Eric Garnatz

Director of Product Creation - Footwear, Apparel, and Accessories at KX Lab

Los Angeles | US

Skills

Production Implementation
BOMs
Technical Files
Product Specification
Team Management

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Interests

No information

Industries

Golf

Lifestyle

Outdoor

Run

Skate

Snow

View all

Home Summary Activity Projects Work experience Education history Connections Companies

In my own words

— Eric

I understand the challenges faced by growing companies.

No matter the size or years in business, the challenges, especially product development/creation, client management, team leadership, and operations, are the same just scaled differently.

My passion lies in ensuring improved efficiency and productivity of an organization. Bringing multifunctional experience creating and executing highly successful products, I have achieved revenue growth and market expansion. I am an excellent collaborator, communicator, and creative problem-solver recognized for empowering teams and improving processes to achieve profitability. Able to identify market opportunities and translate business needs into technical requirements to deliver features and functionality to provide a competitive advantage, I am adept at visioning solutions, gaining senior stakeholder support and measuring product KPIs.

Areas of Expertise: - Product Creation - Strategy Development - Product Costing - Conceptual Design Development - QA / Product Testing and Methodologies - Regional Sourcing - Product Commercialization - Design for Manufacturing

Trajectory

Jul 2023 — Now

Director of Product Creation - Footwear, Apparel, and Accessories · KX Inc.

- Cultivate relationships with new clientele regarding potential engagements to identify and mitigate risks associated within each product/project. - Set and drive revenue/profitability targets in all teams and product categories, owning financial performance within Product Creation/Development. - Deliver monthly communications on progress, challenges, and opportunities to support the CEO and executive board.

Jul 2023 — Aug 2023

Director of Product Creation - Footwear · KX Inc.

Oct 2022 — Jul 2023

Manager of Product Development-Footwear and Accessories · TravisMathew Apparel

- Negotiated profitable product costs and contract terms (lead times and MOQ) with vendors/manufacturers to achieve sales and margin goals. - Led, developed, and mentored the product development team while identifying capacity issues and building roadmaps to identify additional team members. - Managed our product testing and "athlete/player services" responsibilities to ensure that product had superior fit and quality for both our customers and PGA tour sponsored players.

Oct 2022 — May 2023

Manager of Product Development - Cuater Brand at TravisMathew Apparel · TravisMathew Apparel

Jun 2021 — Oct 2022

Senior Product Developer - Footwear · TravisMathew Apparel

- Initiated the creation of cost breakdown documents with our vendors to allow for negotiation of price based on tracking of specific seasonal material and labor costs. - Created a product testing program that ensured quality, fit and performance of our footwear product for both lifestyle and golf categories. - With the signing of PGA tour players, instituted a program to created customized footwear based on each of their specific fit requirements using 3D scanning technology.

Dec 2019 — Jun 2021

Design for Manufacturing Lead · Arc'teryx Equipment

- Drove design for manufacturing principles early in the product creation process by collaborating within Design, Advanced Concepts, Product Development, Quality and Manufacturing spaces. - Established manufacturability, quality, repairability, and serviceability by ensuring cross-functional teams manage communication of downstream implications within product creation expectations. - Evolved Design Center creation/local ARC’One factory manufacturing team communication through process, documentation, and standardization.

Jul 2019 — Nov 2019

Product Development/Project Management Consultant · Incident Knowledge Resources, Inc.

- Developed presentations for national speaking engagements in collaboration with the company president. - Oversaw the completion of consulting project contracts and project timeline between clients and IKR.

Mar 2017 — Jul 2019

Director Of Product Development - Nike Footwear · Flex

- Directed the product development team delivering products that surpass customer expectations (fit, design, performance, manufacturability, and quality). - Led the facility commercialization and production team in the Nike process and standards of product excellence. - Drove the automated innovation initiative discussions and application into seasonal product design intent. - Built collaborative/customer focused cross-functional teams processes for Development, Technical Engineering, Materials, Commercialization, Quality, and Costing to ensure product integrity.

Jan 2016 — Mar 2017

Senior Footwear Developer - Nike Footwear · Flex

Oct 2007 — Dec 2015

Senior Technical Manager Originals, Running, American Cleated Sports, Snow and Skate categories · adidas

- Spearheaded Adidas product initiatives through development and commercialization in three product categories, accounting for ~ 20% of the full seasonal line plan. - Achieved on-time sample delivery (Development, Testing, and Sales/Marketing) by managing seasonal calendar deadlines. - Cultivated lines of communication with production factory offices in Asia for manufacturing of brand products.

Apr 2006 — Oct 2007

Technical Manager Prototype Creation - CNC prototypes / 3D printing · Adidas Group

Mar 2000 — Apr 2006

EDM / CNC Machinist and Programmer - Tooling, Aerospace, High Tech, and Medical Device Manufacturing · Davis Tool

Aug 1993 — Mar 2000

EDM Department Lead - High Tech, Medical Device, Consumer Goods Manufacturing · Advanced EDM Concepts