Berl-intervention

As the days of my rein as Vice Chair dwindle away we had a last hoorah with the Fashion Society, taking 80 students to capital of cool, Berlin.

We committee members had put months of planning in to organising this trip, from the tedious risk assessments to organising marketing and promotion, competitions and giveaways and the all-important itinerary.

The 22-hour coach journey (each way!) could have been horrific but with everyone in great spirits, armed with their Fashion Society-branded party bags and a plethora of DVDs the hours melted away.

Once in Berlin we took the group on a day of culture in the form of a walking tour around the main sights from the sobering Holocaust memorial and the infamous Berlin wall to the Reichstag building with unparalleled views of the city.

The highlights of the trip included the brilliant Photoautomats that litter the city, the apothecary-style Absinthe bar, stumbling across a pro-feminism protest and, of course, the wonderful people.

It will be a sad occasion when we have to hand over to next year’s committee in April but… we’ll always have Berlin.

The Big Issue Student Conference Part Two

Lynn Boorady, an energetic and passionate speaker held a captive audience with her engaging presentation style, as Associate Professor and Chair of Fashion and Textiles at Buffalo State University, she lead a discussion concerning garment fit.

She used a variety of statistics to convey the serious implications fit has for fashion retailers, particularly concerning online sales where 70% of returns are because of fit. Lynn outlined key studies concerning anthropometrics, ergonomics and garment fit historically and currently and highlighted the gaps in research and what needs to be done as well as some interesting technological developments already available (see below).

Most interestingly, she highlighted how the Xbox Kinect is a £250 body scanner sitting in thousands of homes across the globe; we could harness it's capabilities to send our exact measurements to retailers who could then use hundreds of units of data to create more realistically sized clothes over time.

Me Ality Styku Smart Fit Fits.me Fitnect Lori Coulter

Mark Eley, of Eley Kishimoto spoke of 'Optihope'; his combination of optimism and hope for the future of our global society. He used this opportunity to influence a captive audience of 300, optimistic, wide-eyed university students before they were inevitably jaded by corporate greed about the unfair distribution of wealth and the impossible situation debt-ridden, undeveloped countries face a la Russell Brand.

From the people I spoke to, this speech seemed to fall on deaf ears, they did not understand the content or the reason behind this speech, I myself thought it was interesting and insightful, not to mention brave as Mark Eley seemed to struggle through his nerves and apprehension. Whilst it was not the most appropriate audience he definitely reached one person and made me think about coherent global empathy and his utopian socialist ideology.

Karen Webster, of RMIT University in Melbourne and the Australian Design Alliance, presented her Big Issue, sustainability.

Karen had some interesting thoughts on this well-thumbed subject of overt consumption and the model of disposability, not least the speed at which 'designers' are churning out garments to quench consumers' insatiable thirst for new items. She spoke of how designs are copied from a small pool of ideas making the market entirely homogeneous and dull and limiting the creativity of designers who are unable to convey their passion and skill due to the contstraints of the modern retail market.

Karen proposes we re conceptualise the traditional fashion weeks so they become purely a marketing tool as apposed to having any effect on the supposed 'seasons', this would play on the theatre of fashion and halt the perpetuation of the next 'new thing'. She also believes brands and designers should build on their previous ranges as apposed to creating something entirely new which would encourage consumers to add to their wardrobe instead of discarding and replenishing.

Advancements in fabric technology have meant we now have the capabilities to produce heirloom items such as the life coat by Jet Korine.

Caryn Franklin ended the day with the most empowering and inspiring speech yet, Diversity.

Caryn began by highlighting how we have gone from a diverse and charismatic catwalk in the 1990's to a completely dull, caucasian catwalk today in response to the increasing speed of our modern industry and the lack of importance we as individuals represent to brands.

She showed us a series of adverts that glorify the pornification of fashion and the demoralisation of women, showing various campaigns featuring women in degrading and demeaning positions. Caryn also spoke of how the fashion industry is grooming young and impressionable pre-teens with such images by hyper-sexualising, undermining and objectifying them resulting in an unrealistic and unhealthy perception of beauty.

Her message throughout was to embolden the younger generation, to use ethnically and age diverse models in campaigns and to remember that we are the future and we need to promote a broader spectrum of beauty.

All Walks Beyond the Catwalk

The Big Issue Student Conference

This year's Student Conference at MMU was a smorgasbord of inspirational fashion industry insiders; the day kicked off with Jacqui Gray, Head of International Sourcing for Florence & Fred who I'd met briefly in Shanghai a few months ago on a study trip.

Jacqui's Big Issue was passion, which she defined as "putting more energy in to something than is required to do it". She spoke of her passion and where it has lead her in life and advised us to follow our own, particularly in reference to working abroad; having worked in Bangladesh and China herself she urged us to be brave, competitive and proactive in finding jobs abroad and to open our minds to developing countries.

Her parting wisdom was to understand your own value-adding skills and how you can convey these to others as well as connecting with others by any means necessary.

Tom Burke followed with a unique and well-informed view of the luxury market and how our changing world has affected it. Tom is an ex-MMU student and is now Assistant Manager of Chanel's global flagship store on New Bond Street in London, the largest boutique in the world.

Tom commented on the development of social media, the brand ubiquity caused by this communications revolution and how this has affected the Decision Making Process for the luxury consumer. He also noted how the ease of travel has meant an increase in global consumers shopping all around the world, resulting in a homogeneous market and the effect this has had on how sales staff interact with consumers. In addition, the democratisation of luxury, which began after WW2, means luxury is more accessible to the masses, resulting in the need to offer better, more tailored service to real luxury consumers and not losing the intrinsic, personal connection in this digital world.

Tom sees the future of luxury consisting of more personalised product opportunities, a decline in luxury sales online and more rebranding and repositioning in the market.

Hillary Alexander interviewed Todd Lynn about his career in the fashion industry, a Central Saint Martins Graduate who has made a name for himself designing the clothes of rock stars from Mick Jagger to Marilyn Manson.

Robert Ott, of Ryerson University in Canada voiced his view on unpaid internships in the fashion industry as glorified exploitation fuelled by nepotism, meaning those with connections can get ahead whilst others struggle to find even unpaid work.

His food for thought was for us to realise only we can break this cycle by ensuring we pay our interns when we are in the position to hire them in the future.

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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...

London, baby

So I mentioned the imminent trip to London to pick up fabrics for the SS13 range and after doing my homework I had a few places in mind as I stepped in to the big smoke.

After a short stop at our London office where I got a tour of the sales rooms (showrooms where we promote our ranges, with a real visual impact and brand identity - the Ben Sherman room was my favourite, naturally) I head off to Berwick Street.

The beautiful, bustling road tucked away behind its ostentatious neighbour, Oxford Street, took me back to my A-Levels where we'd make special trips to London to buy our fabric for our final pieces and I was once again filled with the giddy excitement of perusing thousands of gorgeous silks, cottons and lace.

I headed to Cloth House and the Misan stores for shirtings all of which were, heart-breakingly thin on the ground for suitable stuff, the quantities were tricky too- though we only produce a small range the commercial scale is still too great for most of these smaller stores; catering more for my 18 year old self crafting gregarious and flamboyant one-offs.

I called Jole and Sons, an amazing fabric warehouse a short tube ride away, who of course had ample amounts of beautiful searchings perfect for my lovingly picked Savile Row range, but alas, were more than double what we could afford to pay - you've gotta watch them margins after all!

Having exhausted all options we instead went on a comp shop, an integral part of fashion buying is to know what everyone else is doing- no matter how unique you want your range to be!

Stopping at Selfridges which was beautiful, luxurious and expertly visually merchandised - no less than expected, I saw exactly where our little but brilliant brand should lay, somewhere to aspire to in future! Harvey Nichols was disappointingly small and awkwardly laid out but nevertheless full of sumptuous, barely attainable stock, our brand isn't in the London branch, only in Bristol and Ireland but it was good to see our competitors here regardless. Finally, a stop at House of Fraser with a surprisingly beautiful formalwear department designed like a traditional gentlemen's club, I could practically hear the chink of ice on a whiskey glass and smell the cigar smoke!

London was a great experience as part of my placement and I was really lucky to go, when businesses are cutting down on every added cost it's uncommon to send a placement student on any sort of trip. I hope I made the most of it but time will tell soon as we complete the range choices next week!

Creativity Strikes Twice

After working in a design studio all Summer my creative juices got flowing, now I've started my placement it's less creative on a daily basis, i.e. I'm not doodling on illustrator all day or sat cross-legged on the floor glueing beads to bits of card and what-not whilst head bashing to the radio! To keep up my creative momentum and to stop me going insane I've set myself a challenge; do one creative thing a week.

Week One: Heroically rescue a beaten up, ready-for-the-skip TV chest with a lick of paint and smidge of inspiration;

 So I need to invest in a better camera and some swanky Photoshop software but here's how the magic happened;

I sanded down the cabinet and painted it entirely white with emulsion. After letting it dry for two days I masking taped the edges and painted the inside blue, again with regular ol' wall paint. Once that dried I added a few of my more beautiful books (a hard cut as I have a few!) and added the frame and Vivienne Westwood shoes for a bit of variety as I've heard it's the spice of life!

Perseverance!

Some days are harder than others being a fashion intern, my greatest advice is perseverance; if you're lucky enough to get a placement then you've already got it in spades.

Being rejected over and over by the companies you apply to (I myself applied to around 100) stands you in good stead for working in the fashion industry- it's hard, it's not glamorous, it's often low paid and sometimes it feels like there's no reward. Just remember why you're there, this is your dream, you've coveted the pages of Vogue since you can remember, you've given up food so you can buy those beautiful clothes and one day, I hope, you'll land your dream job (I have many dream jobs; fashion editor at Vogue, buying at ASOS, marketing at Fred Perry or travelling the world researching future trends are but a few!)

Some days I have to keep this distant future in my head more than others.

Whilst my job is stressful and unpredictable these are often the things that make it so interesting, I learn something new every day whether it's learning to deal with difficult people or managing unforeseen and unexpected problems with a moments notice.

Being an intern you will have your own hefty job to do, mine consists of budgets and accounts as well as branding and labelling for several brands and being an assistant buyer for my own brand (which in itself has a multitude of roles- a more detailed blog to follow!). As well as these roles I'm expected to do other tasks the busier buyers can't cope with from swatch cards, research, product development and approvals and general admin. This means my workload is never-ending my advice here is to be organised, be constantly aware of deadlines, take thorough notes always (and don't throw them away when you think you're done!) and persevere, the reward is out there.

On this note I have selected a few inspirational images from Pinterest to get you (and me) through the harder times, enjoy!

Because it's why we're all here after all...

The Fashion Journals

This blog is a creative outlet for myself and a way to record my early years in the fashion industry but it's also (hopefully!) a tool to help other young aspiring fashionistas.

I've just started my internship as a Fashion Buyer on a men's shirt brand as part of my Fashion Marketing degree and am so far loving the responsibility and diversity of the role but it's challenging and hard work. 

Here is my journal for you to read, your thoughts and inspirations are welcome and encouraged as I get to grips with the fashion ropes.

So for the past two months I've been finding my feet as I become an Assistant Buyer for the first time, the things I found hardest was the sheer volume of information to learn; past season's best and worst sellers, product codes, supplier's names, terminology and the general protocol of the business to name a few.

I love the brand that I'm working on; a very small, luxury Savile Row shirt company stocked in the Savile Row flagship and some Harvey Nichols. It's just myself and the buying director working on the brand and as she has around 9 other names to look after I feel like it's really my own.

Passionate about the role and eager to get it right I compiled some competitor analysis, looking at Paul Smith and Ozwald Boateng. I also looked at future trend research for SS13 (unlike fast fashion we work a year in advance however, amazingly, our deadlines still seem to be tight and deliveries in jeopardy). Trend prediction is one of my major passions and ideally I'd like to try it out as a future career option before I finish University, I love the depth of analysis and interpretation that goes in to it as well as the incredibly creative element and it's power to influence what we'll be wearing in a years' time.

Next week I'll use this information as my buying director and I go to London to pick out fabrics for the SS13 range.

Perhaps Orla Kiely isn't quite right but I love these beautiful furnishing fabrics nonetheless!