A Clothing buyer is a professional negotiator or shopper who uses both fashion and business sense of acquiring clothing and accessories for clothing companies. A professional at this post must always stay updated with the current fashion trends. He/she must develop strong and useful connections with the vendors along with skillful management of product orders and profit targets. A clothing buyer is also responsible for tracking industry competition and hence creating strategies accordingly.
Individuals with a strong business sense and a passion for fashion are most likely to be interested in this career option. A person at this position s128 must skillfully use this business and fashion knowledge in order to make great deals with the vendors hence, establishing company’s goals. He/she may work with sales employees for analyzing and understanding the process of buying trends and placing bids on clothing and accessories.
Educational Requirements
In today’s commercial era, employers usually prefer hiring clothing buyers who have successfully acquired a bachelor’s degree in Apparel Merchandising course. The course is aimed at providing the aspirants with on-the-job and skills related to apparel merchandising, which may include marketing, trend forecasting, economic theory, customer behavior and much more.
In addition to the degree program, one must also consider taking up an internship, either offered by the fashion institute or outside-the-institute. This will provide the students with real-world skills and experience in the apparel industry. Various designing institutes are now offering diploma, bachelor’s and master’s level courses in apparel merchandising, which are aimed at imparting both practical and theoretical knowledge about the field. But make sure you do a thorough research about the institutes you are interested in, so as to be able to pick the right one for yourself.
After having done an internship, apparel merchandisers can choose to take up entry-level positions such as junior buyer, assistant buyer, associate planner, allocation assistant and so on. This will provide them with a chance to learn everything about the market trends, buying process, sales system and price negotiations.
Some Last Words
It is of prime importance for a clothing buyer to keep him/herself well-educated about the latest product lines, market trends and industry scenarios, so as to be successful in the field of buying clothing and accessories for a clothing company. It would be very useful for such professionals to attend fashion shows and seminars along with continuously reading apparel industry publications. This will be a great way of bagging new opportunities in terms of learning and establishing new industry connections.
