Fashion buyers
bring fashion from designers to consumers. They travel to fashion shows and meet with top designers, buying at wholesale to sell clothing at retail prices. They are responsible for spotting trends and making the store appealing to customers.
Experience and Education
Many department stores require fashion buyers to have at least a bachelor's degree in fashion merchandising. However, the degree is not always necessary, especially if you are thinking about going into business for yourself. Experience, on the other hand, is essential. Whether it involves experience in retail sales or an internship with an established fashion buyer, a working knowledge of the retail world as well as the fashion industry is a must.
Responsibilities
A fashion buyer selects items from designers and suppliers. You must negotiate price, delivery date and specific requirements with your suppliers. You also must project what will be in fashion in the future, because most of the styles are ordered one to two years before they actually hit the shelves.
Skills
Fashion buyers must, first and foremost, love fashion. They should be creative and have a good eye for design and style. Since they work with lots of people, they should have great communication and interpersonal skills. Because buyers work with the store's budget, they also need to have math, sales, computer and marketing skills.
Job Outlook
Fashion buyers may have different job outlooks depending on whether they choose to work for department stores, wholesalers, boutiques or their own businesses. The industry's top fashion buyers can make $100,000 a year. While most fashion buyers don't make that much money, advancement opportunities within big companies are good. An assistant buyers can expect to be a full-fledged buyer in three to five years, which means a bigger paycheck. But during economic downturns, the number of jobs for fashion buyers decrease.
