NYC Study Tour: Kohl's

Part 1 - Research:  Done prior to visit on the company, designer, speaker, etc. 

This week we had the opportunity to visit the Kohl’s office here in New York City. Kohl’s is a company that I am very aware of because as a kid growing up in the midwest that's usually where we shopped. But I surprisingly knew very little about the company itself. The first Kohl’s was opened in Milwaukee in 1927. It was originally a grocery store and later evolved into a department store. While their headquarters is still based in Milwaukee Wisconsin today, they use their New York offices to work on collaboration brands like Candies, Lauren Conrad, and J lo. And they also work on product development, marketing and social media strategies in the New York office. I am studying in New York but I really did like hearing about the Wisconsin office because I’d love to work for a big company but still be able to live in a smaller town and have a house and live that sort of suburban lifestyle. So it was really cool to hear about what the Milwaukee office is life and know that the people who worked there enjoyed working there as well. 

Part 2 – Observations:  Thoughtful observations and reflections made during the appointment itself.  What did you learn about the industry?  Specific jobs?  Your own potential career path?             

I thought our visit to Kohl’s was very informative. We learned a lot about the specific jobs from people on different teams which I thought was really useful. I think its been really difficult for everyone to understand what Product Development means and what that job entails but I think that they did a really good job of laying out for us that product development is kind of different for every company. They kind of went through that some companies include sourcing and manufacturing and cost projects and all that within the product development job. But it also involves a lot of technical specifics about the actual garments as well. I also really liked that they all went through what their typical days are like. Hearing from the design team about how they “go to market” each month and what preparing from that involves helped me understand what design means when you're working in a big company. 

Part 3 - Weekly Question:  Discuss something Alyssa, Paige, Missy, or another speaker said that resonated with you.

I think it was awesome to hear about how Missy used her time at Kent State to work her way into the Kohl’s team. I am amazed by all of her accomplishments and I am so grateful that we got the chance to talk to her. I feel like one of my biggest struggles is trying to figure out where I fit into corporate job positions or what kind of corporation I want to be in all together. So hearing about how she took her merchandising degree and applied it to magazines and to trend forecasting was super inspiring and cool.