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Capital Idea

A day in London is just not enough, I'm feeling completely inspired and ready to start the next season.

I could've spent a long weekend in Selfridges alone- they've revamped the men's shoe department and now stock over 72,000 pairs- the largest array in The world I'm told! Check out their shoe carnival this month- it looks a riot!

It was great to speak to the sales staff for the brand I work on, they were more critical than expected but I've now got a notebook full of ideas for next season and enquiries to make with other departments including visual merchandising.

Starting Blocks

Today is the day I start the SS14 range for shirts, ties and accessories. I've just placed the fabric orders for AW13 14 and negotiated delivery dates with all the factories. As my placement comes to an end shortly I've been asked to get the next range finished ahead of time - I'm actually excited at the prospect of everything, not only being on time for once, but early as well!

I'm currently on the train to London to start the process, I'll be visiting the current range and assessing its success by talking with the sales staff and asking what they'd like to see for spring summer. I'll then visit our competitors and see what they're doing (a bit cheeky but everyone has to do it - you don't want to miss out on a major trend).

If I've got time I will also try to visit the V&A, they've got a David Bowie exhibition starting this week, his flamboyant and eccentric style has influenced many a designer over the decades including the great Paul Smith (see this weeks Mr Porter Journal).

On the train back tonight I'll write up my conclusions and ideas for SS14 and when I'm back in the office I'll look at the fabrics from Premiere Vision (see my previous post). I'll then choose the range, creating initial design boards.

I also like to look at trend forecasting site Mudpie, partly because I'm passionate about this aspect of the industry but also for inspiration with colours, vision and accessories.

Once the fabrics are finalised I'll create the design sheets, choosing the fit, collar, cuffs, trims and design details. I also have to take in to account the suits which are overlooked by a separate buying team we try to make the range cohesive so they sit well in stores and encourage add on sales.

When we have the finished shirt range; prices have been negotiated, deliveries agreed and all elements (branding, trim, fabrics etc) have been synchronised we meet with merchandise who tell us how much of each shirt we can buy and asses our margins (being a small but luxury brand means margins are tight). Quantities may then affect prices- if we don't meet minimums on fabrics we can be charged extra which is why it's important to form good relationships with suppliers- they can sometimes let you off the surcharges!

From the shirts, the ties and accessories fall in to place and colours are developed. Since starting on this brand I've been pushing for tie bars - perhaps an obvious thing but with tight margins any risk can be detrimental. At the conference earlier in the month (see my previous blog) store managers asked to see them along with a whole new range of accessories which I'm now going to develop.

Consumer Profiling

When I took over this brand I had little idea of who our customer was, the brand seemed to lack vision and I couldn't work out who would buy our product.

I looked over an archive of past ranges, did my research on the internet (which was pretty fruitless - we're only a little fish in a big pond) and asked around the company, anyone who'd ever worked on the brand had left and no one seemed to have a clear idea.

As I've mentioned before we had little time to pull the range together and so I relied mainly on looking at who I felt were our competitors in the market and looked at who their consumers were; a quirky, luxury shirt brand for a mans man with a rich history and a high end price tag to me meant brands such as Paul Smith, Duchamp and Tiger of Sweden, to name a few, but for this season I've set myself a project of creating an in depth and comprehensive consumer profile of our own (something I think every brand should have regardless)

I've sent our a document to our store managers to fill in, after all they know our customers the best, including the basics; age, job, marital status, reason for buying, style icon etc. I'm also going to look in to more in depth socio and geo demographics and use statistical information from Mintel and the National Readership Survey. 

Once I complete this we'll have a much better idea of who our man is and i'll have a great piece of work to add to my portfolio (which I am constantly adding to as and when I find the time!)

Tomorrow I'm going to London to visit our stores and check out the customers myself, I've also been reading magazines such as GQ & Esquire to get in to our consumer's head and I'm finding it really interesting, I'm intrigued by brand development and what motivates customers to buy, as a buyer you get to be involved in all aspects of the product which is great at getting an insight in to different job roles I'd like to explore when I graduate.

Present, Past, Future

Recently, I had the chance to present our new range, my first as Assistant Buyer, to the store and area managers of our House of Fraser and Harvey Nichols concessions.

It was great to get feedback from the stores and I'm so passionate about the changes we've made since taking over the range it was an opportunity to explain these changes and inspire the staff, and ultimately the customers.

Some of these changes include using a more skilled factory to make the shirts, sourcing luxury fabrics from the best mills in Italy, using real mother of pearl buttons, and making the ties in England as opposed to China.

I also wrote the new copy for the branding which was well received and I have been involved in every tiny detail of the whole range including overhauling the brand and I will forever love this range as it was my first (I've already bought one of the shirts and plan to frame it later down the line!)

The stores also had feedback for us which is not surprising as we took over the brand at a very late date and had to get the range together in double quick time, these included comments such as more pocket square colours and visual merchandising which I have since looked at and taken in to account for AW 13 14 which I am finalising now.

I produced a booklet documenting all of the shirts, ties and accessories and their unique selling points to send back to the store staff so they can be as inspired and passionate about the new range as I am - we just have to wait for sales figures now! 

I plan to make a similar booklet for the next season and I am in talks with our visual merchandiser to include new display ideas. Visual merchandising is one of the areas I want to do more work in so I'm trying to make the most of the influence I have whilst I'm here!

J'adore Première Vision

Paris. The most beautiful city on earth, it's a cliche for a reason and a few times a year even more of the fashion glitterati (and the rest of us) flock there for the fashion shows and the trade shows.

Next week Première Vision takes place, unfortunately I won't be attending but I have assisted my director with making her appointments with the regular mill agents and suppliers as well as looking in to a few more I've stumbled across whilst picking the fabrics for our next range (AW13/14).

This has involved trawling through fabrics headers from previous seasons - of which we have thousands and falling for the handwriting of certain mills. I've then used The Oracle (Google) to scan their websites to get an idea of price, product and lead time (we look for mills in Europe as apposed to the Far East as we need a shorter lead time) and finding their agents details.

I then contact the agents to get a clearer picture and they send me more up to date headers. If I still think their right I'll pitch them to my director and squeeze them in to her schedule.

When she comes back it will be a busy few weeks, hundreds more headers will come through that she selected which I'll have to look through and see if we can use our OTB to get any in to the current range, I'll put others aside for future ranges and with the rest I'll question her sanity for picking them in the first place!

It's an exciting time and I look forward to going myself in the near future. Other trade shows to look forward to include; Pitti, Milan Unica and Bread and Butter, these shows are flamboyant displays of the latests trends and technologies in textiles and fashions as well as a networking opportunity.

A Tip of the Hat to You

With work being busier, more challenging and more demanding then I could ever have predicted when I started this blog, I have neglected my updates.

After a crash landing in reality I have come to realise everything my lecturers ever told me about the fashion industry is indeed true; hard work, long hours, a distinct lack of glamour and completely thrilling.

In my job as an Assistant Buyer I am involved in the whole process; from trend forecasting, design, product development, picking Pantones, fabrics and trims to making sure the final garment is perfection, to thinking of and finding the finishing touches (in this case cufflinks, tie bars, 1930's arm bands and pocket squares).

Working in menswear I have a constant eye on the latest blogs, mens magazines and websites like Mr Porter and of course the painstaking chore of picking male models to shoot our shirts on...

I love this industry, I couldn't imagine being part of anything else, it's dynamic, rewarding, challenging, ever-changing, inspirational, beautiful, creative and has a vast depth. I would recommend this to anyone but it's not without it's difficulties.

Tips for starting out in the world of fashion

1. Leave your ego a-go-go - This is a competitive and difficult world to work in, if you are think you are too good to run errands for your seniors, someone else will.

2. Think positive - Difficult days are a plenty but the rewarding one make up for it - just remember that.

3. Get as much experience as possible when at Uni / college - It's the only time in your life when you can really work for free, student loan and an abundance of time make this the perfect opportunity - do anything and everything - you won't know if you want to do it until you've done it!

4. Network - It's hard and often shamelessly cringey but, again, if you don't someone else will. Business cards are a good idea, you never know when you may meet someone influential and it's more professional than scribbling your name and number in the back of a receipt. Linked In is also a great networking site, even making friends with people on your course - you don't know which one may be the next Anna Wintour.

5. Always be professional - Every company is different but, at least at first, it's usually better to dress smart and be polite, recently a girl came to do a two week placement in our buying office - she wore an offensive T-shirt and swore like a sailor, needless to say she won't be coming back!

6. Write down everything - I have a million lists; potential companies to send my CV to when I graduate (about a million at the last count...) , potential career avenues, contacts I've made networking, things I've learnt at work, things I want to learn before I leave (what exactly is the difference between at satin and a sateen?!) skills I need to develop, courses I could take to do this and 1001 different things.

7. Constantly look at job adverts - You may not be in the position to apply (they may be too senior, you might be happy where you are or you might have a degree to finish like me) but you need to know what's out there, where it is, how much it pays and most importantly - what you need to be successful in getting the job when the time comes.

8. Keep up to date - Vogue, Elle, Harpers, Drapers, blogs, fashion shows anything and everything - it will always be useful!

9. Stay inspired - It's a creative industry above everything else and sometimes a day spent doing nothing other than emailing and phoning that supplier half way across the world about some very boring technical issue may make you forget once in a while. Read a book, watch a film, knock up a piece of art - it's all relevant.

10. And back to number 2... Stay positive - it's a tough cookie to crack and may take it's time, you may have to pay your dues running errands for a year or two or suffer job rejection but...