I thoroughly enjoyed. At Li & Fung, I work in the trading branch under the KS Stream, which stands for Kohl’s Sourcing.  We have different showrooms where Li & Fung designs and manufactures the products and buyers from Kohl’s come to select new products for their store. I hope to be asked to help decorate the showrooms in the future.

My favorite part of my first week was on Wednesday and Thursday. My boss sent me to a retail convention called Retail Asia Expo located at the Hong Kong Convention & Exhibition Centre. There are no words to describe how awesome this trip was. I acted as a retailer from Li & Fung and walked around different booths to gain knowledge on what services/products could potentially benefit Li & Fung. I was also able to sit in on seminars and listen to people talk about their products from either a technology or sustainable point of view. My favorite seminar was on virtual retailing where you can try on clothes in the store with a 3D mirror. I would love to see this develop in the US.

For the remainder of my 6 weeks in Hong Kong, I hope to see myself develop and truly dive into the Hong Kong culture and with Li & Fung.

One of the booths at the Retail Asia Expo. The display was beautiful and focused on being sustainable with recycled materials for mannequins. 

This image was displayed in a seminar at the Retail Convention. It is a touch screen Kiosk where you can pick your item of choice, put into your online basket, scan a code and purchase it on your I-pad or I-phone device.

Amanda Ritter
Li & Fung

Program Background

This summer, 9 fashion merchandising/design students from the University of Delaware will travel to Hong Kong, China to intern with companies in the fashion industry.