Month: October 2024

FASH330 Exclusive Interview with Elana Estabrook, Assistant Buyer at Anthropologie

About Elana Estabrook

Elana Estabrook graduated from the University of Delaware in 2020 with a degree in Fashion Merchandising. While at UD, she was a TA for FASH455 and enjoyed learning about supply chain and product development to further her knowledge beyond merchandising and buying. During her studies, she landed an internship at Vans Corporate Office in the summer of 2019, where she learned about footwear merchandising from concept to creation. This sparked her passion for footwear and ultimately influenced her current career path. Upon graduation, she started her fashion career as an Apparel Merchandise Assistant for Anthropologie. She later transitioned to their accessories department, where she has been the Assistant Buyer for Footwear over the past 2 years. Elana is passionate about creating fun and unexpected assortments online and in stores for Anthropologie customers. She enjoys visiting the stores to see her work come to life and seeing people wear the products she has helped create.

Question 1: As an assistant buyer for footwear, what are your primary job responsibilities? Which part of the job do you find most exciting? Were there any aspects of the position that surprised you after you started?

Elana: My primary responsibilities include creating buy assortments each season for my respective market brands, communicating with those vendors on a daily basis to confirm orders, request samples and negotiate costing. Another main responsibility of my position is to help manage the development and order placement of our private label footwear + belts with my buyers. This includes sending inspiration to our designer and production team to create unique products “only at Anthro styles,” getting involved in the fit process and selecting swatch colors and materials. Being so creative and trend-focused in my role is the most exciting part of the job! Our product assortment is dictated by our eye for trends and ensuring we take risks to excite the customer. I was surprised to be more involved in elements of design roles and building inspiration decks for the development of products versus having more planning responsibilities, with numbers being the focus of our day-to-day tasks. While we still have to buy to our budget each season and ensure we are hitting our margin goals, we get to be more product-focused than other traditional retailers.

Being exposed to Executive Leadership frequently and presenting in product and investment reviews is another key responsibility of my role in the buying team. As buyers, we need to be the spokesperson of the products we buy each season and stand behind the trends that we are most excited about. Through merchandising products on tables and speaking through our must-win trends for the season, we are able to sell the product to our executive team. They provide insightful feedback in these meetings that will impact our finalized buy assortments and encourage us to step out of our comfort zone to offer the customer the product she has never seen before. This helps us stay relevant and competitive in the marketplace compared to other brands and retailers. After finalizing the assortment and issuing all the orders, we pass samples to our creative styling team to make the stories come to life. It’s always exciting to see your product featured in social media messaging and marketing and analyze its impact on sales. 

Question 2: What are the unique issues or challenges in merchandising and inventory planning for footwear, particularly regarding seasonality, market trends, and consumer behavior?

Elana: For starters, footwear is a long-lead category that comes with many different challenges. For some brands, we have to book their buys in 6-month increments, which poses challenges with fast-changing trends in the fashion industry. The other brands, which we call “trend brands,” are bought 2 months at a time to stay more connected to fad trends. The trends have been ever-changing with social media and TikTok, and it’s hard to keep up. We manage our business with the longer lead partners more closely to cancel anything we predict will be slower or go out on reorders on styles that we think will be top sellers. For the smaller brands, we can chase styles within the buy month and react quickly, which is always so exciting! We often don’t buy enough units of styles that end up being best sellers since there’s still no way to truly predict how the consumer will respond to a product. Which means we are missing potential sales. Each buy season, we work closely with our planners to make sure we buy the correct number of units on styles we have a selling history on. For new styles, we are using guardrail unit thresholds from line architectures that are pulled based on last year’s sales history.

A lot of buyer’s decisions are made by knowing your customer and brand identity while following feedback from leadership. It’s encouraged to “take risks” at our company, meaning our executives trust the buying team to know what is best for their business. Currently, we are seeing a change in customer purchasing behavior from previous years. The customer is shifting towards “buy now, wear now” purchasing vs. buying ahead of the season. For example, we used to buy most of our boot assortment in June and July, ahead of the Fall season. We noticed two years ago that very few customers were looking to buy boots when it was still 85 degrees outside. My team has now shifted to deliver more seasonal items, like boots, close to the month when you can actually wear the product. This is a learning opportunity for both our buying team and planner to balance when is “too early” for seasonal items and when is “too late” based on customer buying patterns.

Question 3: What “big factors” or industry trends could significantly affect the footwear industry, especially buying and merchandising? Why?

Elana: Right now, we are dealing with shipping delays and vessel shortages, which significantly impact our sales and inventory levels. This is an issue that we, as the buyers, have zero control over. We can’t ensure that an order will be produced, handed over to the forward, shipped on time, and docked to our warehouse by the delivery date while sitting at our desks. The vessel shortages have caused shipping lead times to be inaccurate and air freight to skyrocket, making it difficult to protect delivery dates while maintaining margin on goods. Without the inventory in our warehouses, we are unable to hit our sales goals for the week, month, and year due to negative inventory and late goods.

This causes a snowball effect, with customers becoming frustrated with delayed goods or canceled orders on back ordered products. We review our product review report weekly and see many concerns about these problems. These negative product ratings and reviews can deter customers from purchasing these products on our website. Since this will impact sales, our buyers’ job is to monitor the website and reach out to the customer service team. We are constantly trying to improve our customer experience, but issues like shipping delays can be out of our hands.

Question 4: What advice would you give to students interested in pursuing a career in buying and merchandising? Are there any specific experiences you would highly recommend for our students exploring their career paths?

Elana: When preparing for interviews, make sure you research the company and understand their customer demographic. It is important to be able to speak to their target consumer, which shows you would be a great asset to their team. I always like to browse the brand’s website and review the product assortment for the job category I am applying to. A frequently asked question during interviews is, “What do you see as an opportunity or white space that the brand is not currently offering?”. You will show that you can bring new ideas to the company and implement ways to enhance its current assortment offering. Having notes to reference during your interview is always helpful and can avoid feeling caught off guard or unprepared for questions. Before the interview, make sure to have a quick bio of yourself and your previous experiences memorized so that you aren’t reading off your resume. Lastly, always prepare questions to ask the person you are interviewing. I always look up the employee on LinkedIn and reference their current or previous experiences in the fashion industry.

I would highly recommend applying for internships during your junior year or earlier to gain experience and help land a job after graduation. The more experience you get, the more you will have the opportunity to explore what department you would like to pursue. I realized that I wanted to focus my career on the footwear industry after my first internship at Vans and used that knowledge to leverage my current position. The more real-life experience you can add to your resume and help shape your skill set, the better prepared you will be for your first job. It will also expand your network within the fashion industry. Connecting with other professionals in the field will help you throughout your career when seeking advice or referrals for open positions. Lastly, never think a job position at your dream company is impossible to get. It only takes one chance to get your foot in the door!

Wishing you the best of luck!

-The End-

FASH330 Exclusive Interview with Kara Hamalainen, Associate Costume Buyer at Disney Live Entertainment

About Kara Hamalainen

My name is Kara Hamalainen, and I am a May 2023 graduate of the University of Delaware. I earned my Bachelor of Science double majoring in Fashion Design and Product Innovation & Fashion Merchandising and Management. While studying at UD, I was very involved with the Impact Dance Company and Synergy Fashion Group. I have a strong passion for the costume industry because I grew up as a dancer, and it is the perfect way to link my two most prominent interests of fashion and the entertainment world together.

After graduating from UD, I was accepted into the Disney Professional Internship program and began my role as a Disney Live Entertainment Costuming Buyer Intern. I had the most incredible experience as a Professional Intern for the Walt Disney Company, and luckily, my time with my dream company did not end after my internship. I was offered a full-time Associate Costume Buyer role, and I get to continue making magic for thousands of people every single day! I currently live in Orlando, Florida and have been in my full-time ACB role for about six months.

Question 1: As a costume buyer for Disney, what are your primary job responsibilities? What does a typical day or week look like for you? Which part of the job do you find most exciting? Were there any aspects of the position that surprised you after you started?

Kara: The primary responsibility of a costume buyer under Disney Live Entertainment is to have the right costumes at the right place, in the right quantity, and at the right time. Buyers are responsible for placing orders for costume pieces, garments, and accessories and ensuring that delivery dates for products ordered are closely monitored. By achieving this, we can create and enrich the experiences of our guests and cast members worldwide. Our work can be seen at the Disney theme parks, resort hotels, cruise ships, and numerous other locations around the globe, which is truly a special and unique opportunity.

I am an Associate Costume Buyer under our Character Programs & Development (CP&D) replenishment team. In this role, I mainly replenish existing products but may assist with new developments as needed. My main responsibility is facilitating the purchase of various hard and soft goods for our character costumes. I assist a few buyers on my team with their orders while managing my own orders and vendor relationships. I also facilitate conversations with domestic vendors across the U.S. to get high-quality products on time and within budget. Additionally, I issue fabric and notions requests from our warehouse to get materials stored in-house and sent to our outside vendors for production.

The most exciting part of my job is witnessing how my work behind the scenes impacts people every single day. Whenever I go to the Walt Disney World theme parks, I watch guests interact with their favorite Disney characters through meet & greets and parades. It is heartwarming to know that I get to contribute to something so special to somebody and allow them to have that memory for the rest of their life.

An aspect of my role that surprised me the most was how complex and detail-oriented every single element of a character’s costume is. It may be as small as an earring or a buckle on a belt, but each costume component is treated equally. Attention to detail is an extremely crucial element to Disney Live Entertainment Costuming to ensure the power of storytelling comes across to all guests.

Question 2: What does the buying process look like for costumes? What factors do you typically consider in your buying decisions? What are the unique issues or challenges involved in costume buying?

Kara: The buying process for character costumes begins with our CP&D inventory planning team, which monitors the inventory of our costumes in terms of sizing, assortment, and quantity. The inventory planning team determines optimal inventory levels and all costume issue locations in the warehouse. They are also the team that will receive specific requests from costuming leaders and sites regarding inventory status and demand for a certain character costume. Once the inventory planning team has decided what character costume piece will need to be ordered and the ideal quantity, they will notify the buyer to place an order.

Once the buyer has been notified of the new purchase request, they will email their vendor to notify them of the new order. It is essential to inform the vendor of the item, quantity, and due date to confirm that the order can fit into their current production schedule. The buyer will also confirm pricing with the vendor. As soon as the vendor confirms that the new order will fit into their production schedule, the buyer writes the official purchase order. For all soft goods, this is the point in time where the buyer will notify our patternmaking team to send the tech pack and samples to the vendor for production. If necessary, the buyer will also ensure that fabric and notions requests are made for the order. Once the buyer takes these steps, the outside vendor will successfully produce the order.

When production is completed and the order is delivered to our warehouse, a detailed quality check process will be performed. Every item goes through inspection, is counted for quantity accuracy, and is measured to ensure that sizing is to spec based on the tech pack. If there are any discrepancies, there are multiple ways in which the issue can be resolved so the items can ultimately pass the quality inspection. Most importantly, the buyer will be notified and communicate the issue to the vendor so it can be prevented for future orders. If there are no noted issues with the order, then the order will be received in the system and marked for completion.

A challenge frequently arises involves orders with a “hard due date,” meaning the costume piece is needed for a specific project, show, or cruise ship. These hard due date orders do not have flexibility with their due dates as a regular replenishment order would, so it is crucial to make the vendor aware of shifting order priority if necessary. Sometimes, these hard-due-date order requests come in with very little notice, so the buyer will confirm with the vendor that they can turn in the items quickly and successfully meet the due date. If a hard due date order becomes impossible to meet, the buyer will communicate with the inventory planning team, which will work on finding a viable solution.

Question 3: As a costume buyer, how do you collaborate with other departments and teams at Disney, such as designers, product development, and sourcing? How about external stakeholders, such as your vendors?

Kara: For the CP&D Procurement Buying team, one of our main focuses is our communication and relationships with outside vendors. It is extremely vital that we build and maintain strong relationships with our outside vendors so our business can continue to run successfully. The buyers are in constant contact with their assigned vendors, communicating daily via email and phone about both current and new costume orders. It is also important that we get our work onto their production schedule in a timely manner to avoid scheduling conflicts with other customers they may have.

Regarding other teams at Disney, my buying team often collaborates with the project development buying team. This team is responsible for buying and sourcing materials for new character costumes that the designers are currently developing. Once the development process has been completed, we hold transition meetings where the development team goes over everything the replenishment buying team will need to know about the new character costume for future orders. This includes elements such as raw materials, fiber content, vendor information, and price per costume piece.

Question 4: Do you see any innovations changing the future of costume buying or production, particularly due to factors like technology, AI, and sustainability?

Kara: The Walt Disney Company commits to environmental sustainability, implementing several goals to achieve by 2030 related to emissions, water, waste, materials, and sustainable design. Specifically for Disney Live Entertainment Costuming, we focus on sustainable materials, manufacturing, and zero waste management. Fabrics and raw materials will be resourced to contain at least 25% certified sustainable content or lower-impact alternatives. Plastics will also need to contain at least 30% recycled content or a lower-impact alternative material. Manufacturers of raw materials and garments must provide one or more approved sustainable certifications and confirm participation in the Higg Index.

As a buyer, it will be our responsibility to work with our outside vendors and ensure they are closely following our company’s sustainability efforts. As some vendors source their own materials rather than use Disney-supplied materials, they must shift toward using recycled, sustainably sourced, or lower-impact alternative textiles and raw materials. Additionally, any vendors specializing in plastics and other hard goods will have to figure out ways to make their materials more sustainable without affecting the quality of the costume piece. Our current outside vendors must also maintain a sustainable manufacturing certification and provide proof of their sustainability practices. Suppose this is not possible for some of our current vendors. In that case, I imagine we would have to identify new vendors who can maintain production on a sustainable level that is ideal for our business model.

Question 5: What advice would you give to students interested in pursuing a career in costume buying? What skill sets are most valued in this role? Are there any specific experiences or opportunities at UD and in the FASH program that you would highly recommend for our students exploring their career paths?

Kara: I would highly recommend taking advantage of internship opportunities during your time at UD. Internships are a great way to gain hands-on experience in the day-to-day responsibilities of a particular role while allowing you to strengthen your understanding of the textile and apparel industry from a real-world perspective. It is also an extremely effective way to network and make valuable connections in the industry. Don’t be afraid to start conversations with your FASH professors about your goals and interests, as they are always willing to help and will likely have strong connections to the industry as well.

Additionally, having an open mind is extremely important going into the industry. Your first job out of college may not be your dream role, but know that you are gaining valuable industry skills that can be applied to a number of different positions. For example, I know that I eventually want to work my way into a more creative and design-driven role. While my current position as a costume buyer may not be focused on design and creativity, the communication and organization skills I am gaining can still translate to various positions in the industry.

Lastly, follow your dreams! It might sound cliché, but you never know what will happen if you put yourself out there and give something a shot. I faced multiple rejections from Disney before getting accepted into the internship program. If I had not decided to persevere and keep trying, I would not be where I am today. I also owe so much of my successes to the UD FASH program, as I am so grateful for the opportunities it provided.

Good luck to all of you!

-The End-

FASH330 Exclusive Interview with Sophia Raub, Merchandise Planner at Frankies Bikinis

About Sophia Raub

Sophia Raub graduated from the University of Delaware in 2016 with a degree in Fashion Merchandising and Management. While at UD, she was also a part of UDress Magazine, eventually becoming the Director of Photography and photographing two covers in 2015 and 2016. After graduation, Sophia moved to New York City, where she started her career in fashion, initially working for an apparel tradeshow and later moving into corporate retail. Sophia has since worked for Macy’s, H&M, and Uniqlo. After moving to Los Angeles with her fiance in 2023, she is currently the Merchandise Planner at Frankies Bikinis. Sophia loves baking, going to the theater, and enjoying the California sun outside of work. 

Question 1: As a merchandise planner, what are your primary job responsibilities? What does a typical day or week look like for you? Which part of the job do you find most exciting? Were there any aspects of the position that surprised you after you started?

Sophia: Frankies Bikinis is a young company, and I am the first Merchandise Planner on the team. So, I’ve been building out the role from scratch, and it looks a bit different from that of a planner at a larger company such as Macy’s. I think because I am originating the position at this company, everything has been a bit of a surprise, but that’s also been a reason it’s been so much fun. 

Day to day, I oversee projections of our inventory buys for all of our new collections, inventory planning and replenishment for our retail stores, cross-functional collaboration with our production, operations, and wholesale teams, and generally creating new workflow processes to stay organized and on time. My favorite part of this role is seeing a new collection’s start-to-finish process! It’s so satisfying to see how everything evolves based on fit, customer feedback, and changes in trends. 

Question 2: Frankies Bikinis specializes in swimwear. What are the unique issues or challenges in merchandising and inventory planning for swimwear, particularly regarding seasonality, trends, and consumer behavior?

Sophia: There are definitely challenges with the seasonality of swimwear. I’m still learning how to consider those challenges best when planning our new collections. This starts with the launch date of each collection and determines our sell-through KPIs throughout the season (note: Sell-through Key Performance Indicators are crucial metrics used in the fashion industry and retail to measure how well a product is selling relative to the inventory available.) We determine how long we want a Stock Keeping Unit (SKU) or colorway (i.e., a combination of colors used in a particular product or style) to live on our site at full price, and I use various data points to understand how much stock we need to make those goals. Swimwear has a clear sales trend throughout the year, and understanding these trends is crucial to making the right merchandising decisions. 

Predicting consumer behavior is also challenging. There have been a few times where a colorway we expected to be great didn’t do well at all and we’re left with more inventory than we expected, but also times where an item has outpaced our projections and we have to see if we can manufacture more. Because we have a vertical supply chain, we can react to the customer’s needs quickly. However, we also don’t keep replenishment inventory on hand, so we may have zero stock left when we sell out of an item.

Question 3: Before your current role, you were an Inventory Planner/Specialist at Uniqlo and H&M. From an insider’s perspective, how would you describe the fast fashion business model, particularly the role of merchandising in driving its success?

Sophia: H&M and Uniqlo operate very differently from Frankies. Both companies are headquartered outside the US, with H&M in Sweden and Uniqlo in Japan. And while they are both considered “fast fashion,” the design timeline for a salable product is roughly 9-12 months, much longer than one might think.

Both companies design and manufacture their assortments, then work with the Regional Merchandisers in each market to customize the assortment based on their customers’ needs. For example, American customers might prefer denim shorts to European or Asian customers. The Regional Merchandisers have a deeper understanding of the customer than the headquarters (HQ) merchandisers, so their expertise is needed when making these decisions. 

My experience at both companies revolved more around the in-the-moment needs of the customer once inventory was launched in stores and needed to be replenished. I saw the day-to-day sales trends and used that information to create allocation and replenishment plans for future months. This ensured a better customer experience, which led to our success. 

Question 4: Some argue that the fashion retail industry has become increasingly data-intensive. What is your observation about the importance of “data” to the retail business today, and do you have any suggestions for our FASH students who are afraid of playing with numbers?

Sophia: I definitely agree that the retail world is data-intensive! When I first knew I wanted to get my degree in Fashion Merchandising, I had no idea how important data was to the retail process. Being a merchandise planner is essentially being really good at making educated guesses about what will sell to drive the business forward. And the only way to make those educated guesses is to have access to data and know how to read it. 

If you’re afraid of getting in the weeds or overwhelmed at the thought of processing huge data sets, I’d recommend using Excel or Google Sheets as your best friend. While it sounds boring (and sometimes can be), learning how to utilize formulas and Pivot Tables will make everything much easier and less intimidating. I also always like to see as much product as I can to balance out the spreadsheet work. Working for a brand like Frankies is fun because I also get involved in the product side, which helps me feel a little more creative. 

Question 5: In your view, what “big factors” or industry trends could significantly affect the fashion retail industry, especially related to merchandising?

Sophia:  One factor that I think is slowly becoming bigger with the continuous increase in fast fashion is quality control. The younger generation of customers are becoming more educated, which means they are paying closer attention to the products they buy and where they spend their money. Brands that used to pride themselves on high quality, natural fibers, sustainable practices, etc., are being called out for keeping their high price points but decreasing the quality of their garments and using more synthetic fibers. 

As companies grow, they are clearly struggling with the scale of keeping their original production practices, so they’re choosing to sacrifice the quality in favor of higher profit. Merchandisers must decide how to move forward when running into this issue. A few ways they could do this would be to decrease their margin if they want to keep both the price point & the quality, increase their price point and potentially lose customers that can’t afford their product anymore, or change their production practices and brand image entirely. There’s not a perfect answer to this, but one of the many issues we face in fashion and retail. 

Climate change is a significant factor that the retail industry faces. Every company wants to grow and become more financially successful, but many do not consider the environmental costs of overproduction. A growing number of laws are being passed, primarily in Europe but expanding to other regions of the world, to encourage retailers to act more ethically and take greater responsibility for sustainability.

Question 6: Reflecting on your career journey in merchandising, what advice would you give current students preparing for a career in fashion merchandising or the fashion industry in general? Are there any specific experiences at UD and FASH that you would highly recommend for our students?

Sophia: Something I was anxious about when graduating college and moving into this next phase of life was being behind everyone else I knew. I didn’t graduate with a job offer, and my first job after graduating was near the retail industry, but I was definitely not in it. So, the advice I would have loved to receive in my last year at UD is that it’s okay not to have it all figured out by graduation. 

Once I got my foot in the door, I tried my best to be open about the various career paths my work could take me on. That mindset really helped me because I could be a team player and fill in the needed gaps. I thought I only wanted to work in high fashion, but when I was offered a role in the Home division at Macy’s, I thought it could be an excellent place to learn the ropes. Then I wanted to go into buying, but when I was offered a role in planning, I decided that experience could help me become a better buyer, only to discover that I really enjoyed planning! Be open and adaptable; it will take you very far. 

-The End-