Tej Sopal

Built an independent apparel design leadership and advisory practice focused on sportswear, outdoor, lifestyle, and heritage-inspired product. Partnered with brands and clients on design direction, range strategy, and product storytelling with commercial guardrails. • Apparel design direction and seasonal concept frameworks • Range architecture support, good-better-best, segmentation and pricing logic. • Materials and construction strategy for durability and brand authenticity. • Client presentations, line plans, and delivery roadmaps

Owned lifestyle apparel direction within a multi-billion RMB sportswear group. Led global seasonal collections across apparel, footwear, and accessories while embedding commercial discipline into product architecture. Key Impact • Scaled Lifestyle revenue from RMB 2.1B to RMB 3.2B; peaked at RMB 4.39B in 2024 • Contributed 30–40% of total group revenue through apparel-driven growth • Achieved sustained 9% YoY sales growth to $341M via consumer-led design strategy • Delivered +34% growth in 2018 and +33% in 2022 despite macro volatility • Embedded agile design workflows post-pandemic to stabilise output and speed • Standardised seasonal range frameworks across multi-category assortments

Led menswear apparel design within a $120M business unit inside VF Corporation. Directed seasonal assortments and strengthened commercial performance through disciplined product architecture. Key Impact • Increased revenues from $85M to $120M, approx. 12–13% CAGR • Drove +18% uplift (SS16) and +48% uplift (FW17) via assortment and design-to- cost strategies. • Pioneered Young Consumer Strategy, launching 60-style/240-SKU line that fueled double-digit YoY growth. • Introduced targeted fabric and color strategies, creating silhouettes that became brand icons. • Strengthened collaboration between design, merchandising, and marketing to optimise GTM strategy.

Delivered apparel design strategy for fashion and sportswear brands during restructuring and repositioning phases. Key Impact • Rebuilt underperforming product lines through focused range simplification • Defined brand-aligned product strategies grounded in pricing and segmentation • Conducted consumer profiling and line planning to improve commercial clarity • Led collection presentations and supported GTM planning

Led turnaround of declining menswear division within value retail environment. Key Impact • Stabilized AW12 decline, achieving £5M sales, +14% YoY • Increased product profit to 38% • Repositioned brand via “More Than Expected” range generating £70K+ • Improved perceived value by 20% through pricing and assortment reset • Negotiated denim supplier efficiencies up to 30%

Directed menswear category growth across EU, Canada, and Middle East distribution. Key Impact • Scaled menswear turnover from €155M → €280M (+€125M in 4 years). • Expanded footprint to 200 retail stores and 1,700 wholesale accounts across EU, Canada, and MDE. • Delivered €41M growth in casualwear (2006–2009), scaling the segment to 70% of menswear. • Implemented consumer-driven product storytelling, forging closer brand–consumer engagement. • Mentored design teams, elevating creative output and market relevance.

Under this new title the job involved working more closely with the Adidas Innovation Team in realising and bringing new innovation and technology to the market. It involved working cross category over all the premium segments and making sure that the technology was engineered per sport. Educating and teaching other designers on new innovation was a major part of the responsibilities to insure the brand communicated one true global message. Recent projects at market now include formation and Clima Cool.

As a designer working for adidas, my main responsibility is to design apparel to meet the needs of the market place, contributing to the sales and profitable growth of the company. This involves initiating and developing concepts relating to specific trends. An important aspect of this is to visit our competitors to examine ranging propositions and identify the trends prevalent in each of the international markets. Additionally, meetings are held with buyers from the sports/fashion retail sector to determine their requirements and present conceptual designs.