Its not very often that you get to study technology at fashion institutes that are especially renowned for creativity; but fashion needs technology to thrive as a sustainable business !
Mehuli Mazumdar, our next pathbreaker, Product Manager (Data & Ops) at Heuritech (Paris), a Fashion tech startup, leverages Artificial Intelligence to help fashion brands with demand forecasting in order to design and buy better.
Mehuli talks to Shyam Krishnamurthy from The Interview Portal about her undergraduate degree graduation project for which she created a Smart Jacket for the visually impaired which shaped her interests around how technology is transforming fashion !
For students, in today’s world, there is no dearth of inspiration. So, find your niche and pursue it whole heartedly !
Mehuli, tell us what were your initial years like?
I am a Bengali who was brought up in Delhi since the age of 5. My father has been part of the pharmaceutical industry for his entire career, mostly leading sales and operations of businesses. Currently, he is a freelancing sales coach to Pharma companies in India. My mother is a homemaker and my elder sister works as an Associate Director at Deloitte.
I think I fell in love with the Fashion Industry quite early on. I used to randomly design garments as a teenager, and I knew I would love to pursue this as a career. I used to be a part of a dance group when I was 15-16 years old, and I even got the privilege to design the costumes for my troop. For my stream selection after 10th, I wasn’t too sure of what I would like to choose, but I was really sure I didn’t want to become an engineer. I was not bad at science or mathematics, but the idea of preparing for entrance exams and not knowing if you will get to choose the best universities always scared me. Plus, I knew I would like to pursue something in the fashion industry. Though my parents were very supportive of my choices, they anyway wanted me to choose PCM, just to keep “my options open” ( I think it was the best decision for me, now that I look back). During my last 2 years in High School, I realized I didn’t necessarily want to take up fashion design as a career as it was a hobby for me (much like poetry) and I couldn’t see myself trying to work full time on it. Meanwhile, I was also thoroughly enjoying C++ at school. During my research on career choices in fashion, I came across a few options which attracted me and one of them was Bachelors in Fashion Technology at National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT). It was the best kind of combination I could have thought of, as it delved into the technology side of the fashion industry and not the creative side, and to get an opportunity to study at one of the most prestigious fashion schools in India was a “dream come true” kind of situation. Also, coming from a humble financial background, fashion design as a course seemed really quite expensive and I wasn’t too sure of the ROI. Not to forget, this degree needed PCM, so it was a win-win for me. Hence, I decided to give the entrance exam for NIFT for Bachelors in fashion tech.
Throughout my childhood, I was quite active in inter school competitions mostly in debates and arts (dance, theatre and painting) and for a brief period, I was really passionate about skating, (mind you, it was brief haha!!). I also had the honour to become as the school Head girl in my last year of high school
What did you do for graduation/post graduation?
As mentioned, for my undergrad, I pursued Bachelors in Fashion Technology at NIFT Kolkata. This course mainly deals with the mass manufacturing side of the fashion industry. How are fabrics made, how are garments made, what machines are used, what new technologies are coming up in the market, how does the buying side of the fashion industry work etc etc – It’s basically about learning the entire lifecycle of a garment (apart from the designing part). It was a 4 year course – we basically got a BFTech degree, which was almost like an engineering course but in the fashion industry.
After graduating in 2017, I worked as a Fashion Tech Consultant at a Startup called ThreadSol (Now Coats Digital) until 2019. My time at ThreadSol working in the Southern Eastern Asian countries really amplified my love for fashion and how technology can be such a vital part of this industry.
For my post graduation, I took a leap of faith and travelled all the way to France, to pursue Masters in Luxury Management in 2019. It was a dual degree course between two schools – one in Reims, France called Neoma Business School, and the other in Milan, Italy called MIP Politecnico Di Milano (now known as Polimi Graduate School of Management). This was a 1 year course diving into the fashion and luxury industry leaning more towards the marketing and business side of the industry : what is luxury, how do luxury brands operate, what kind of personas do they deal with, what are the challenges in running an luxury brand etc etc.
I am now working at another fashion tech startup here in Paris, Heuritech, as a Product Manager.
How did you end up in such an offbeat, unconventional and cool career?
I think I very much covered the key influences on my path to where I am today. But I think the major reason of me being part of the Fashion Tech industry is my sheer love for technology and the fashion industry. I love to code and solve logical problems – which I realized during my time in high school learning C++. I always loved reading about new technologies coming in the market and how different industries have been utilizing all the new inventions. However, the fashion industry has always been the slowest to adapt to new technologies, especially when it came to new software (of course there are complex machinery being used in factories to manufacture garments).
During my 3rd year internship in my undergrad, I came across a software that was helping fabric cutting managers plan the fabric to be sent on the floor, and that was the first time I had seen a software which was not the traditional CAD/CAM software, but something really unique, which intrigued me. ( Coincidentally it was a software made by ThreadSol, where I would later do my 4th year internship, and finally work as a consultant for the next 3.5 years )
This kind of motivated me to pursue my career in the technology side of fashion, leaving the creative and design part as a hobby. I do believe that my passion for the fashion tech industry grew a lot during my first job. I had the opportunity to travel to quite a lot of SEA countries like Thailand, Bangladesh and Vietnam – and I could see how we were bringing a massive change in their day-to day-work, trying to implement and integrate software to help them save fabrics and eventually save money. The garment industry, as I mentioned, has not always been very welcoming towards software based changes, and our projects were majorly geared towards trying to change the mentality and improve the lives of our garment industry folks. Those 3 years definitely shaped my interests in the fashion tech industry.
Tell us about your career path
During all parts of my career, I believe what really helped me was a kind of clarity on what I like and what I completely dislike – even if I had no clue on what to do. My main approach during my 12th was to try to find what would best fit me in the fashion industry (and also the list of all careers which I definitely didn’t want to pursue (with engineering at the top)). During my graduation and mostly after my third year, I really wanted to work more towards the software technology part of the fashion business, and to go as far away from fashion merchandising as possible. Hence, I put in all my efforts into researching what could be the best fit.
I did one internship each year during the 4 years at NIFT. My first one was at Orient Crafts, Gurgaon, one of the largest garment exporters in India (during that time) – I worked alongside a garment merchandiser, where I learnt the nitty gritties of all the processes that come in between the design, manufacturing and shipping of millions of garments every month. I then went on to intern at Raymonds, Vapi, during my second year, to mostly learn about the textile manufacturing business.
For my third year, I interned at a Garment exports factory in Noida, Paragon Apparels, whose main clients were Reebok and Adidas – During this time, I had the opportunity to learn deeply about the fabric cutting floor and the garment sewing floor – and here I had the “cannon” event of being introduced to ThreadSol for the first time.
For my 4th year, we were given the choice to either do an internship for 6 months and write a graduation thesis about the same, or do a research project where you could develop something of your own and won’t need to intern anywhere ( a garment, a technology etc). I really wanted to do a research project on some kind of technology while interning to ensure I was getting as much work experience as possible. And this is where I had the wonderful opportunity to intern at ThreadSol, where I simultaneously worked on my Research Project where I designed and developed an Award Winning Smart Garment Prototype, to make mobility easier for visually impaired people.
After graduation, I had the opportunity to convert my internship to a full time position at ThreadSol. This fashion tech startup’s key objective was to develop software technologies aimed at improving various processes in the garment industry. I was part of the “Projects” consultant team, with the aim to understand issues on the fabric cutting floor of garment manufacturing factories and then train and implement our SAAS offers to improve the same.
Yes, ThreadSol had 2 software platforms that were designed to reduce fabric wastage at the cutting floor, and optimize fabric buying at the buying stage. I was working primarily with the former, understanding the fabric spreading and cutting processes in each of the garment manufacturing units we visited, and implementing our software according to the client’s needs. The goal of our technology was to help the fabric team on the cutting floor better plan the fabric needs before cutting, and hence reducing wastage and in turn saving money (or improving overall production).
Why did you decide to a masters degree in Fashion?
After working in the garment manufacturing side of the fashion industry for 3.5 years, I wanted to move more towards the buying and business side of the industry. That’s when I decided I should pursue a Masters in some kind of fashion business, and after in-depth research, I opted for Fashion and Luxury management in France. I was still pretty interested in staying on the same technology path, and that clarity helped me look for internships in the luxury fashion tech scene in Europe. It wasn’t the best time to search for internships or jobs, as I had landed right in the middle of the first wave of COVID-19, but fortunately I got an internship opportunity at my current company Heuritech as an Operations Intern. Heuritech is also a Fashion Tech Startup that uses Artificial Intelligence to detect fashion attributes and trends across social media, to help fashion brands design, manufacture and sell better. As an operations Intern, I was managing the data operations side of the business to ensure our artificial intelligence modules were trained precisely with data, to detect fashion objects – hence a lot of my work was with Fashion and AI R&D teams.
Throughout my career, what helped me the most was a sense of clarity and the motivation to research and understand what I liked and disliked – you can never really plan each of your steps and moves through your career, as life can really be unpredictable (covid 19 was the best example) – but it’s how you decide to navigate and question yourself : what do I like the most : which makes all the difference. Also, it’s very important to keep up to date with the news and updates happening in the industries of your liking, especially with so much more exposure these days – it’s much easier to keep learning and improving your skills.
How did you get your first break?
My first break in the fashion tech industry in France came with my internship opportunity at Heuritech. My postgrad studies including all the projects that I worked on during this time, as well as my previous experience in the fashion tech industry was really the perfect concoction the operations team was looking for at that time – someone who can not only lead project operations at a tech startup but also has experience and extensive knowledge of the fashion and luxury industry
What were some of the challenges you faced? How did you address them?
Challenge 1: My biggest challenge till date was to find an internship during the first wave of covid 19. I had to go back to India from Milan, and continue the rest of the course from Delhi. While the classes were coming to an end, the entire batch was struggling to find an internship, as most of the fashion luxury sector had closed down hirings and internship opportunities. Also, with travel restrictions, going back to Europe seemed like a far fetched idea, which made companies apprehensive of hiring foreign students. After multiple applications, multitudes of rejections, and interviews, I finally got the opportunity to join Heuritech, which was my stepping stone. The only way I was able to address this challenge was to keep faith in my experience, and trust the process. The time was not at all in my control, what was definitely in my control was how I apply and approach my applications – I continuously improved my CV formats and cover letters, with constant help from my school – I would not shy away from connecting to people on LinkedIn who could refer me or even guide me on how to approach the interviews. Try to use all resources that are at your disposal – be it the school, interview prepping videos or even experienced people in your industry.
Challenge 2: The fashion tech industry is a pretty niche industry, which is slowly getting traction across the world. Finding the right jobs and opportunities can be very difficult, and challenging, especially as an international . Moreover, French being the predominant language of business, meant my options were only limited to only English speaking international companies. What worked for me was not giving up on finding the perfect role for myself, not choosing whatever I could get just to land a job in France. This makes your profile niche just as the industry is – and gets you more opportunities over time. Luckily, slowly the overall French tech industry is also becoming pretty international, trying to hire more English speaking candidates.
Where do you work now? Can you tell us about your current role?
I am currently working as a Product Manager (Data & Ops) at a fashion tech startup in Paris called Heuritech. It is a B2B organization that uses Artificial Intelligence to help fashion brands with demand forecasting to design and buy better. I have a transversal role in the company, where I work firstly as a PM for our main SAAS offerings – striving to build a better SAAS platform for our clients. Secondly, I am also managing all the AI module related operations in close connection with the R&D team, which means I am responsible for ensuring we are always trying to upgrade to a better performing AI for all our fashion needs & scope of work. I also look at the data operations part of the business, where I manage the budget and the team responsible for data acquisition for training our in-house AI modules.
What skills are required for your role? How did you acquire the skills?
My job majorly requires Product and Project Operations skills – both of which I have been able to learn eventually along with the 6 years of my work experience. I definitely studied quite intensively to understand the nitty gritties of product management, and did a certification course as well. However, I strongly believe you always learn by doing.
What’s a typical day like?
My typical day depends upon the kind of projects we are working on. But whenever there is a product feature to be pushed during the next release, I can be seen designing and creating non-technical specifications for the feature updates, catching up with the dev team to plan the release roadmap, testing developments, documenting and retro planning the next cycles. As an AI PM, I can be seen working with my Ops, Fashion and R&D teams, to analyze the performance of our AI modules and planning next steps on how we can improve them and become more steadfast as the fashion industry moves forward.
What is it you love about this job?
I love how I am right at the crux of fashion and technology, and that too in the Artificial Intelligence space. There are not a lot of players in the market who are doing what we do, and that too with such a talented group of people. You are always evolving with each new project that comes your way, and that is what keeps me on my toes.
How does your work benefit society?
According to Mckinsey State of Fashion, 40% of the fashion goods manufactured are not sold at full price, while 25% of them go unsold (375Bn$ worth of goods). As you may have already guessed, that’s a heavy toll paid economically not to mention the environmental impact. At Heuritech, we quantify and predict what people wear around the world and help fashion & sportswear companies manage their collections to produce only what people will want. We are helping Fashion Brands design, buy and sell better, by providing them data backed forecasts of fashion trends.
Tell us an example of a specific memorable work you did that is very close to you!
Even though this particular work is not something I did during my 6 years of working full time, it definitely is going to remain close to my heart forever.
For my undergraduate degree’s graduation project, I created a Smart Jacket for the visually impaired. This was the best way I could think of bringing fashion and technology together to really make a difference. It was a very difficult route to design and develop this garment, but when I was finally able to take my creation to the Women’s hostel for the Blind, to test it – I will never forget the smile and excitement I saw on their faces. It was a success! Even though I couldn’t take this work ahead to build something more sustainable, I strongly believe that there is a huge void that needs to be filled where Fashion and Technology will shake hands and change this world to be a better place.
The jacket was a mobility wear designed to help the wearer walk on streets. It was developed to be an accessory to the good old white cane, improving the limitation span above the belt. It had IR sensors stitched inside the jacket with vibrating panels on the shoulders – directing the wearer about possible obstacles in front of them and at what distance. The entire ensemble was controlled by a wearable arduino board. The best part of the jacket was its usability, as the entire electronic part of the jacket could be very easily detached to wash the jacket, and the very same way attached back by the user – without any external help or danger.
Your advice to students based on your experience?
I strongly believe that when one window of opportunity closes, 100s of doors open up waiting for us to step in. It might sound philosophical, but it’s true. Students need to remember that there is nothing in this world that we as human beings can’t do, and a small hiccup, or bad grade cannot stop us from reaching heights of success! It’s always important to remind ourselves to not give up and keep working hard towards our goals.
Other than that, there is one thing that I try to follow even now : read, connect and listen. With the plethora of exposure we have today, it’s not difficult to read great books, articles and keep ourselves up to date with the affairs of various industries – this not only increases your knowledge, but also elevates your interest in fields you might not have thought of. With social media, especially LinkedIn and Youtube, it is even simpler now to connect to like minded people, learn from them and listen to how you can succeed towards your dream jobs or roles, or even to build a business!
Future Plans?
In the short term, I would like to lead a product team for a fashion tech business. I am slowly progressing towards it, by gaining more experience and learning new skills. In the long term, I plan to start my own tech startup in the fashion industry. In the long term, I wish to open a restaurant someday which serves hearty shareable meals!