Work Profile of a Fashion Merchandiser

Ever thought about how these big brands manipulate our wardrobe every season? How certain items are termed trendy for a season while some are out of fashion. If we take a look at trendy clothing this season we will observe, prints and colourful fashion merchandise is doing really well in the market, but how does this exactly happen? What goes through the process of creation of any merchandise for the upcoming season?

A piece of garment is a designed product and it goes through a complete design process like any other product in the market before being manufactured and presented in the market, that means there is a big team that is involved in every piece of garment we own, and a lot of steps are involved from the very beginning which is determining upcoming trends to drafting designs, sourcing materials, manufacturing, packaging until the final step which is selling the product, and all of this should not exceed the planned budget. There are a lot of competent personnel involved is this huge production process and one position that plays an extremely important role is the role of a “fashion merchandiser”.

What exactly is fashion merchandiser? If I were to define a fashion merchandiser in few lines, an individual that keep track of trends, selection of pieces for retail, styling, and business operations of the industry and for that one needs to have an extensive knowledge about the industry, fashion, design and all the fields related to it.

Now that we have an idea about what fashion merchandising revolves around let’s take an in depth look at the role of a fashion merchandiser. A fashion merchandiser is responsible for management, merchandising and buying side of fashion. A fashion merchandiser is expected to keep track on trends and is supposed to have good knowledge of the fashion industry in general. This role is a research based job as one of the biggest role of any fashion merchandiser is to analyse future and upcoming trends by any means. A successful fashion merchandiser has an in-depth knowledge of design, various components of fashion designing and related fields, various stages of production, a good knowledge of the demography they are working for, predicting trends, and these are skills they will gain by exploring markets, communicating with various designers, various brands, watching out the big hot players in the market, attending fashion shows all over the globe, and attending trade shows.

All of this might seem like a lot, but relax its not just a single person’s job all of the above mentioned requirements and segregated in different roles fashion merchandiser could opt for, there are several roles one can opt for like :

• BUYING :

Buying is the most common role, buying is selecting & purchasing the brand merchandise and developing sales strategy based on their product analysis, for fashion and clothing specifically they basically plan the merchandise that will be sold for the upcoming season and it is something which is done a couple of seasons in advance and they will go to market and select a precise type of merchandise that fits the brand aesthetics, marketing & pricing well. It is a very specific process as any error might lead to excess product leftover or shortage. In short it is a very thought out and analytical process.

• PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT :

When a product lands in the market, a very log product development process is what makes it possible. It is a very intricate process, a lot more than some people might imagine. 

When a product is developed from scratch and is well thought out until the end, every component of the final product goes through an intricate process of brainstorming, mind mapping, sourcing, contacting manufacturers, producing initial samples, correction of errors and finally production of a complete lot keeping in mind the price at which the product is intended to be sold in the market.

• VISUAL MERCHANDISER :

It is essentially arranging the storefront as per the brand aesthetics, which should also help attract customers and help increase the sales and make the store experience more user friendly and it should also stand out well among the competitors.

It ensures that the brand representation is accurate and it also manages and improves sales.

• BRAND DEVELOPMENT AND MANAGEMENT :

Brand developing is different from product development, brand development means creating a complete brand identity or brand image or brand curation from start to finish. Starting with what is the central theme revolving around the brand based on which a logo is developed, brand colours and aesthetics are decided, packaging is developed, a unique website is created and a brands mission vision & values are determined.

• SOURCING & LOGISTICS :

It is the supply chain management of the product. From locating the suppliers and the manufacturers, to distribute the product, a lot of time sourcing managers will physically go to the manufacturing sites to make sure that everything goes well. Sourcing and logistics manager also makes sure that the production method matches to the ethics and values of the company. For example: A brand might strictly prohibit the involvement of under aged labour/child labour in their production process but some manufacturers might still involve them to cut the labour cost and to keep such things in check a sourcing and logistics manager might visit the production site.

• TREND FORECASTING :

Trend forecasting is basically an attempt to forecast upcoming trends, although it is not always accurate. Trends can even be created by big giants of the fashion industry. So how exactly does a trend forecaster make predictions? They simply go around the world, experience different cultures, understand different demography’s, attend trade shows, understand local market, understand the mood that people within a region or all over the world are experiencing for example: The situation of covid-19 is a common hurdle in everyone’s life right now and everyone wanted more positivity in their life that led to the current trend of pop colours this season and this is exactly how it works every season, Covid-19 was also a sudden change in the lives of people all over the world, so the brands had to quickly adopt the situation. So in short a Trend forecaster is one of the most influential element in the fashion industry which shapes our wardrobe every season.

Looking at the various roles of a fashion merchandiser one can easily say it is a vast field, and one which holds an extremely important role through which the industry is operating.

REFERENCES :

Below mentioned are the references which helped me write this article,

1. Artinstitutes.edu. 2022. What is Fashion Merchandising? 3 Things to Know about the Field.. [online] Available at: <https://www.artinstitutes.edu/about/blog/what-is-fashion-merchandising> [Accessed 18 January 2022].
2. 2022. [online] Available at: <https://www.fashion-schools.org/fashion-merchandiser.htm> [Accessed 18 January 2022].
3. The Art Career Project. 2022. Fashion Merchandiser | The Art Career Project. [online] Available at: <https://theartcareerproject.com/careers/fashion-merchandising/> [Accessed 18 January 2022].
4. Nerdynaut.com. 2022. What does a Fashion Merchandiser do? – Nerdynaut. [online] Available at: <https://www.nerdynaut.com/what-does-a-fashion-merchandiser-do> [Accessed 18 January 2022].
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