Your knack for picking trendy designs can establish your buying career.
Hillary Clinton famously remarked that it took a village to raise a child, but she made no mention of the army it took to get the pantsuits the presidential candidate wore during her 2008 campaign into her closet. One of the most critical links in the ready-to-wear chain are the buyers responsible for selecting and ordering the right mix of designs from designer collections. This job comes with plenty of power and drama, so if you love both, find a place for yourself on the domestic or international fashion scene.
Instructions
1. Start early. Take art classes in high school and major in a fashion-related discipline at a college or trade school. If you can afford the nation's top fashion schools like Parsons School of Design, the Rhode Island School of Design or Pratt Institute, you'll be ahead of the game, but your talent and ambition will substitute if you apply yourself to your studies.
2. Diversify. Excellent grades are nice, but a solid grounding in psychology and math are nicer when your goal is landing a salaried buyer's job. You could be responsible for calculating costs involved when purchasing huge lots of designs on a set budget. Psychology classes help you understand what motivates men and women to make buying decisions.
3. Become a color expert. One of the most important aspects of trending dynamics has to do with seasonal color projections made by organizations like the Color Marketing Group. Buyers from most industries rely on CMG to forecast color palettes as much as five years in advance. Part of your job as a salaried fashion buyer requires making certain that these color palettes are represented in the merchandise you buy for your employer.
4. Land a job as a salaried junior buyer. Work under a senior buyer while learning to navigate fashion runway shows, designer showrooms and studios as you master the art of reviewing, assessing and selecting fashion. Gain experience negotiating garment prices.
5. Hone your understanding of your buying niche. Perhaps you buy children's clothing or you're responsible for men's shirts, ties and accessories. Within the general fashion community are unique markets, buying protocols and relationships that you must know to assume a senior-level salaried buyer's job. It pays to stay abreast of industry publications like "Women's Wear Daily" and "Vogue," too.
6. Go it alone. Connections made as a salaried junior buyer positions you for promotion or a new fashion house. Search for fashion buyer job openings using resources like Clothing Industry Jobs, CareerBuilder, Monster and Indeed. Some of the best places to land your first salaried fashion buyer job may originate at showrooms in major market centers like New York, Chicago, Dallas, Boston, San Francisco and Los Angeles.
