Typical Work Day for a Fashion Marketer

By at present, you probably know that by day I'chiliad a fashion merchandiser for Perry Ellis. And you lot should also know that I absolutely Dear what I do. I get a lot of questions well-nigh what I do on a twenty-four hour period-to-day basis, and then I thought I'd give you a Real await at what I practise betwixt the hours of 9AM and 6PM as a manner merchandiser.

I'one thousand splitting this serial into v parts and posting once a week for 5 weeks. Since these are going to exist more lengthy, I don't want to overwhelm you with a lot of text and merchandising lingo. So allow'due south become right into it – A Week in The Life Of a Fashion Merchandiser!

As a little chip of background: I decided to brainstorm documenting what Ireallydo on a day-to-solar day basis during a busy, busy week for me and my team. Our Sales team just finished wrapping up market appointments, and now it'due south fourth dimension to come across with Sales, Planning and Sourcing teams to go through the buys. This is a really of import time for my team because we get to see what was actually purchased for Summer 2018. In reality, my job equally a Mode Merchandiser goes way beyond what I'm going to be sharing with you.

Before jumping into today, I was recently asked how much of my Fashion Merchandiser chore is creativity vs. numbers based, and I'd have to say it's a petty scrap of both.

Why? Because my team works with And so many other teams to ensure nosotros're putting out the best products for our customers. A Fashion Merchandiser works and then closely with Design to make sure we're coming up with a line that is cohesive and represents our brand. We work with Marketing to brand sure labels/trims/hang tags are appropriate and telephone call out any special properties. And we piece of work with Sales to give advice on what we think their assortments should look like based on blueprint direction. As Merchandisers, we know what colors, styles, patterns accept washed well for us in the past and demand to make sure we're pushing the envelope when it comes to new product. On the other (numbers) hand, my team is responsible for the SKU count each season: Nosotros make sure nosotros are not over-or-under developing production categories. My team is also in charge of making sure we aren't going too crazy with the budget – then I take to make note of sample, evolution and liability charges for all of our lines (Collection, Runway, 360 Agile). And finally, my team is responsible for maintaining internal margins. That means we need to ensure that the cost of our product isn't too loftier compared to our wholesale so that ya know, we make a profit.

Not to toot our own horn here, but Merchandising basically is the mucilage that holds every team together to ensure nosotros're working as one;) Nosotros're pretty cool.

Okay, so let's become to DAY 1 IN THE LIFE OF A Way MERCHANDISER!

MondayOf course I'm running tardily. Information technology's Monday, ugh. Merely that's okay. I'thousand lucky plenty that I don't demand to be at work "exactly" at 9AM, and then I still had time to catch some Starbucks and oatmeal. I knew I was going to demand it to kicking off the calendar week on a expert foot.

This week is the showtime of a busy, busy adjacent two weeks. Now that (near) market appointments are over, nosotros need to sort through buys. Basically, "market week" is never simply a week. The prep work is all finished – my squad made sure Sales has everything they need to become their accounts to place orders. Sales did their job, and now we come together with a few other teams to be on the same page as far as what was purchased and so go along into production.

Then on this Mon morning, we get into our first ATS coming together. An ATS coming together is when Merchandising, Sourcing, Sales, and Planning come together to go through style by style and run into what account bought which product.

We go through every detail of every style: Does it need to change fit? What about sleeve length? Should we up the wholesale or retail? Practise we take enough units to cover minimums? Does International desire to book this besides? How's our internal margin wait? These are some of the typical questions that come up during our review of the line.

As a Style Merchandiser, it's my task to present each manner to everyone and go through these details. Nosotros make certain Sales feels supported based on the feedback given from accounts, make certain Planning has all of the data gear up in their system, and brand any necessary notes that we might have to relay back to Design. This particular ATS meeting was for bottoms, jackets, and outerwear categories. It went a little shorter than usual considering Summertime market place isn't a big time period for this type of product. Which makes sense, right? Not too many guys are buying outerwear pieces or are looking to get a new suit. Summer is definitely a more casual season.

Since ATS didn't go the entire twenty-four hours, I was able to get dorsum to my desk and begin going through emails. Most of my communication is done with our overseas offices, then I usually come into the office with a ton of emails. Luckily, I got to them all earlier tiffin. Earlier I step out to get luncheon, I catch upwards on some blog work: answering emails, going through social media, and responding to any necessary letters. I check in on blog related work whenever possible – without being distracted from my actual work.

During market, it's ever tough to recall that the testify still goes on. And then while I'k worrying about making notes and updates from the ATS meeting, a million other things are happening. On this particular day, I was too tasked with finding an extremely onetime best seller pant reference from 2014. None of our offices had a reference of it, and all we had was a random photo we constitute online. UNTIL…my bottoms/jackets/outerwear (aka BJO) designer institute a development canvass with a cutting of the textile on it! SWEET. One less thing I had to worry about. Phew.

While nosotros're wrapping up Summer 2018, we're in the procedure of designing Holiday/Resort 2018. As a Fashion Merchandiser, it'southward our job to ensure calendar dates are met so that we can get samples in on time. The Vacation/Resort timeline is always so tricky, and then my squad really needs to stay on peak of everyone when it comes to timing.

Thankfully, I finished all of my work past 6PM, so I don't need to stay late to wrap things upwardly!

Stay tuned for next week'southwardWeek In The Life Of A Fashion Merchandiser: Part 2!

photo by allie provost
full outfit post hither