Today I develop and buy knitted accessories, knitwear and trims at Gudrun Sjödén in Stockholm. Before that, I designed and developed collections for H&M, ZARA and Ralph Lauren at Shahi Exports, a garment manufacturer in Delhi, so I know both the brand side and the factory side.
Bhumika Sethi
Junior Product Developer & Buyer
I work in the stretch between a design brief and bulk production, where cost, timing and fit get settled.
At Gudrun Sjödén I moved from design into buying, so I follow a style from the first sketch to the reorder. I brief suppliers, comment on fit, cost every style and help decide what goes into the range, with sales data behind each choice.
My design training at NIFT and Konstfack lets me judge a sample on design, construction and material at the same time, and keep the design intent when the price has to come down.
I run four areas and the systems behind them, with suppliers in China, India, Turkey, Greece and Morocco. Each season I follow 50 to 60 styles through sampling and fittings.
End to end, from range plan to order: 25 styles and 137 SKUs a season across 4 suppliers. I plan the category budget, cost every style, negotiate price, MOQ and lead time, and place the orders. All wool is mulesing-free, and about 90% of the range is in organic or recycled fibres. The Tulipan balaclava and my hand-knitted embroidered mittens were both picked for the campaign.
With our senior knitwear buyer, across 47 styles and 6 suppliers in China, Europe, India and Morocco, I run sampling, fittings and garment follow-up, manage order admin and give design input.
I buy the care labels, hangtags and barcodes for the whole range: 19 components made in three factories in India, China and Turkey, including the new care-label information for the Digital Product Passport.
I review supplier ISO reports daily for wash, pilling, dimensional stability and more, coordinate chemical and UL-based testing, and follow up transaction, scope and origin certificates.
From 8 weeks to 6, across knitted accessories and knitwear, by cutting sample rounds with tighter fit comments and earlier supplier follow-up.
Gudrun Sjödén · Product developmentClear briefs, every sample measured on arrival, and fit comments written straight into Centric.
Gudrun Sjödén · Product developmentNegotiated across my AW26 buy, gloves included. On a striped alpaca scarf I also cut the MOQ per colour by two thirds, so repeat orders stay small and low-risk.
Gudrun Sjödén · BuyingKnitted accessories started as a small assortment. Each season I cut about 4 slow solid styles and used the space for experimental styles and cost-friendly sellers: leg warmers, gloves and fingerless gloves.
Gudrun Sjödén · BuyingFrom Okinawa, the Autumn 2025 concept capsule I designed, across knitwear, jersey and wovens. Its asymmetric dress was picked for the campaign.
Gudrun Sjödén · DesignH&M ordered 5 to 6 styles at once from a recycled, yarn-dyed collection I developed, something that rarely happens in one go. That order grew our business with H&M by 15%.
Shahi Exports · Product developmentSupply, commercial, cost and compliance, and what changed after each one.
New care-label information for the Digital Product Passport (DPP) pushed trims lead time to 15 to 18 days, and suppliers needed support with the new label ordering portal. Working closely with our product suppliers, we kept the delay to 2 to 3 orders, but every timeline was tight.
Urgent repeat trims orders now show up in the system and get priority, instead of surfacing late.
Earlier experimental products had sold weakly, so a balaclava, a product type new to our range, needed a strong case before it could be approved.
Tulipan knitted balaclavaIntarsia tulip pattern, opening adjusted with knitted cords. 70% mulesing-free wool, 18% polyamide, 12% organic cotton. In aubergine, Klein blue and black.
The risk was capped twice: a smaller first buy, and blocked yarn that could move into other styles if the balaclava did not sell. When it sold, the yarn was already there for the repeat.
A style with Schiffli embroidery cost a third more than the buyer's target price.
The cost came out of the stitch count and the pattern, not out of the design.
During an audit of our new store in Paris, we were asked to prove that a new product was made of organic cotton, with 7 days to answer. The GOTS or OCS transaction certificate was not in Centric, and the factory was closed for Chinese New Year.
A compliance request no longer depends on reaching a factory. Certificates and test reports now go into Centric as soon as they are issued.
One range from my design years at Gudrun Sjödén, two from Shahi Exports, and first concepts for a freelance home range. At Shahi I worked on the factory side as designer and product developer: a brand sent a brief, and I turned it into colours, fabrics, trims, embroidery and a sample the factory could make. Each board follows one range from brief to sample.
Gudrun Sjödén · Autumn 2025 concept capsule
A capsule inside the main range, inspired by Okinawa: the Ryukyu dance costumes, the Okinawa festival and the Haari dragon boat race.
Print-led, in three colourways, across wovens, jersey, knitwear and accessories.
My partI took it from mood board to range: silhouettes, motifs, watercolour artwork, final prints in three colourways, flats and specs for every style, and the matching accessories.
| Style | Fabric | Details | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| Design 1 · Focus dress | 100% cotton organdy, digital print | Asymmetric tier, elasticated binding, elastic ribbon | 99 cm |
| Design 2 · Balloon blouse | 100% cotton 60s, digital print | Mother of pearl buttons | 62 cm |
| Design 2 · Balloon skirt | 100% cotton 60s, digital print | Stitch lines, smocking at back, box pleats, gathered hem | 92 cm |
| Design 3 · Boxy cardigan | Alpaca melange yarn | Fully fashioned, half milano at front and neck | |
| Design 3 · Jersey T-shirt | 100% cotton heavy jersey, digital print | Rolled edge at hem and sleeve, dropped shoulder | |
| Design 4 · A-line jersey dress | 100% cotton heavy jersey, digital print | Flared sleeves gathered at armhole, side pockets | 105 cm |
| Wool scarf | Wool, discharge print | Placement print | 105 × 105 cm |
| Triangular scarf | 100% cotton 60s, digital print | Stripe | 85 × 42.5 cm |
| Embroidered bag | Cotton | Striped print lining | 20 × 20 cm |
Client: Desigual · AW 2020
An upcycled range for young women, 18 to 30, made from leftover denim and waste fabric cuttings, with Indian craft at its heart.
The sewing and embroidery were done by 10 to 15 women trained through Good Business Lab, so they could work from home instead of travelling to a factory.
My partI developed the patch embroidery from waste pieces, planned the quilting and Kantha, and set the wash, finishing and trims for each style.
Client: ZARA · AW 2021
Indian embroideries and jacquard fabrics brought into ready-to-wear for women 30 to 50. Bohemian shapes, smocking and lace inserts, a soft rustic palette.
My partEvery embroidery was tried as a swatch first, by hand sketch and in CAD, so we could judge the look and the workmanship before it went onto a garment.
Freelance · for a buying house working with H&M · Holiday 2024
First-round concepts for a holiday home textiles range, developed from the client's mood board. This is idea exploration, not final artwork: colours, scale and finishing were still to be refined.
My partI drew 13 first-round prints and 3 yarn-dyed ideas, then explored how they could work across 47 product ideas: kitchen towels, seat cushions, table covers, runners, placemats and cushion covers, each with first sizes and finishing. 14 of the 47 were extra ideas I added beyond the brief.
Factory side in Delhi, brand side in Stockholm, with a master's in between.
Prints and colourways for the range, with lab dips and print strike-offs managed in Illustrator to get colour right the first time.
Home collections alongside the apparel range: textiles for sleep and bath, and ceramics, with the same print, colour and material thinking.
I supported the senior designer and the pattern making: measurement lists, sample checks and comments from first sample to pre-production, plus test-fit sewing and jersey prototypes. I still measure and check samples myself when the designer or pattern maker is away.
My master's project grew out of my own move from India to Sweden. I made a textile collage of hand knotted and hand tufted pieces that bring traditional craft and contemporary form together, to show what happens when two cultures meet. It sits under cultural sustainability: keeping craft knowledge alive by letting it travel.
Knotting by hand showed me why construction, yarn choice and time drive cost in a factory.
See the work at Konstfack
Open to product development and buying roles, especially in knitwear, wovens and jersey.