Working in fashion is the dream of many people. This emotional industry pushes them to start a career in an environment which from outside looks glamorous and made of catwalks, photos and events.
The reality is a little bit different for fashion professionals above all with the digitalisation of the sector. There are now more and new roles which often have few to no contact with the final product.
Fashion brands are first and foremost businesses. If from outside we only see the final product through advertising campaigns and shops, there are in reality many people whose job consist in making the business work, control the production and logistics for us to see the magic of fashion (minus its tricks).
I made a selection of varied fashion careers– that are not as exposed as designer, photographer, Â buyer or merchandiser – and unveiled what they are about to help you figure out their role within a fashion brand.
E-commerce Specialist
E-commerce stands right after flagship stores regarding sales. It is even more important for some brands only operating online and making profits through their only digital channel. As a consequence, e-commerce is a sector of fashion that will keep on growing hence looking for new people. The person in charge of an e-commerce manages the online catalogue meaning he/she looks after the descriptions, pictures and prices of the products and keep everything uniform and conform to the catalogue; the merchandising that is the order in which we see the products when we are visiting an e-shop. An E-commerce Specialist can also manage or supervise the brand newsletters and work along the web developers to offer us an excellent navigation experience by quickly finding what we are looking for and avoid any bug not to lose any sale. Magento is one the primary tools used by E-commerce Specialists. Finally, the person in this role needs to be detail-oriented as he/she will do the performance analysis of the site and manage Customer Care.
Digital Product Content Specialist
Another e-commerce profession which mission is to oversee the site’s visual merchandising in other words the way products are displayed. It does seem like an easy task but the order of the products, what to put next to the previous or following one, on the top or the bottom line is nothing but easy, it is a very strategic role influencing our purchases. The products on the top are the first one we see hence the most important as they are the ones affecting our decision to keep on scrolling or leaving the site. The Digital Product Content Specialist takes care of the many categories gathering the products of the site and creating the filters to help find what we are looking for. This role is vital, especially during the launch of a new collection.
Production Planning & Purchasing (shoes, bags)
If you graduated in economics or business management, this role is for you. A production planner takes care of monitoring the production stages always checking if they are in line with the commercial requests. In brief, it is all about making sure the product will be ready to be sold. A production planner is always in contact with suppliers to control timings, development and quality of a product. He/she works with management software like Stealth3000 or As300.
Modelist/Pattern Maker
It is an essential role in fashion. A modelist/pattern maker job consists in turning the sketches, drafts and ideas of the designer into a realistic prototype. She/he will be in charge of creating the pattern model and works with CAD – a pattern making software – manages the hemming process and the prototype assembling and finishing always respecting the timings and quality standard of the product. The Pattern Maker also works with production to optimise the product.
We interview fashion professionals to understand what their careers is really about and to discover how they got that job and how they started working in fashion so that this could be an inspiration to all of you who want to work in this industry. Don’t miss them
