Tag: assortment

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 Lora Merryman, Assortment Associate at Macy’s

About Lora Merryman

My name is Lora Merryman, I am a UD Fashion program alum. I completed my 4+1 program in Fashion and Apparel Studies in 2021, i.e., graduating with a Bachelor’s in Fashion Merchandising in Spring 2020 and a Master’s in Fashion and Apparel Studies in Spring 2021. During this time, I completed Summer Scholars and my master’s professional project with Dr. Lu. I was a summer intern at QVC with the Global Sourcing team in 2021 while completing my master’s. In May 2021, I started my career at Macy’s Inc. as an Assistant Assortment Analyst for Special Sizes. In June 2024, I was promoted to Associate Planner for Career Plus.

Question #1: What does an assortment analyst do?

Lora: As an assortment analyst, I work in the future seasons, and I often do multiple at once. We are currently planning for Spring 2025 and in the early stages of Fall 2025. Our season begins with getting the topline financials from the Financial Planning team–this is the total amount of money we are allocated to spend broken out by channel (stores/e-commerce) and by month for each of our areas of responsibility. My area of responsibility is Career Plus, so I work with market brands such as Karl Lagerfeld, Vince Camuto, Ralph Lauren, Anne Klein, and private brands. During this location planning process, we analyze past brand selling in each location to determine how much money should be allotted for each.

Those financials are then broken out further into “fashion” and “replenishment.” Replenishment consists of styles that don’t change from season to season (think of a pair of basic jeans or a black pair of dress pants). For my brands, I determine how many units/ how much replenishment will cost at the beginning of the season, leaving behind the rest of the dollars to be spent on new “fashion” items.

Once the replenishment is taken out of the total, leaving behind the “fashion” dollars, my team and I work with the buyers to create a Stock Keeping Unit (SKU) planner. This process is very collaborative between us and the buyers. The buyers provide guidance based on the performance of categories (knits, wovens, pants, etc.) by brand and climate. I use this performance guidance to determine how much of each category we can afford to send to stores and the e-commerce site. Basically, the buyers tell me what they want to buy, and I tell them how much they can afford to buy. All this information is populated into a chart, which is reviewed altogether and then taken to market appointments with the vendors so the buyers can submit their buys.

After the season is bought, my team allocates the units that were bought. We determine which location gets units and how many units it gets.   

Question #2: Can you walk us through your typical day at Macy’s? Also, what makes you love your job?

Lora: A typical day changes depending on what part of the season we are currently in. The only consistent day is Monday, when we recap the business from the previous week. We analyze how much we drove in sales and compare that to the planned and last year’s sales volumes. On Mondays, we also have weekly meetings to review the business, what we are working on for the week, and key deadlines.

The rest of the week changes depending on where we are in the season. If we are in pre-season planning, I am working on SKU plans and having meetings with the buyers to show them the work and tell them what they can buy. If it is post-season, I will allocate units to stores. Those two processes take up most of the time, but we also make special door projections to show how corporate strategies are being implemented in each of my brands.

What I love most about my job is that everything has an answer. There is not a lot of uncertainty when your role is based on numbers. I like seeing what the numbers are saying and implementing new strategies based on current performance. I also really like my team. The other planners are very supportive and while our businesses rarely cross paths, we have a good working relationship where we have each other’s back and fill in where needed.

Question #3: How important is assortment planning to a fashion apparel retailer? What factors do apparel retailers consider when planning their assortment?

Lora: Assortment planning is the cornerstone of a fashion and apparel retailer. We work with every team that helps to get products to stores and online. Assortment planning is in most meetings about business because we have a hand in many of the processes. From planning how much money each store gets with the direction of financial planning’s topline notes to sending the items to the stores with the help of the buying team’s item analysis, our team has a hand in the end-to-end process.

Beyond that, my team is also in charge of determining which doors have which brands. We all do in-depth analysis to make sure the locations we are sending products to are profitable, and if they are not, we need to determine if those doors should no longer carry that brand. Since we work only in future seasons, it is important that we do our due diligence and analyze all of our work because once our strategies and plans are set, there is not much my team can do in the season to adjust.

Question #4: How is assortment planning related to but different from buying?

Lora: Planning differs from buying because we analyze brand performance at a door level. For example, how is each location selling? In comparison, the buyers analyze the products. For example, how is this pair of jeans sold in stores? We don’t have a hand in the specific product, just the doors to which the product is sent. The buyers also work with pricing products and online marketing, which my team does not. However, we go to many of the same meetings, and we are also in market and vendor appointments with the buyers looking at the products, planners are just not choosing the product.

Question #5: How has technology affected fashion companies’ assortment planning practices?

Lora: We use a lot of different software and technology in my role. A few applications we use help us more accurately predict sales and product needs in locations. We utilize a lot of numbers and results that are gathered on the back end. Large Excel sheets provide all sorts of formulas to calculate how much it will cost to send a dress to 30 stores with 8 units in each. This saves us a lot of time since we do it on a large scale for multiple brands. With all the technology we have, we can more accurately predict how many items we need to buy/sell to reach our sales plans.

Question #6: Based on your career experience, is there anything you learned in FASH330 that you find most relevant and helpful?

Lora: We use some of the formulas that we learned in FASH330. A lot of our reporting uses formulas to show profit margin, markdowns, and open to buy (OTB). The buyers utilize these concepts more frequently than my team, but all of those are concepts that are important to understand to understand what factors contribute to them when we are recapping and planning the business for the season. The background understanding of FASH330 is very important. Even if some concepts might not have an immediate practical application, they are still useful knowledge to understand how the industry works.

Question #7: What advice would you offer to current students preparing for a career related to assortment planning? 

Lora: The biggest advice I can offer is to get to know Excel. I am in Excel most of the day, and even the other applications we use operate similarly to Excel. The keyboard commands and just being able to format tables is hugely useful and will save a lot of time.

Other than that, we work a lot in a group project type setting. This means it is essential to work with all different personalities across multiple levels and roles. On any given day, I speak to 3 different teams, and 3 different levels of management. There is a lot of cross-functional communication internally and externally so it’s important to be able to effectively communicate what you want from other teams and to explain your work to someone who might not know the details.

Additionally, it is important to stay organized and be able to prioritize your tasks. This comes with a learning curve since every job is different. In my role, there are many moving parts and deadlines moving up and changing, so it’s important to stay on top of everything. That being said, deadlines will change often, so it’s also vital to remain flexible.

–The End–