Thinking about careers

Within the  PPD sessions recently we thought about presentation skills as well as possible careers for the future. It opened my eyes a lot to the scope of different careers there are out there and what would be best suited to myself. I was given garment technologist. This is definitely an area I would like to avoid, there seemed to be a lack of creativity and being in the position of working for someone else without the freedom of creating your own ideas. It seems very stressful, with having to think about lots of areas at once. Its seems for of a technical area, quite black and white. Within the session others within the group presented their job type to the group. There was a lot of variation, which careers including;

Buyer

Fashion journalist

Pattern cutter

Merchandiser

Coolhunter

Fashion PR

Fashion illustrator

Fashion stylist

Brand guardian

Product developer

Sample machinist

Visual merchandiser

Fashion designer

Fashion forecaster

Fashion photographer.

At first look I think the areas that most interest me would be fashion illustrator, stylist, visual merchandiser, forecaster or buyer. These are areas that I feel offer the most visual creativity. They are more focused on working with what happens after the garments have been produced, communicating them as a package.

Fashion Buyer;

 Working for retailers buyers are generally responsible for overseeing the selection of products. The buying role can vary significantly between companies and market sectors. They decide on styles to be bought and they also negotiate production with suppliers.

Roles on a day to day basis include negotiation of retail prices, planning trips to material and fashion fairs, gaining inspiration from fashion shows, working with suppliers and in house designers, researching current trends, etc.

If a buyer was too work for a department store or outlet store like Selfridges, they would be in charge of stocking the store with well known brands and garments, taking into consideration the styles that sell best and those that will make them the most profit. In contrast if you were working for a brand like Topshop, a buyer would be responsible for overseeing the complete product development process before arranging the delivery of the finished products. This would also include choosing particular ranges, styles and garments to correspond with the trends on catwalks, ensuring there would be a high appeal to the customer creating profit for the company. A wrong decision could be threatening.

The salary of Fashion Buyers can range from as little as £13,000 to as much as £70,000. The type of salary you may earn depends on experience, success of brand and what type of buyer you are. The process of career development usually goes as follows:

-Buyers Admin Assistant

-Assistant Buyer

-Junior Buyer

-Buyer

-Head of Buying

-Buying Director

 The amount of buyers and levels of experience would vary in each company. Although for example if you were working for a department store there would usually be many buyers and then a head of buying in each department eg: Womenswear, Menswear, Homewear etc. Then a buying director would oversee all departments.

There is alot of travel involved in the job at a higher level, this can be seen as both a good and bad thing depending on personal preference, personally i would love this experience.

As a buyer you would be working with lots of others that are involved in the fashion business including, imports and exports, garment technologists, fashion merchandisers, visual merchandisers, retail branch managers and more.

 I also looked more into Visual Merchandising;

They dress windows, arrange floor layouts and promote the image of the line or store. I have previously dressed windows for my job at home, which I really enjoyed. I work in a small independent shop, so this offers me the freedom to arrange the windows to which I feel best reflects the shop rather than being giving a pack and following a tight brief. This seems to me mainly a freelance career, meaning its unstable and unless you end up working for a major line the salary is low. Even though there are some bad points about this career, there is possibly travel opportunities and opportunity to gain awareness of all kinds of brands. 

Fashion PR    Public relations / Personal Relations

Salary ranges from 10,000 - 50,000

Fashion PR tasks include Appeal companies to retail stores, build and maintain a favorable public image. Because they do not have to pay for publicity or media coverage.

jobs within PR Promotions Assistants- Public relations specialists to public relations co-ordinator to director of public relations

Perks of the job are free clothes,shoes,accessories and other fashion related produce.

Other jobs you may have to do is preventing bad press, or stories that may portray an image that is not suitable or damaging to a brand.