Becoming a Buyer?

[pinnie]

i wanna be a buyer.

 

[water_daisy]

hi water_daisy... i still have not got a precise idea of what brand to source. i am still looking around for tradeshows to attend. do you know where close to hong kong which they had good tradeshows? i guess the cloestone would be tokyo right?? at the time being, i only got isabelmarant which is able to give me their wholesale info.

any advice ??

Sorry I haven't been looking at this section for a while. Well looks like you are doing clothing? If you need to travel to Paris to visit the IM showroom you may as well go during fashion week and visit all the tradeshows as well as make as many appointments with commerical showrooms as possible. The tradeshows have many emerging labels. If you are looking at labels close by, you could consider Australia, they have a few good labels which are not already taken up (perhaps they are now?) such as lover, alice mccall.....
you just need to research the labels you like.....

 

[JJohnson]

Sorry I haven't been looking at this section for a while. Well looks like you are doing clothing? If you need to travel to Paris to visit the IM showroom you may as well go during fashion week and visit all the tradeshows as well as make as many appointments with commerical showrooms as possible. The tradeshows have many emerging labels. If you are looking at labels close by, you could consider Australia, they have a few good labels which are not already taken up (perhaps they are now?) such as lover, alice mccall.....
you just need to research the labels you like.....

Ok I got that down, but how does one go about getting enough money to open a store? Like take for instance downtown Chicago. On michigan ave for like a 2000 sq ft store its like $48,000 per month. Thats just for rent. Remember there needs to be $$$ for renovation and etc....Someone plz tell me

 

[Bran16]

Retail Buyers?

I am looking into a future of retail buying or merchandising for major clothing company. I am curious to find out how to get started, and what the career is really like. If anybody has any thoughts, please spill...
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[JJohnson]

Any idea ppl?

 

[couturecate]

Any idea ppl?

Honestly, it's very difficult. Opening a retail shop (of whatever kind) is considered the second riskiest business venture around (behind bar/restaurant). For that reason most investors are verrrry leery of investing and banks are unlikely to extend a loan. If you have a stellar bus. plan, personal/family backing and all of your contacts set up, it's possible that a bank will offer you an SBA-backed loan (sm. bus. admin. -- gov't agency). If you do not have sufficient collateral (house, etc.) chances are slim that you can a loan period.

Even if you can pull off all of the above, I highly recommend you start your store somewhere less expensive than Mich. Ave. That rent is so high that there is no room for error & that could kill a start-up. Look in up-and-coming areas with lower rent and once your business model has proven successful, then you can move it or open a second location in the Mich. Ave/Oak st. area.

The uber-successful boutiques in NY (Intermix, Kirna Zabete, etc.) I really think have been backed by a ton of family $ or inheritance, etc. Also they have tremendous contacts in the fashion world; PR, etc. to get their shops & product in the mags, etc. Very few people have that.

I don't mean to be discouraging, but you need to go into it with your eyes open. Good luck!

 

[JJohnson]

OK thx a lot! That was very helpful

 

[sullen_femme]

This is an excellent thread. I have been interested in becoming a buyer for several years, but info is surprisingly hard to find.

 

[JJohnson]

Im going to go to school to be one

 

[Lena]

way to go JJ

 

[JJohnson]

Thx lol i hope i can work with barneys, but in the meantime how long does it take to become a full blown buyer? I know many buyers dont really know the industry until they get into it or they went to a fashion college.....hmmm i plan on getting a MBA though

 

[Lena]

no fixed time for being a fulltime buyer, ats up to the individual and how well he/she manages assisting , but a minimum of 2-3 years should be needed

 

[JJohnson]

wow thats a long time...ugh i hope i get right into barneys or something. BTW this may sound a little silly, but does buyers from barneys or whatever get front row? Lena have u ever got front row? What determines front row? I wanna have front row for the best view

 

[Lena]

yes, buyers can get front row but it will be only THE head buyers not the assistants or the 'by depeartment' buyers.. imagine how many buyers flock Paris for the collections, there are not enough front row seats to please them all..
i seriously hope you are not getting into this just for the front row JJ

btw, most senior buyers even snob the shows, they much prefer to work in privacy at the showrooms

as for me, yes, i've been front row but that was always at those 'lesser known' shows which actually interest me more.

 

[gaby]

what do buyers do exactly and can they work fro designers too not jsut fro companies like saks,neiman,etcc..?

 

[Lena]

they dont work for designers, they work for stores and boutiques

 

[JJohnson]

yes, buyers can get front row but it will be only THE head buyers not the assistants or the 'by depeartment' buyers.. imagine how many buyers flock Paris for the collections, there are not enough front row seats to please them all..
i seriously hope you are not getting into this just for the front row JJ

btw, most senior buyers even snob the shows, they much prefer to work in privacy at the showrooms

as for me, yes, i've been front row but that was always at those 'lesser known' shows which actually interest me more.

Oh nooeee! Im not being a buyer for front row i was just asking LMAO that would be kinda silly to go to college and like fashion just for "front row." I REALLY REALLY love fashion to death ahah and i feel i will be really happy doing just that. Do the assistants even get to go to the shows btw? I think i may be an assistant, but i will be soo good they might promote me rigght away LMAO im too ambitious! I prefer all desigers new and old. The newer ones tend to be more interesting because they may be the ones to take over a previous existing line. I would love to go to the Balenciaga show or the Tao show. But overall it seems like a cool job. Regarding the buyers working for the designers, i thought that there were buyers for designers...take chanel for instance. There were 2000+ ppl at the SS collection show and all of those ppl are buyers/press? that was a lot of ppl...but i thought mainly that buyers for the company chose what goes into the stores...like i doubt a store would sell a fur coat in Hawaii constantly because its so hot. U know what i mean? Is it a buyer who decides which pieces goes where from a collection, because here in chicago not all the high end boutiques get the whole collectoin. Actually were like the last ppl lol NYC and LA get priority...plz respond back Lena

 

[Meg]

People at a show can range from press (covers everything from journalists and editors to photogs) to clients, showroom staff to buyers to people who have invites and are in standing room only. Really it's just a large mix of people from different areas in the fashion industry (or not even). It is up to the buyer of a store to decide what items they feel suit their clients. A store in hawaii may buy a fur coat because they have a high end clientele that travels a lot or a customer may request it. The tastes of customers vary from store to store to city to city. It depends who you are catering for as to what parts of a collection you feel are worth bringing in. I'm sure Lena can provide more info on this, but this just some food for thought

 

[JJohnson]

i c...but i was really wondering who it really was who decided what clientel is who when its within a company such as Louis Vuitton. There are many boutiques, but who chooses what items go where in the company? Is it someone with buying ability or does the manager of the store choose what will sell or not?

 

[Lena]

it's the owners of the stores together with buyers who choose what items they need, the manufacturing company has nothing to do with what the clients will order, their work ends with presenting the collection and hoping it will sell well to the buyers

(is that replying your question JJ?)

about the shows, just what meg said, 2000 people is small number in a mega show like ysl or Dior ..imagine those people travel from all over the globe, so many boutiques and journalists are even left outside.. Paris is sizzzzling during the shows
no wonder some people prefer the showrooms to the shows, too much trouble for a 15 minute 'event'