In this second blog entry, I’d like to share a few reflections upon the role of
the assistant buyer. The work is primarily administrative with main activities
including taking care of and following up orders, handling samples, style and
material analysis, following up sales, pricing, and registering all different
kinds of changes along the process. You also need to stay à jour on trends and the fashion market. Many tasks may seem routine-like; however, since you are
involved in a continuous process of developing new products there is a lot of
dynamism and variation to the work. You use administrative programs and tools
and you communicate mostly per email. You work with multiple collections
simultaneously; at this company the assistant buyer engages in at least three seasons at a
time. “Drops” are smaller collections that are released or portioned out
throughout the year. There is a lot of deadlines and changes in timing and
transportation modes etc. to keep track on and to keep in order. Therefore, it
helps to be organized and to constantly stay available and responsive to act
quickly in communication, decision-making and problem-solving. You don’t want
to lose one single day because there are preset production and logistics
schedules to follow and the timing for the distribution center, stores, photo
shootings and campaigns must be right. The garments may not arrive too late,
and - which may be a bit frustrating before you get used to it - not too early
either!
This blog belongs to the Master students in Textile Management at the Swedish School of Textiles, University of Borås. Primarily, the second year students, as part of their program, embark on a field study - as interns at companies in different parts of the world, as research assistants to research projects performed at University of Borås or as individual field study projects, to fulfill their quest for new knowledge.These entries represent their experiences and reflections.
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