Episode Details

What does it actually look like to leave the familiarity of UK retail buying and move to Dhaka, Bangladesh, to work on the supplier side? In this episode, we sit down with Nadya - a buyer turned product manager at Next Sourcing- who did exactly that.

With a background spanning REISS, Crew Clothing, and lululemon, Nadya shares the career moments that shaped her, the leap of faith that took her across the world, and what she's learning from the other side of the supply chain.

Nadya's story starts, as so many do, with a spark of inspiration at a young age, digging through her mum's '80s wardrobe and knowing instinctively that fashion was her world. But it was a chance encounter at a careers fair in Sweden, where a buyer from H&M was speaking, that made everything click. From that moment, every decision- moving to London at 19, studying buying and merchandising at the London College of Fashion, her roles at REISS and Crew Clothing was working towards that goal.

But after years building a solid career in UK retail, Nadya found herself at a crossroads. A recruiter reached out about a product manager role at Next Sourcing in a role she'd actually first heard about years earlier from a colleague and quietly filed away as a dream. This time, she took the leap. Within two months she had her visa, had packed up her life, and was on a one-way flight to Dhaka.

We talk about what her day-to-day actually looks like now, weekly factory visits, fabric sourcing, trend scouting, pitching new product ideas directly to Next, and how being embedded in the hub of manufacturing has completely changed the way she sees the industry. We also get into the bigger conversations: the future of sourcing trips, the impact of geopolitics on supply chains, the rise of AI in product development, and what sustainability really looks like from inside a factory.

Three Key Takeaways

1. Being on the ground changes everything.

Nadya is passionate about the value of factory visits and sourcing trips - something she feels is being quietly eroded by budget cuts. Whether it's understanding why a supplier physically can't do something, or seeing what's being produced right now (and therefore what will hit stores in a few months), there are things you simply cannot learn from behind a laptop. Her message: fight to keep those budgets in.

2. Pivoting to the supplier side gives you a whole new lens.

Moving from buying to product management hasn't just been a change of scenery - it's completely reframed how Nadya sees the supply chain. Those delivery delays and last-minute requests she used to push back on as a buyer? She now understands exactly why they happen. The empathy and insight she's gained in just two months in Dhaka is something she says no amount of time in a UK office could replicate.

3. AI is coming and you have to use it, not fear it.

From AI imagery in design packs to 3D model-making, Nadya is already seeing AI reshape how product development works. Her take: it's not going backwards, so the only option is to figure out how to make it work for you. The upside? Less over-sampling, less waste, better hit rates and ultimately a more sustainable industry.

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