Richard Gualtieri
VICE PRESIDENT MEN'S SPORTSWEAR · The Levy Group
New York, NY
In My Own Words
Richard Gualtieri is a talented global merchant with 20+ years of men's wear merchandising, buying, planning, marketing, fashion director, and special events experience. In each of his professional roles, Richard has been successful in producing positive results and has a consistent history of advancing shared company goals. He is an experienced leader who has successfully managed cross functional teams ranging from 5 to 20 people.
AREAS OF EXPERTISE: BUYING AND MERCHANDISING BRAND DEVELOPMENT RETAIL MANAGEMENT STRATEGIC CATEGORY PLANNING
KEY CAREER ACCOMPLISHMENTS: MARKETING AND PUBLIC RELATIONS FASHION DIRECTION INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS IN-STORE SPECIAL EVENTS
Managed the merchandising team at Tommy Hilfiger that lead the collaboration effort with design, production and sales teams to maximize growth and profitability for the North American men’s wholesale business and licensed partners. These efforts lead to a 20% increase in Spring 2014 unit bookings to LY with a -12% decrease in duplicative sku’s. Collaborated with designer Joseph Abboud to create and launch Black Brown 1826, a proprietary brand for Lord & Taylor, a collection that includes sportswear, suits, dress shirts, neckwear, and accessories. The brand quickly became the largest men’s brand at L&T. Conceived and launched men’s contemporary collections department at Lord & Taylor and grew the area to 18% TTL men’s business. Implemented a comprehensive marketing strategy that included: advertising (magazine, direct mail, and ROP) vendor matrix, sales plan, gross margin goals and floor plans.
CAREER OVERVIEW BIO - RICHARD B. GUALTIERI Richard Gualtieri is a talented merchant with 20+ years of global merchandising, buying, planning, marketing, fashion director, and special events experience. As the VP of Men's Merchandising for wholesale at Tommy Hilfiger, Richard and his team collaborated with design, production and sales to maximize the Macy's and Hudson Bay exclusive collections. He also partnered with European, specialty, and company store teams to increase synergies across all markets. Previously, as the VP of Merchandising for Hickey Freeman and Hart Schaffner Marx brands at HMX Group, Richard focused on driving men's sportswear growth by working closely with Joseph Abboud and his design team, sales and production teams on building the collections. He reported directly into CEO, Doug Williams. Richard’s position was eliminated due to HMX's bankruptcy filing. Richard also spent time with Faconnable, as the Director of Merchandising for both the US retail organization and US wholesale for all categories including women's. He traveled to the company headquarters in Nice, France frequently to work with global merchandising and production teams, and also had the responsibility for US marketing and oversaw all US in store special events. Earlier in his career at Lord & Taylor, Richard spent 9 years in total, the last spent 5 years as the DVP-Director Men's Fashion and Special Events. Richard set the fashion direction for men's wear by traveling to the shows in Milan and Paris as well as trend shopping in Florence and London. He also developed new relationships with luxury brands to spread the word of the re-branding of L&T. Richard spent the first 3 years at L&T as a senior buyer launching men's contemporary and premium denim, taking it to 18% to the total men’s sportswear business. Richard spent his final 2 years at Lord & Taylor concentrating all his efforts on launching and maximizing the Black Brown proprietary brand collection working closely with designer Joseph Abboud and his design team as they conceived, merchandised and launched Black Brown 1826 proprietary brand for Lord & Taylor. Richard also held senior buying/merchandising positions with Macy's East and Filene's (May Department Stores).
Work Experience
VICE PRESIDENT MEN'S SPORTSWEAR
The Levy Group2018 – 2019
Leader of wholesale sales, merchandising and design teams for launch of Hickey Freeman Performance Sportswear, Golf and Dress Shirt Collections. • Achieved $10M in sales in second year, more than doubling first year sales • Opened major luxury dept. stores --Nordstrom, Bloomingdales, Lord & Taylor, Patrick James, more-- and 50+ better specialty stores across US, Canada • Negotiated, secured exclusive distribution deal with Duran Group to top 1,200 US golf clubs • Negotiated, secured exclusive distribution deal with Better Pro Golf to top 120 Canadian pro shops • Planned, executed Spring & Fall 2019 merchandising assortment plans and Spring/Summer color palette • Researched, implemented all key men's trends --sustainability, travel, performance-- into launch assortment.
VICE PRESIDENT SALES & MERCHANDISING, WHOLESALE
MPG Mondetta Performance Gear2015 – 2017
VP of $20M North American operation, managing a team of ten. • Doubled sales to $20M over two years by exploding new channels of distribution • Spring 2017 +30% market placements by focusing assortments, trimming excess SKUs by 45%, reducing sample costs by 40% • Launched Julianne Hough Collection for MPG Sport, women's active lifestyle collection in all Lord & Taylor, Von Maur, Dillard's, Hudson's Bay, El Palacio, REI, MEC, Title Nine, Barry's Bootcamp, Equinox • Launched MPG men's in Saks Fifth Avenue, El Palacio, Simon's, Lord & Taylor, Hudson's Bay, MEC, REI, Barry's Bootcamp, Equinox • Grew men's line to 15% to total from 5%, rebalancing women's to 85% of MPG portfolio • Developed Fall 2016 & Spring 2017 SKU plans --all styles were merchandised, priced and adopted • Developed product knowledge books, regional seminars for in-store sales associate training. 1 of 3
VICE PRESIDENT MEN'S MERCHANDISING, WHOLESALE
Tommy Hilfiger2013 – 2013
Lead for team of six in collaboration with design, production, sales for North American men's wholesale and licensee businesses. Optimized growth, profitability for 630 Macy's stores, 90 Hudson's Bay stores, plus licensees in Mexico, Latin and South America. Aligned business channel objectives with European, specialty and company store teams. • Spring 2014 +20% unit bookings over LY and trimmed duplicate SKUs by 12% by creating pre-planned assortments by region, cluster and climate • Conducted all senior management presentations with account CEO and senior management • Participated in weekly coordinator calls and provided final approval on all visual directives • Partnered in all new shop, store openings including the massive Herald Square renovation.
VICE PRESIDENT MEN'S MERCHANDISING, DMM RETAIL, E-COMMERCE
HMX Group2012 – 2012
VP of North American men's sportswear wholesale operations, managing a team of four. • +2.2% margin after increasing Spring 2013 market placements 37% by focusing assortments, maximizing business categories, opportunities and reducing excess SKUs by 82% • Facilitated communication, collaboration with sales, design, production, marketing and store buying teams • Directed business tracking reports for sales, margin, adoption, replenishment and inventory • Developed, implemented seasonal strategies to exceed planned sales growths.
DIRECTOR MERCHANDISING, MARKETING, RETAIL, E-COMMERCE
Façonnable USA2011 – 2012
Managed all US men's, women's, denim, footwear and Internet buying teams, managing a team of twelve. • +2.7% margin after increasing 2011 sales 26% over LY by tailoring assortments by door, balancing sales-stock ratios • Collaborated with global merchandising, sourcing teams at Nice, France HQ to merchandise US retail boutique, wholesale retailers, and global marketing team alongside Toth+Co ad agency to design US marketing, PR campaigns • Developed, executed 10 in-store events --Beverly Hills store Shopping Night, Newport Beach charity fashion show, NYC Flagship GQ 50th Anniversary charity event. 2 of 3
VICE PRESIDENT MEN'S FASHION DIRECTOR, MEN'S SPECIAL EVENT'S
Hudson's Bay Company2005 – 2011
Promoted to VP and established men's fashion direction at L&T. • Grew penetration to +8% to total business, by augmenting awareness of men's retail and creating 20+ collections • Planned, organized 50+ events --created Guy's Night Out, an annual shopping night generating $50K sales at 5th Av • Integrated fashion trend reports at color, style, classification levels into all merchant and private label buys • Researched new resources, competition to identify business matrix opportunities for growth • Analyzed trends through attendance of market, trade, fashion shows in Europe, US • Selected, styled, finalized all men's advertising campaigns --direct mail, magazine, ROP • Collaborated with Publicity Dept. on editorial merchandise and conducted all media interviews • Directed all photo shoots to ensure theme alignment • Published monthly fashion newsletter circulated to buying teams, stores.
SENIOR BUYER, MERCHANDISER MEN'S CONTEMPORARY & ACTIVE COLLECTIONS, BLACK BROWN
Lord & Taylor2001 – 2005
1826 Responsible for 48% of men's sportswear sales volume --Polo Ralph Lauren, Callaway, Black Brown 1826 subvertical. • #1 Buyer recognition for Fall 2010 --exceeding sales, GM% targets via Black Brown 1826 launch and growth as L&T's largest men's brand. • 18% TTL business growth via conception and launch of Contemporary and Active collections department • Collaborated with designer, Joseph Abboud to plan, develop, implement Black Brown 1826 at all L&T, Hudson's Bay stores • Launched Adidas, Calvin Klein, Diesel, G-Star Raw, Hugo Boss, Nike, Puma, Spyder, Under Amour.
SENIOR BUYER
Macy's East1997 – 2001
MEN'S CONTEMPORARY, POLO RALPH LAUREN, AMERICAN & EUROPEAN DESIGNER COLLECTIONS