THE INSIDE SCOPE – HOW I BECAME A FASHION BUYER

I know I have taken a major step back on my blog and as most you may know I work full time as a Fashion Buyer at Penneys Head Office.

That’s why I have taken it upon myself to give you all the inside scope on my job role.

I get lots of emails & texts from my fellow followers and friends asking me  ‘’How I got into buying‘’ and ‘’What course or college did I go to?’’.

So I will let you all in on my journey to becoming a Fashion Buyer.

It all started when I wanted to be a Fashion Designer. I got this passion from my Grand Mother as she was a Dress Designer for over 60 years. I used to help her when i was younger and knew this was the career path I wanted to go down. After my leaving cert exams I applied for a course in Colaiste Ide to do Fashion & Design. This was a 1 year course which gave me great exposure to pattern drafting, design, communication and life drawing etc. I loved the course but I knew there was something else I wanted from it and it also  changed my thoughts on being a designer and how competitive the current Irish fashion designer industry is so I started to think of different career paths for fashion. I did my work experience with Irish Fashion Design Aideen Bodkin and landed a job  with her. In the meantime I did another part-time course in Portobello College which was Fashion Buying, Merchandising and Visual Display. This course opened me up to the world of Buying and I knew this  was the route I wanted to go down.

I applied for a job as Trainee Buyer for Penneys back in 2008 and they were looking for more experience, so I parked the thought of it . Then an Admin role came up so I decided to go for it. I went for the interview and came out with mixed views whether I wanted the job but didn’t stress over it and then I got called back for another interview. After a few days I got a call to say that I got the job, I was so excited. I started in Ladies  Accessories and worked on for 4 years. I bought the ranges for makeup bags, belts, purses and luggage. This started with me going in as Admin then I got promoted to Trainee Buyer and then Assistant Buyer.

Being 4 years with the company I decided that I needed to travel and get it out of my system as I went straight from college into full-time employment.  I knew it was something I had to do but wanted to come back to Penneys in the future. After 2 years in Australia I decided I wanted to come back to Ireland and applied for my position again.  Within the first week of me being home I had my interview and got my job back. I started the following week in Ladies wear and couldn’t have been happier as this is the department where I had always wanted to be.

Now I am back settled over 2 years and working away on the Jersey Team and couldn’t be happier. Not a lot of girls can say they love their job and it’s not a task getting up for me in the mornings cause I actually landed my DREAM JOB!

So to all your Guys & Girls out there who want to make it as a Fashion Buyer here are a few top tips for you:

•  Do go to college for something retail related or have an aspect of this.
•  Don’t just think you have to go to college for 3 years to land a job. I did a 1 year course and a part –time course. There is always a loop hole.
•  Do have some retail experience whether is a part – time job or weekends as buying is all about the Customer.
•  Do window shop on college courses as there is so much more out there now to when I did it with DIT, Crumlin College and Colaiste Ide in Dublin.
•  Don’t just think since you like buying clothes or styling new trends this is what Buying is, as this is just the icing on the cake. There is a lot more to do role. 
• Do your research on what the actual job spec is on a Fashion Buyer and the levels of Fashion Buyer ranks within each company.
• Do an internship in the company you would like to land yourself a job whether is Penneys, Dunnes Stores, Heatons or Brown Thomas.
• Do try to keep in contact with your line manager in the company after your internship as they can inform you on upcoming roles.