Category: Interview

FASH330 Exclusive Interview with Madison Toth, Assistant Buyer Intern, Kohl’s

About Madison Toth

My name is Madison Toth, and I am a senior Fashion Merchandising and Management student with minors in Business Administration and Functional Wearable Design, set to graduate in May 2026. I am from Bangor, PA, a small town north of Philadelphia. Growing up, it was always my dream to be a part of the fashion industry.  As President of Runway of Dreams Club, I am passionate about innovative dressing solutions for those with different dressing needs. In the Winter of 2026, I will be participating in the UD FASH Study Abroad Program in Paris. Throughout my time at UD, I also had the opportunity to attend the NRF Student Program in NYC, which ultimately helped me to land my summer internship with Kohl’s as an Assistant Buyer Intern at their headquarters in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

In summer 2025, I worked directly on the Nine West team with a focus on bottoms and dresses. The internship consisted of tasks, projects, and meetings that involved detailed analysis of sales data, forecasting, pricing, and assortment & allocation plans. The internship gave me a first-hand look at what the entire buying process looks like from start to finish.

Question 1: As an Assistant Buyer Intern, what does a typical day or week look like for you? Which part of the internship do you find most exciting? Were there any aspects of the internship that surprised you after you started?

Madison: Within the work week as an assistant buyer intern, the days were filled with classes, tasks, projects, and various meetings. Days were full, and there was always something that I could work on that would leave a genuine impact on the company and the Nine West team. An exciting portion of the internship was the continuous exposure to leadership that all interns had. Having the chance to hear from the entire C-suite of leaders, including the Chief Merchandising Officer and interim CEO of the company, was extremely exciting. Along with that group of leaders, I was given multiple opportunities to communicate with and present in front of leaders within the women’s category, and even outside of the buying world. Interns were encouraged to meet with people outside of their respective roles, which I took advantage of, meeting with a technical designer and the Vice President of Sourcing. I was surprised at the sense of community that the company had overall. All employees were excited to speak with interns, and encouraged us to ask questions during meetings and include our thoughts and opinions on their work. Overall, it was an amazing experience to meet with so many professionals in the fashion industry, who all gave diverse perspectives on the profession and gave inspiring viewpoints.

Question 2: Can you highlight 1-2 specific projects or tasks you worked on during the internship? What skills did they require or help you develop?

Madison: My first project of the internship was a competitive shopping project. This was presented to a plethora of teams in the Women’s category, as well as one of the Divisional Merchandise Managers (DMMs) for the Women’s category.  My partner and I visited several competitors, both direct and aspirational, to explore what was currently available in the market. We compared our findings with what Nine West currently has on the floor at Kohl’s for the summer season. While this project changed the way I shopped, it also gave me the critical thinking skills to think beyond the product when I was shopping. I discussed placement and promotion of the product, along with pricing to compare and contrast all differences of the competitors with Nine West.

My next project was an analysis of “Best Sellers.” My first task was to pick a few items from the current assortment, then analyze the sales data for both best and worst sellers, and create an overall theme to convey to other teams and leadership within the Women’s category. This included examining total sell-through season to date, average weekly sell-through, demand sales, % change from last year, and various other metrics. Overall, these two projects were the most influential throughout my internship. They made me think beyond the product, and truly understand the depth and complexities of the buying position.

Question 3: Which topics or skills from FASH330 did you find most relevant or helpful in your internship? Based on your experience, do you have any advice for students currently taking the course?

Madison: Open to Buy (OTB) was a topic learned in FASH330 that I found useful. My team met with leadership to discuss OTB once I got to Kohl’s, and many metrics were used. The Excel sheet seemed as long as a mile, with so many numbers that it was difficult to decipher their actual meaning. In a meeting with my manager, she slowed things down for me, and I was able to connect what I had learned in FASH 330 to Kohl’s OTB process. Without prior knowledge of the topic, I would have been left feeling extremely confused at the process. Along with OTB, I encourage students to pay special attention to all formulas related to sales metrics, including markup, gross margin, markdowns, and the intricacies of “at cost” and “at retail”. Having the knowledge from FASH 330 around these concepts was very beneficial for me throughout the internship.

Question 4: Based on your internship experience, what critical trends or issues in the apparel retail industry do you think are especially important for us to pay attention to, especially in the merchandising area?

Madison: With the current tariff war between the United States and many of its global trading partners, it is a significant shift within the fashion industry. My team at Kohl’s was faced with the difficult decision of whether to raise retail prices, switch vendors, or both. To maintain a specific initial markup% (IMU%), the team was left with difficult decisions on how to combat tariffs. While also always being in many seasons at one time, tariffs added an extra challenge to an already complex role. I encourage students to look into what aspects of the buying role can shift with changes in global affairs.

Question 5: How did you land your internship opportunity, and what did the interview process look like?

Madison: My internship opportunity arose from a career fair at the National Retail Federation (NRF) Student Program in NYC — thanks to the strong industry connections our FASH department has developed. On the second day of the program, students were encouraged to visit recruiters from many different successful retailers. After speaking with a Senior Buyer from Kohl’s that day, I was set up for a formal interview a few weeks later. The questions in that interview were mainly focused on my character, interest in the buying role, and both academic and professional experience. I was then asked back for a second interview, and ultimately landed the job. I recommend attending the NRF Student Program to any students that have the opportunity, it was truly an amazing experience, which led me to a dream internship.

–The End–

FASH330 Exclusive Interview with Cecilia Goetz, Senior Allocation Analyst at TJX

About Cecilia Goetz

My name is Cecilia Goetz. I grew up outside of Boston and currently live in the city while working in Framingham, Massachusetts, at TJX. I graduated from the University of Delaware (UD) in 2024 with an honors degree in Fashion Merchandising and minors in Management Information Systems and Business Administration. In my time at UD, I was a member of UDress Magazine and took part in a Fashion study abroad program in Paris as well as a food & wine Hospitality program in Australia/New Zealand.

Question 1: As a senior allocation analyst, what are your primary roles? 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?

Cecilia: As a Senior Allocation Analyst in the footwear department for TJ Maxx, it is my job to come up with a weekly shipping strategy for what is being sent to our stores across the country so each one can get a cohesive, exciting, and unique mix of products. Throughout the week, I use several systems to manage this strategy and what we call “production” to ensure the goods needed to hit our weekly dollar goal are being processed and shipped to our stores.

One of my favorite parts of my job is being able to work so closely with the product. As someone who loves fashion and is a TJ Maxx customer myself, I love getting to talk about shoes all day. There is also something so special about deciding on a product mix one week and being able to actually see those shoes in stores a few weeks later. The role also allows me to utilize what I learned in my fashion classes while exercising the analytical skills I gained from my MIS minor. I like to think it is the perfect mix of my college education. TJX is also a company that really focuses on talent development. As a result, another key part of my job is training new analysts on my team and ensuring they are adjusting to the job and showing growth in their role. This is another very rewarding aspect of my position!

Question 2: I know that before your current role, you also worked on the buying side of the company. How does the role of an allocation analyst differ from buying, and in what ways are the two roles connected?

Cecilia:As an analyst, I am on the planning side of the company. On the other end of things, there are buyers who work with vendors to purchase all the goods that I allocate to stores. At TJX, most people start off on the planning side of the company and work their way up to the buying side. I interned in sleepwear buying and was able to work closely with the merchants in the department and observe their key tasks, such as vendor calls, quarterly strategy meetings, creation of purchase orders, etc.

While two very different roles, buying and planning are extremely connected. In my current role, I work closely with the buyers each week to ensure that we are achieving their vision of what the floor looks like with the many styles of shoes they purchase. They also let us know of any changes that need to be made, like the retail of each product, the month it is living in, or a change in the category. We work together on strategy meetings for each quarter, as well as our monthly reviews of what products we have on order, meaning the goods that have been purchased from the vendors and are on their way to our distribution centers.

Question 3: Can you walk our students through the key steps involved in developing an allocation/merchandise plan? Any key indicators that are particularly important to your decision-making?

Cecilia:I use a number of factors to come up with my allocation plan, like our ship goal for the week, the shoes we have available, the performance of those shoes in the past, the current season, and market trends. We essentially have plans for each class of shoe (e.g., heels, flats, sandals, sneakers, etc.) with projections of sales, inventory, sales-to-stock ratio (which we call “turn”), and several other key data points. I use our systems to look through what we currently have coming through our distribution centers across the country and decide how much I want to ship each type of shoe to fulfill these plans, while also deciding what specific shoes I want to ship within each class.

Every Monday, I receive several reports with data regarding my department’s performance in the previous week. I can look at things at a high level, like how a whole department or class did, while also being able to look at more specific information, like the selling of a certain style or zone within the country. For me, the most important indicators of whether a product, class, or department is working are the sales-to-stock ratio and sales. The sales-to-stock ratio essentially tells us how quickly we are turning over inventory (hence the nickname “turn”) by representing how much is being sold relative to how much of the product we have on the sales floor. If a style is selling very large volumes while turning quickly, we call it a “best-selling” style and prioritize shipping more of it the following week.

Throughout the week, it is also my job to manage production to ensure we reach our dollar goal and consistently communicate with our warehouses as issues arise. Our 1,300 stores are also split into 6 different zones based on location, climate, and demographics. This allows me to incorporate some lower-level analysis into my weekly strategies, like focusing certain products on certain zones, or bypassing a zone completely for one type of shoe or even a specific style. I can use different systems to track how much we have shipped week to date (WTD) of each class and how much is going to each zone.

Question 4: TJX is known as an off-price retailer. What unique merchandising issues or considerations are especially important for the company?

Cecilia:As an off-price retailer, a few of our main considerations are value, exciting mixes, and recognizable brands. We aim to offer our customers great deals on high-quality goods. They know that when they come into a TJ Maxx, Marshalls, or Home Goods, they are going to find amazing prices on brands they recognize that most other retailers cannot offer. A very important aspect of our business model is offering our customers a “treasure-hunt” shopping experience. We aim to make every store different with a unique collection of products so that no two stores look alike. As a result, shoppers feel a sense of urgency and that they have to buy something because they don’t know when they’ll see it next. This is part of the importance of the allocation analyst role. We help to make sure goods are allocated in a way that creates variety and excitement.

Question 5: From your perspective, what are the most important industry trends that students interested in merchandising and planning should be watching closely?

Cecilia:Arguably, the biggest topic of conversation in the retail industry right now is the newly imposed tariffs. Because so many vendors rely on manufacturers overseas to produce their goods, they are finding themselves in an especially tough position as they are forced to reassess manufacturers and make crucial decisions regarding who will have to take on the added costs. An understanding of tariffs and their implications for retailers has never been so important!

Another key trend in the industry is social media. As members of Gen-Z, our understanding of and involvement with platforms like Instagram and TikTok are so useful and relevant. At TJX, the buyers love to hear from us about the key trends we see and often take this information into account when buying products. Oftentimes, we can introduce them to a trend they never would’ve known about, especially if they aren’t consistent users of popular apps for our generation. There have also been several viral trends and videos involving our stores on social media. Seeing these can give us a better understanding of the customer mindset and what they are and aren’t excited about in our stores.

Question 6: What does a typical fashion merchandising job interview look like? What kinds of questions are commonly asked? And could you share any advice to help our students prepare and stand out?

Cecilia:My interview process involved a few different stages. The first of which was a virtual recording in which I had to talk about myself and answer some questions related to simple retail math. The second phase was a group interview. We spent the first part of the interview working independently in a simulation of the role, where we got to decide what we would and wouldn’t ship based on data and information given to us about different products. The group then came together to discuss our decisions and come to a consensus after considering each other’s thoughts and opinions. The final round involved short interviews with members of the recruitment team. Here, I got the opportunity to talk one-on-one with different people from the company and share my reasoning for applying, qualifications, and interests.

My biggest piece of advice for standing out, specifically in group interviews, is to share your honest opinion, even if it differs from your peers. I remember in my group interview, when we all came back to discuss, several people in my group started agreeing on things that were completely different from what I wrote down during the independent time. I started to panic, but then I decided to speak to my original plan while offering in-depth reasoning for my decisions. Rather than being judged, it created an open dialogue in which many different ideas were thrown around. One of the main parts of my current job is what we call “working in the gray.” There is no one right answer because there is no way to predict exactly what is going to happen each week in stores. As long as you are able to back up your decisions and explain your thought process, you will never get in trouble for having a differing opinion. In fact, people in both buying and planning LOVE to hear a range of ideas and thoughts because it offers fresh perspectives and gives some insight into what the customers could be thinking.

-The End-

FASH330 Exclusive Interview with Annie Schtevie, E-commerce Merchandise Manager and Buyer at Splendid

About Annie Schtevie

My name is Annie Schtevie and I am currently an E-commerce Merchandise Manager and Buyer for the contemporary women’s clothing and lifestyle brand, Splendid. I also run a vintage clothing company based in NYC with my husband, called Table & Thread Co. Vintage. I’ve worked in various areas of the industry–buying, planning, sales, & e-commerce within many product categories – men’s, kids, women’s, and even watches & fine jewelry. My relevant passions lie in sustainable/circular fashion, trend forecasting, e-commerce, fashion history, and vintage clothing.

I studied Fashion Merchandising at the University of Delaware, where I was able to take classes that prepared me for the fashion workforce through various networking opportunities and valuable buying and product development projects that simulated real day-to-day tasks those roles would have to complete. In Delaware’s FASH program, we also learned about international trade & tariffs in relation to apparel which is SO important to understand in today’s climate.

Question 1: As a Buyer/E-commerce Merchandise Manager, what are your primary responsibilities? What does a typical day or week look like to you? Which part of the job do you find most exciting? Were there any aspects of the position that surprised you after you started?

Annie: My primary responsibilities include both developing and executing a sitewide merchandising strategy for our direct-to-consumer website (www.Splendid.com) that does about $22 million in sales annually, utilizing various merchandising & analytics software such as Bloomreach and Shopify Plus.  I also plan and write omnichannel buys for almost all categories we carry – we actually have 17 stores in the U.S. and they are in my purview, as well! I would say I am somewhat of a liaison between the buying teams and the e-commerce teams because my job involves the best of both worlds. 

In my day to day, I ideate and implement curated shops and capsules on site to align with email marketing, homepage content, and social media. I choose all the products we feature in our emails, categorize products in Shopify, merchandise different pages on the site, write buys, & work with many different teams (planning, marketing, e-commerce, etc.). A lot of my tasks involve looking for ways to boost conversion and sales metrics on our site through double-exposure opportunities, grouping collections together, and adjusting the website in real-time based on results, pricing, and inventory.

My favorite part of my role would have to be the actual site merchandising itself – part of it is left up to an algorithm, but other parts can almost feel artisticlike I am making a collage – I get to decide where the products sit on every page on the site, making sure the products flow visually and make sense to the customer (& encourage them to buy more items!) for the entirety of their journey on our site. When I started, I was surprised at how much involvement the buying team had with the e-commerce business; I hadn’t experienced that as much in my previous roles.

Question 2: Before your current role as a Buyer/e-commerce merchandise manager, you held positions as an assistant buyer and then an associate buyer. How did the responsibilities differ across these roles?

Annie: When I was an Assistant/Associate Buyer, my role was a lot more product and store-focused, I was consistently communicating with vendors, preparing for style-outs (where we lay up the product assortment and make sure there is no duplication/that all bases are covered), working on smaller category buys, communicating with stores, & making decks that showed how the stores should layout their product, etc. I regularly traveled to some of the stores to get feedback/see the product merchandising. My involvement in website and email marketing was more limited, but I had more involvement in products and stores.

Question 3: When developing an e-commerce merchandising strategy, how do you determine which product categories or styles to prioritize? What key factors do you evaluate in this process?

Annie: There are many different factors when it comes to why a certain product or category would be prioritized on our website and it is definitely both an art and a science! Here are some factors I consider:

  • Styles with the most units bought/the biggest marketing stories are generally prioritized: Things highest up on the site landing pages will have the most eyes on them
  • Styles that are featured in specific marketing/homepage content/an ad leading to that particular landing page: If a customer is on the home page and sees a photo of a dress with a button saying “shop all dresses”, you want to make sure that dress in the picture is at the top of the respective page they are ending up on even if it isn’t the biggest buy or best seller
  • Best-Selling Product: In general, I make sure our best-performing products are closer to the top of the given pages. Performance can be more than just sales – look at sales units, sales volume ($), conversion rate, add-to-cart rate (ATC), and even reviews (products with good reviews also usually mean less chance of getting returned). On the flip side, sometimes I want to push slower-selling products with a lot of units left over maybe during certain sales, so I have to consider when to boost slower sellers in order to move through inventory
  • Styles that are most relevant to a given page’s product set: For example, if you have tees and tanks both living on “The Tee Shop” on-site, it would usually make sense to lead with Tees for relevance

Question 4: How important are data and technology, such as business analytics tools, in supporting your merchandising decisions like selecting products and pricing? How do you balance data-driven decision-making with creative merchandising in an e-commerce environment?

Annie: Data, in general, is super important in merchandising decisions – this could refer to selling data or also our site metrics. All the business and sales results we see on a weekly and even daily basis impact how I adjust the site in real-time. The true proof of customer behaviors and preferences lies in the numbers and sales. It is a difficult balance to make the merchandising/color story flow on site (appeasing the buying/creative team) and letting the algorithm do its job and/or using data for merchandising decisions (which the e-commerce team would prefer). I tend to use my best judgment, and I’m not scared to experiment or take an A/B test to figure out what the best choice is!

Question 5: Omni-channel retailing continues to grow in popularity among clothing retailers. What unique merchandising challenges does this model present, particularly in inventory management, pricing, and assortment management? Additionally, what key industry trends should we watch in omni-channel retailing and e-commerce clothing businesses?

Annie: One big challenge we are facing in this space is that we recently opened up the capability for ship-from-store (so our web customers can order products even if the warehouse has run out of them if our stores still have the stock on hand). There were definitely a lot of learning moments and speed bumps for the team with this: making sure the stores’ inventory was properly cataloged so they didn’t get orders for things they already ran out of, making sure the items they were shipping were not “store worn” or pilled from being on the floor, having the proper staffing to account for web orders, training the store teams on picking/packing web orders, how that changes our buy unit amounts if we expect web customers to be able to dip into store stock–does that mean we should buy more inventory for stores? How can we financially plan for that? And what happens with returns? Do we need to turn it off during high-traffic times like Black Friday (if the speed at which things are selling in-store is too quick to update the stock in Shopify.) So much to consider with this one and it took a lot of careful consideration and testing first in a small group of doors.

Today’s customers are very smart/aware of what they are buying and expect a lot in the way of convenience when they shop online (& in stores) it is important for retailers to have a streamlined experience, where a customer can buy/return from anywhere, other stores can easily transfer stock/sizes around, discounts/promotions are the same across channels, assets are shared and tell a clear message in-store/email/social. It can be hard in larger (non-digital native) companies when people tend to work in silos and sometimes don’t even realize they are requesting duplicate work or should be incorporating a visual or signage based on stories we are pushing in marketing. But I would say this is one of the most important things for larger/legacy companies to make sure they have covered.

Question 6: What advice would you give to students interested in pursuing a career path in buying and merchandising? Are there any specific experiences or opportunities at UD and in the FASH program that you would highly recommend for our students?

Annie: Don’t be afraid to share your opinions/ideas and have a point of view, however, definitely take the time to listen and take notes, and learn from others when you start in your role. Buying can be volatile at times so be able to adapt to different situations/timelines that may come up. Getting to be creative is my favorite part of buying and site merchandising, so I definitely try to take on those types of projects, when possible. And, of course, I also have my vintage fashion side hustle, which keeps things fun/hobby-like in addition to my full-time job! It is fun/valuable to be multi-faceted.

A couple of my favorite experiences in the UD Fash program were studying abroad in Paris (taking the Trend Forecasting course and Haute Couture Course covered both sides of the trend pendulum–past & future, which definitely sparked a passion for me). I also appreciated getting to participate in the Fashion Scholarship Fund case study and attend the FSF Gala, as well! Some of my favorite courses were Professor Lu’s course on international trade & sourcing (which was so useful/informative & up-to-date), the Fashion Art studio course (I love being creative), 20th Century Fashion History (which I was taking at the same time as a music history course and it was cool when they overlapped e.g. Woodstock & 60’s-70’s fashion of that era!), and one class where we got to plan a merchandising assortment & create our own department store/buying plan/strategy!

-The End-

FASH330 Exclusive Interview with Kaitlyn Roughan, Merchandiser of WRTW at Michael Kors

About Kaitlyn Roughan

Kaitlyn graduated from the University of Delaware in December 2018, where she majored in Fashion Merchandising and minored in Business Administration. During her time at university, she gained valuable experience through internships at Lafayette 148 in New York City, where she spent one summer focusing on merchandising and fabric, and the following summer working with the Wholesale team. Her work primarily centered on high-end, luxury women’s clothing, a field she developed a strong passion for. After graduating, Kaitlyn took on a merchandising assistant role at Tory Burch, specializing in women’s ready-to-wear. This position offered her the incredible opportunity to work with products that graced the runway. After three and a half years, she transitioned to Michael Kors, continuing her focus on women’s ready-to-wear (WRTW), but this time for the MMK and Outlet lines.

Question 1: As a merchandiser for Michael Kors, 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?

Kaitlyn: Every day in merchandising brings something new and dynamic, which is one of the things I love most about my job. One day, I might be at my desk working with Excel to report sales, while the next I’m comp shopping in Soho and working with samples in the showroom. I consider Merchandising to be the center of an infinity sign, as it serves as the central hub of an organization, connecting various departments. On one side, I collaborate with design, production, and product development teams, and on the other, I work closely with buyers, visual merchandising, retail development, and sales teams. This balance of diverse responsibilities keeps the role exciting and constantly evolving, allowing me to dip my toes into a variety of areas.

My primary responsibilities involve creating a comprehensive line plan that serves as a roadmap for design and guiding the upcoming season’s product development. I also work extensively with selling reports, which help provide insights into what’s resonating with consumers in the market. Another key part of my job is translating complex data from Excel into visually appealing PowerPoint presentations, making it easier for others to interpret. I thoroughly enjoy the opportunity to work on a product from the ground up—starting with a line plan that I share with design, then participating in sketch reviews, and then allocating fabrics, colors, and prints for showroom samples. Along the way, I refine the line based on strategy, feedback, and market trends, ultimately getting to see the product make its way to stores. It’s always exciting to see the product you’ve worked on starting almost 1 year in advance in stores and worn by women everywhere.

Question 2: What are the unique issues and considerations in merchandising and inventory planning for women’s ready-to-wear (WRTW) apparel?

Kaitlyn:I’ve found that women’s ready-to-wear (WRTW) is one of the most emotionally charged categories, especially in the luxury sector. Unlike handbags or footwear, which often serve a more functional purpose, ready-to-wear clothing relies heavily on excitement and emotional appeal to justify its higher price points. People are generally willing to invest more in accessories because of their practicality, but when it comes to RTW, it’s all about creating something that feels special and aspirational. The challenge is making the clothing not just a product, but a statement that entices someone to spend a significant amount of money on it.

Question 3: A strong understanding of merchandising financials is essential for merchandisers. Which key numbers and financial indicators do you focus on most in your role?

Kaitlyn: In my role, I focus on several key numbers and financial indicators to guide decision-making. Sales dollars and sales units are essential metrics, as they provide a clear picture of revenue and product performance. Sell-through percentage is another critical indicator, helping me understand how quickly products are selling at Full Price vs Markdown, which is vital for understanding if a product is resonating with our customers. Average Unit Retail (AUR) also plays a significant role in evaluating the pricing strategy and profitability of the products.

I also closely track performance across specific time periods, such as the last calendar week, the end of the month, and seasonal hindsight. These timeframes give me valuable insights into trends, helping to identify patterns in consumer behavior and making adjustments to the merchandise strategy accordingly.

[*Note: Sell-through Percentage (%) measures how much inventory has been sold relative to what was initially available for sale, i.e., units sold/units available; Average Unit Retail (AUR) measures the average selling price of a product.]

Question 4 : What major industry trends could impact the women’s ready-to-wear market, particularly in buying and merchandising? What is your observation?

Kaitlyn: One major industry trend currently impacting the women’s ready-to-wear market, particularly in buying and merchandising, is the increased tariffs on China. Our Product Development/Production team is attempting to shift a portion of production out of China to avoid additional costs associated with the surcharges. While this primarily impacts Production, it also has a ripple effect on merchandising, especially since it directly affects the landed costs we share with the buyers. As these costs rise, it becomes more important to strategically manage how we price and allocate products across different regions.

Additionally, the shift in production has implications for our minimum order quantities (MOQs). As merchandisers, we have to balance the needs of different markets, particularly smaller regions with lower open-to-buy (OTB) budgets. As we move production out of China, our MOQs have been increasing, which is an issue for styles that are only bought by the smaller regions. We, as merchants, try to be as transparent as possible with the buyers so they can allocate units accordingly.

Question 5: What advice would you give to students interested in pursuing a career path in buying and merchandising? Are there any specific experiences or opportunities at UD and in the FASH program that you would highly recommend for our students?

Kaitlyn: For students interested in pursuing a career in buying and merchandising, my advice would be to apply for everything and anything you’re interested in. The more you put yourself out there, the greater your chances of landing opportunities. When I was starting out, I applied for about 20 jobs a day for an entire month before I began hearing back from employers. Persistence is key.

Once you land an interview, preparation is everything. One tip is to visit the store beforehand to understand the brand’s offerings and style. Additionally, when it comes to your appearance, make sure your outfit is reflective of the brand you’re interviewing with—being fashion-forward is crucial. You don’t need to wear a suit to work in merchandising at a major fashion company, but dressing appropriately and stylishly for the role is important to make a great first impression. I highly recommend seeking out internship opportunities as they provide invaluable real-world experience. An internship offers great resources and connections that can open doors in the industry.

-THE END-

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-

FASH330 Exclusive Interview with Natalie Kaucic, Global Merchant for Dockers at Levi Strauss & Co.

About Natalie Kaucic

Natalie Kaucic is a Merchandising professional currently in the role of Global Merchant for Dockers Men’s Tops at Levi Strauss & Co. She graduated from the University of Delaware in 2019 with a Fashion Merchandising Degree and Business Admin minor. During her studies, she was awarded the Fashion Scholarship Fund scholarship, studied at John Cabot in Rome, participated in the Disney College Program, and was a leader for the Delaware Diplomats. Natalie’s research on the global market for sustainable apparel was published in Just-style, a leading fashion industry trade publication. Post university, Natalie started as an assistant at Minted as a Merchandiser, where she worked in the Wedding category and faced the adverse challenges of the wedding industry during COVID-19. Levi’s was her next endeavor where she started as an assistant, and has since been promoted to run the Dockers Men’s Tops Category for the Globe.

Disclaimer: The comments and opinions expressed below are solely my own and do not reflect the views or opinions of any company.

Question 1: What are your primary job responsibilities as a global merchant? 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?

Natalie: My primary responsibility is to create a brand-right and consumer-focused product assortment. Under the covers, this looks like a vast variety of tasks that I do on a seasonal basis. I regularly listen and work with regional merchandising to understand their regional specific needs, collaborate with design on new product ideas and fabrics, and meet with product development to work on new fabric innovations and product costing. Every week looks dramatically different for me in my work. Sometimes, I’m heads down in assortment strategy; other weeks, I work on creating templates and calendars for process improvement.

What I find most exciting is seeing the product in person. Most Dockers Tops are not sold domestically, so it’s really fun to see a product you worked on in the wild! I am also grateful to be able to manage an assistant. Seeing things click for her and watching her succeed is incredibly motivating.

What surprised me the most was the number of different teams I work with, including planning, regional merchants, product development, marketing, styling, design, garment/fit development, copy, IT, analytics, sales, business operations, and e-commerce. Learning what everyone does and who to go to was the most significant learning curve and the biggest shock coming into my role.

Question 2: Based on your observation and experience, how do the merchandising, product development, and sourcing teams collaborate in a fashion apparel company? Could you explain their respective responsibilities and how they support one another?

Natalie: In my role, I have more direct contact with our product development team than the sourcing team. I work very closely with product development as they are the team that helps produce our product. They manage fabric & garment development, costing negotiations, and innovation development/testing. They also work through some more micro-sourcing strategies, for example, moving the production from one factory to another to get better duty rates. As a hypothetical example, we sell a poplin shirt primarily in Europe. Pretend we produce the shirt in India at a cost of $10/each. However, shipping it to Europe incurs a 40% import duty, bringing the cost of goods sold (COGS) to $14. If we could produce the shirt in Mexico, where the duty rate to Europe is only 5%, even if the production cost is higher—say $12—the overall cost to Europe would still be lower. There are endless complexities to this that I’m sure you will learn more from FASH455—topics like free trade agreements, yarn forward rules of origin, etc.

Question 3: Fashion companies need to balance various factors such as cost, quality, speed to market, and compliance risks when deciding where to source their apparel products. Could you share your experiences and reflections on managing these challenges in the real world?

Natalie: Below is an example of natural fibers and the cost challenge with cotton-forward apparel products.

Currently, linen is in high demand, but there isn’t enough crop to meet industry needs—it’s a classic case of supply and demand. Not only does this drive up costs (COGS), but it also complicates the process of securing raw materials. It’s easy to overlook that the apparel industry is fundamentally tied to agriculture, making it vulnerable to factors like bad weather, natural disasters, and inaccurate demand forecasting. These challenges force us to make critical decisions. With rising garment costs, should the company absorb the expense to keep prices steady for consumers? Our product development team might ask if we need to pre-book fibers to lock in pricing—when is the right time to do that, and how much should we purchase?

This isn’t a new challenge. For example, cotton, our primary raw material for clothing, fluctuates in price like oil, making agility in sourcing essential!

Question 4: Studies show that consumers want to see more “sustainable apparel products” in stores. How are fashion companies responding to this demand? What opportunities and challenges does this trend present for fashion companies’ business operations, especially in merchandising, supply chain, and sourcing?

Natalie: This is such a complicated question. I think about this often as I am personally really passionate about this topic!

In my day-to-day work, I focus on sustainable fibers, as the fabric content of a garment is something I can directly influence. Working on a global scale, I collaborate with regions worldwide, each of which—along with their retailers—has different values regarding sustainable products. Europe, for instance, is relatively ahead of the US in sustainability and often requires a certain percentage of sustainable fibers (e.g., organic cotton, recycled cotton) in our products. In Europe, items using 100% organic cotton hold significant value and can command a higher price in stores such as Galeries Lafayette or Zalando. However, not all retailers and consumers globally share the same commitment to sustainability. In some cases, we may need to use synthetics for functional purposes, such as in activewear. In those instances, we prioritize using recycled polyester or nylon to meet our sustainability goals. Regardless of the consumer or price point, our goal is to integrate sustainability at every level and for every product.

One challenge I find particularly interesting is working with “recycled cotton.” As you may know, recycling cotton typically involves breaking down the fibers, which shortens and weakens them. Because of this, there’s usually a limit to how much recycled cotton can be used before fabric quality is affected. That’s why you often see recycled cotton blended with virgin cotton in the same garment. However, newer recycling methods that aim to preserve the staple length are emerging, offering hope for improvements as the technology becomes more mature and accessible.

Ultimately, heavy consumption, regardless of the fabric being recycled or organic, isn’t truly sustainable. The focus should be on choosing pieces you love and investing in items that are made to last.

Question 5: Are there any other major trends in the fashion industry that we should closely monitor in the next 1-3 years?

Natalie: In the next 1-3 years, I’m eager to see what AI-driven tools will be introduced to assist merchants in making smarter, data-backed decisions. In merchandising, we are constantly trying to predict the future. A lot of research and data analysis go into decision making,  but also a big handful of going with your gut. Will AI be able to help us find trends in the past that can better help us make decisions for the future?

It’s not exactly a trend, but I’m really curious about the future of fast fashion giants over the next decade. With growing interest in sustainability and new regulations emerging from Europe, will we eventually see a decline in these dominant players, or will demand for fast, cheap apparel always persist?

Question 6: Last but not least, anything you learned from FASH courses that you find particularly relevant and helpful in your career? What advice would you offer current students preparing for a career in the fashion apparel industry?

Natalie: I felt really prepared coming out of the FASH program for my corporate job. I picked this degree, as I’m sure many have because it combined the necessary key concepts of a business degree with the skills and knowledge to build a career in apparel. I think the classes I reference the most in my day-to-day life are product development classes, textile classes, and apparel buying. As a merchant, I need to be able to talk about fabric types with designers, cost engineering with product developers, and financial metrics with planners.

When it comes to advice, it’s tried and true: network! Talk to teachers, reach out to alumni, sign up for the UD Job Shadow Program, and talk to the career center. There are so many services to take advantage of while at UD. Other than networking, I would highly recommend steering the subjects of your papers to companies and topics you are interested in. I worked on a few reports about Levi Strauss & Co., which confirmed it as a target company for me and helped me succeed in the interview process.

Lastly, be flexible! You might come in, as I did, thinking you want to be a buyer, only to realize it’s not the best fit. Or, you could start with greeting cards and stationery merchandising and pivot to apparel. Or even move out of apparel entirely! Nothing is set in stone, and that’s both the most stressful yet reassuring lesson I’ve learned since graduating.

–The End–

FASH330 Exclusive Interview with Camryn Leon-Kelly, E-commerce Coordinator at Birkenstock

About Camryn Leon-Kelly

Hello Blue Hens! My name is Camryn Leon-Kelly, and I graduated from the University of Delaware in 2019 with a degree in Fashion Merchandising and Management. I currently live in Manhattan, and I love all things related to art, fashion, and interior design. I am presently the e-commerce coordinator for Birkenstock. Before working for Birkenstock, I had various e-commerce and merchandising roles with Martha Stewart, Saks Fifth Avenue, and Rebecca Minkoff. I am extremely grateful for my education and experience at the University of Delaware. I can confidently say that I apply skills that I learned at UD every single day!

Question 1: What are your primary job responsibilities as an E-commerce Coordinator? 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?

Camryn: As the e-commerce coordinator, my primary responsibility is to ensure that Birkenstock’s e-commerce sites have a seamless and positive customer experience. The beauty of e-commerce is that no day looks the same!

Our team meets with our merchandising counterparts weekly to design our homepage for the week. In these meetings, we review selling, upcoming product launches, and various e-commerce-related analytics. Once our homepage is designed and created in our systems, I am responsible for merchandising the products featured across the site in multiple categories. I also manage site merchandising across our sites for advertising, emails, and social media. Merchandising products into their respective categories on our site is extremely important to our customer’s online shopping experience. It is crucial for our customers to be able to find new products that are being messaged while also being able to see our bestselling styles very easily. 

I love being able to merchandise products on the site not only based on data and analytics but also on trends that I am seeing. Examples of this could be noticing that people are wearing a particular style and or color in the streets of Manhattan and then merchandising this product to areas of our site for easy access.

I also manage the product launches for Birkenstock. Every season, I work with our counterparts in Germany on our item-set-up process. This process looks at reviewing all product imagery and copying and QA-ing all our product detail pages to ensure that every style is correctly set up on the front end of our site. One of my favorite parts of my role is working with our product and being able to play such an integral part in our business by pushing our product live on our sites! It is so cool and exciting to see people wearing products I have worked on in real life, like knowing they bought them on our site! Every time I go outside in NYC, I see people in Birkenstocks.

Lastly, I create and design monthly campaigns for Birkenstock USA and Birkenstock Canada. Our campaigns are creative landing pages that showcase editorial images while also showcasing new styles for the season. Monthly, our merchandising team creates merchandising stories for me to create campaigns. These campaigns include new products, color stories, brand collaborations, and holiday campaigns. Creating campaigns is my favorite part of my job! It is the perfect combination of e-commerce and merchandising! It allows me to be creative while utilizing my merchant skills to create successful campaigns.

I was surprised to learn how helpful my merchandising background has been in this role. Prior to my roles at Birkenstock, I had been in the buying and merchandising world for brick-and-mortar stores. It was not until my time at Martha Stewart that I was able to focus entirely on e-commerce. Once I started shifting from merchandising to e-commerce, I realized I wanted to pivot from buying and merchandising to e-commerce. Although I pivoted from the more traditional buying and merchandising world, I was pleasantly surprised that the experience and knowledge I gained in my prior roles have made me highly successful in the e-commerce space because I can make decisions from a merchant’s perspective.

Question 2: Before joining BIRKENSTOCK, you were a Merchandise Assistant for another leading U.S. fashion retailer. Based on your experience, how does merchandising differ between brick-and-mortar stores and e-commerce businesses, and what are the similarities? Particularly, what are the critical merchandising issues for e-commerce?

Camryn: Before my time at Birkenstock, after graduating from the University of Delaware, I was a Merchandise Assistant for Saks Fifth Avenue. This was a fantastic entry-level job, because I was able to gain buying and merchandising experience while also learning what it means to work for such a large company like Saks Fifth Avenue. I worked under the women’s private label department for Saks Off Fifth, and at the time, the company was primarily focused on their brick-and-mortar stores. It was a great time to be at Off Fifth because the company was just beginning to really invest in its e-commerce presence. This was a fantastic opportunity to gain experience in buying and merchandising for both retail channels. I quickly learned that the merchandising strategies were very different for each channel. Like many buying roles, our team would utilize sales information to determine what products we would design and or buy into for the next season. We would also determine how much inventory should be allocated for our brick-and-mortar stores or our site.

Inventory and weeks of supply are important metrics to look at in both channels. Still, for e-commerce it is crucial to look at inventory levels because when a product is sold out on a site the customer can see if the product is sold out on the product detail page immediately. In contrast, in a physical store, a customer may not even be aware that a specific color/size or style is sold out until they physically look for the product. Additionally, we could pinpoint the differences between our e-commerce and brick-and-mortar customers by reviewing sales data. Another difference between both channels is that e-commerce moves a lot faster than brick & mortar. E-commerce sites are updated almost daily to push new products, merchandising stories and promotions, whereas changes happen less frequently in the physical brick-and-mortar stores. Most brands update their site’s homepages weekly to create enticing content for their customers to interact with.

The biggest similarity between brick-and-mortar and e-commerce is that the mission to create the best customer experience exists in both channels! The end goal in both channels is to successfully meet sales plan while bringing our customers the best experience at our stores or on our site.

Challenges in Ecommerce

Although the global supply chain crisis has improved tremendously through the past few years, the most challenging part of e-commerce or brick and mortar merchandising will always be securing the product in our warehouses in a timely fashion for upcoming launches. The industry has still not full recovered from COVID and the supply chain crisis.

Additionally, since e-commerce is strongly rooted in technology, there is always new technology to utilize and learn in the space to create new experiences on the site.

Question 3: It is said that fashion merchandising involves both “arts” and “sciences.” What is your view based on your real-world experiences?

Camryn: I believe that fashion merchandising perfectly combines the arts and sciences. My love for the arts and my desire to be creative have allowed me to be successful in every role I have had in the industry. I am constantly reading industry news and competitive shopping to educate myself on new brands, trends and products! It is so important to be aware of upcoming trends, industry news, and cultural moments in the industry.

A misconception about most roles in the industry is that they are all data and math-driven, but there is an art to analyzing data. Although buying and merchandising roles are traditionally centered around analyzing data, you have to be creative to understand the “why” a product is doing well or “where” a trend is coming from. As someone who struggled with math throughout their educational experience, I can confidently say that the formulas and skills I learned in FASH330 have applied to all of my roles in the industry!

Question 4: In your view, what “big factors” or industry trends could significantly affect fashion companies’ merchandising practices in the next 1-3 years, particularly for e-commerce businesses?

Camryn: As mentioned earlier, there is a strong connection between e-commerce and technology, and most of the industry trends that I see affecting the industry are technology-related. Across the industry, artificial intelligence (AI) and constantly evolving technology are among the big factors of change. For example, in the future, site merchants could utilize AI to help merchandise products across their sites based on findings from the AI tool. Systems already combine sales data and e-commerce metrics to allow merchants to merchandise their sites.

Before the pandemic, there was a strong shift in consumer behavior where consumers preferred shopping online instead of in brick-and-mortar stores. This shift intensified during and after the pandemic. Many brick-and-mortar stores could not recover from the pandemic, and online shopping became the preferred way for most consumers. Due to this shift in consumer behavior, there is a desire for a unique and personalized experience in e-commerce. I have noticed a desire for personalization regarding the e-commerce experience. Examples of personalization technology in the e-commerce space include virtual try-ons, live chat capacities with customer service, and live shipping updates.

Another factor of change I am noticing in the space is the integration of content and commerce. Celebrity collaborations and brand collaborations create not only new creative opportunities but it also allows for brands to access new customers. During my time at Birkenstock, I have supported and launched multiple collaborations and created the landing pages for them on our site! There is infinite opportunity with brand collaborations.

Question 5: Reflecting on your career journey in the merchandising world, what skill sets do you find most essential and why? What advice would you give to current students preparing for a career in fashion merchandising or the fashion industry in general?

Camryn: The University of Delaware has prepared me to be successful in all the roles I have had in the industry so far. From my first day at Saks to my current role with Birkenstock, I have constantly been using skills I learned during my time as a student in the FASH department at UD.

When starting any role in any part of the industry, it is important not to be afraid to ask any questions! I would also treat the first days of a new role like the first weeks of a new class, take lots of notes, ask questions and do not be afraid to ask for help! It can be extremely overwhelming to start a role and not know what anyone is talking about! I remember making myself a glossary with buzzwords, formulas, and common phrases. Trust me, no one on their first day knows the system names or even what “PO” stands for (Purchase Order).

Additionally, learning does not have to stop after graduation! My most successful peers in the industry are constantly learning. You can continue your education on the industry in small ways such as reading industry news, keeping up to date on the latest trends via paying attention to streetwear, and simply following your favorite brands on social media to watch how their brands evolve. Knowledge is truly the key of success, and the fashion industry is constantly evolving and it is crucial to be aware of all the trends within the industry and the culture.

Lastly, my biggest piece of advice is to be open to change! There is a lot of pressure and romanticization around being a buyer or being in a role that is centered around buying and merchandising. There are so many other amazing roles in the industry that could be a better fit for you! Although I began my career in a very traditional buying and merchandising role, I am so grateful that I can explore the world of e-commerce!

–The END–