EXPERIENCE

Creative Consulting

  • Developed a freelance model to allow for transparency across the toy and gift industry and help find mutually beneficial solutions for brands, licensees, licensors, & their wholesale & retail counterparts

  • References & client stories available upon request - typically work with small artist driven brands with strong IP

  • See my services page for custom options for your needs

Taylor Valentine LLC

 2021 -Current

Senior Buyer Gift

  • Managed up to $100mil of open to buy and drove 4 years of consecutive growth

  • After 4 years of experience moved back to LA and worked as a remote merchant running the toy and gift division on the west coast offering a bi-coastal perspective on the industry

  • Turned the gift divisions around driving 40% comps in one year and brought several new product categories to market including plush, faux vines, squishies, blind boxes, licensed collections all kicking off larger industry wide trends

  • Managed vendor relationships for over 250 global partners, oversaw key releases ensuring first to market, with competitive pricing, and accurate trend forecasting

  • Project managed several custom UO exclusive product launches from the concept to launch across a variety of categories 

Urban Outfitters

2014-2020

Owner Retail Shop

  • Ideated, branded, opened, and managed a small retail shop of curated gifts ranging in categories from vintage + handmade, to new housewares + gifts

  • collaborated with other small shops to host + run events including craft nights, salons, extended shopping hours, movie features, etc

  • worked with local artists and created products myself to sell unique one of a kind items to my local community

  • Closed the shop in 2014 to move to Philadelphia and continue my retail education and experience with Urban Outfitter’s gift division

The Little Shop 

2012-2014

  • Worked on a small team of retail buyers to create and curate products to revive the Roxy Brand and build up its popularity after a large surf industry crash in 2008

  • Bought for the retail stores and managed inventory as we grew from 20 stores to 80 stores nationwide

  • Project managed a white label program where own brand retail stores received a distinct product line that was not carried at the wholesale retail surf shops to maximize profits and minimize internal sales competition

Buyer Apparel

Roxy/Quiksilver

2009-2014