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Richa Agarwal

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Issue 11 Winter 2012

Richa Agarwal leads the Product Development Team for Eileen Fisher Inc., a company that designs and manufactures eco-conscious women’s apparel. In her role, Richa facilitates the work of a team of technical designers, product developers, pattern and sample-makers to provide the most efficiently constructed, eco-friendly and well-fitting garments for discerning customers. In addition, Richa collaborates with the company’s social consciousness team as a thinking partner, contributing towards the company’s sustainability and human rights initiatives drawing on her experience as a Project Manager with BRAC USA. Previously Richa worked in Bangladesh with BRAC’s largest social enterprise Aarong, employing 65,000 rural artisans where she oversaw projects, funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, aimed at increasing Aarong’s institutional capacity.

Richa thinks of herself as a global citizen and is passionate about bringing grassroots change to the apparel-manufacturing sector on an international scale. When facilitating decisions for her team and the company, Richa references the triple bottom line approach implicit in Design Management principles that advocate balancing profitability with environmental sustainability, as well as the interests of all stakeholders. In progressively reducing Co2 emissions, decreasing chemical usage in the textile dying process, increasing the use of organic materials in product design, promoting closed-loop processes and artisanal techniques in manufacturing,Richa values her collaboration with various teams across the company. She encourages her colleagues in being catalysts of positive change in the apparel industry.

Richa has worked in the apparel-manufacturing sector with some of the premium apparel brands such as Polo Ralph Lauren, Calvin Klein, and Phillips van Heusen. Her roles with these companies have encompassed collaborating with cross-functional teams that were responsible for product development and manufacturing processes. Richa is multilingual and enjoys traveling around the globe. She was educated at Boston University, FIT and is a graduate of the Design Management program at Pratt Institute.

TagsBangladeshCalvin KleinCATALYSTDesign ManagementDesign ThinkingNew YorkPhillips van HeusenPolo Ralph LaurenPratt Instituteproduct developmentproduct managerRicha Agarwalsocial conciousnessSustainabilityTriple Bottom Line

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CATALYST

CATALYST | Leading Creative Enterprise is a platform for communication, applied research and exchange of the international graduate programs in creative enterprise leadership in Arts and Cultural Management (ACM) and Design Management (DM) at Pratt Institute, School of Art. In each issue, Catalyst focuses on creative enterprise. Each year we select a theme. Then, we search out the leaders, visionaries and entrepreneurs who embody that theme in practice. They are each leading as if life matters—creating economic value as they enrich our cultures, our lives, and our shared world.

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