While I was away from the blogging world, I caught up with a friend who works in fashion production, Mercedes Kerrison. It was the perfect opportunity to ask for an interview. The production side of fashion is an amazing world of costing, working with vendors, agents and, in house staff of designers, merchandisers and technical designers to make sure that the product that design envisions is executed to meet quality and fit standards and most importantly, you guessed it, the company's margin goals.
Mercedes is a young professional who is taking New York City by storm. She's helping companies meet their margin goals with her expertise in fashion production. She knows the business side of fashion and what it takes to succeed in this part of the industry.
Have you been wondering about the many possible careers in fashion? Enjoy this interview as Mercedes gives her insights as a fashion production associate.
Kali: Mercedes, how did you first become interested in fashion?
Mercedes: I remember wanting to pursue fashion during my senior year in high school. As a teenager growing up in the 90's, I loved hip hop fashion. I have always been interested in the latest fashions as well as just loving to shop overall.
Kali: Did you have a fashion major in college?
Mercedes: I have a Bachelors degree in Fabric Styling as well as a Masters degree in Fashion Merchandising.
Kali: What led you to choose to work in the production side of fashion?
Mercedes: Actually, production is a sector of the industry that had just fallen into my lap. However, I had always known that I had wanted to pursue a career that centered more around product development along with the challenge of making strategic decisions in which production entails.
Kali:
Mercedes has worked for companies such as Russell Newman/Will Creek Sleepwear Division, Spiegel Brands, Inc. and is currently at Calvin Klein.
Kali: Mercedes, tell us about your role as a fashion production associate. What is it exactly that you do? What are your daily tasks from when you start in the mornings to the time that you leave?
Mercedes: As a production associate, I interface with all in-house departments (merchandising, buyers, technical design and designers) to ensure that all product is being developed in the right place (i.e. country of origin), at the right cost and most importantly is being delivered on time to the warehouse. Daily tasks include working with overseas offices by approving fabric for bulk production. I attend fittings and work closely with technical design to ensure all samples are fitted in a timely manner to meet garment production delivery dates. I also attend fittings to make sure that any changes made in the fit session does not impact production delivery or increase costs to where our margins are not met.
As a production associate, I am also responsible for new seasonal developments, working on costing to determine whether all pricing is competitive to meet buyers current target margin.
Kali: Mercedes, your job seems pretty involved. What hours do you work as a fashion production associate?
Mercedes: Hours as a production associate fluctuate often. However, this is not a 9-5 job. During a busy period I am leaving work anytime between 8:30pm-10:00pm on a daily basis. When there is a slow period (which doesn’t happen often!) I will leave around 6:30pm or 7:00pm.
Kali: How important is the role of the production associate in the fashion design process?
Mercedes: Production/Sourcing is very important within a company overall because we are primarily responsible for making sure that the company does not lose any money. We are responsible for making sure that any fabric or trims that are being developed are affordable for our target customer. It is imperative that a production associate is aware of current events around the world because this affects where we will develop our product as well as determining how cost will be affected.
Kali: Mercedes, do you have any advice for those considering working in fashion production? What's the best way for someone to enter this field?
Mercedes: The best way for someone to enter this field is to pursue product development. There are a lot of companies that are always looking for production associates; therefore, it is not a hard segment to break into. You can also check the classifieds in WWD and also network. Join professional organizations like Fashion Group International.
Kali: Mercedes, what last words can you leave our readers with regarding working as a fashion production associate?
Mercedes: In order to become involved in production, one must have dedication and motivation because it is a very stressful job. It’s stressful because you are basically in charge of making sure that all departments are giving you all of the information needed to maintain on-time delivery of the product to the stores. You're holding the entire company together. As a person who works in production, you must be extremely detail oriented as you will be working on many different projects all at once. It’s also good to build strong working relationships with vendors because it will make the product development process a little easier to manage.
What I love about my job is trying to meet everyone's expectations. I see the business internally and externally. I have a big reputation to keep up!
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Want to discuss further? Have any questions for Mercedes? Leave a comment here and she will be glad to respond.
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Saturday, November 1, 2008
Behind the Scenes: Fashion Production Revealed
Friday, October 17, 2008
Taking A Break
Hey, Thanks for visiting! I hope that you enjoy the articles. I would love to know what you think. Feel free to leave comments in the articles or in the chat box.
I'll have more new posts starting next week. Make sure to sign up for the email list to get new posts immediately.
Enjoy!
Kali
Friday, October 3, 2008
Friday's Fab Fashion Quote On Starting in the Design Business
"When I was first getting started I couldn't afford fancy fabrics, so I bought plain cotton and dyed it. Later, as my business grew, I added silk and linen to my Holiday and Spring lines." -Claudia Robinson, Fashion Designer, Actress
Source: "Threads of Time Fabric of History", page 154
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Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Send a Survey and Build A Better Product
Designers, are you searching for ways to connect more with your prospects or looking for ways to build repeat customers. Cater your product to your customer by asking for their advice. Ask what do they like about your product or service and what do they not like. This can be done in a survey format. You personally may not agree with some of the answers because, after all you've designed this magnificent fashion product but, the truth can help you more than hurt you.
Get excited about building a better product based on what people actually really want. Don't worry, this will not hamper your creativity as a designer. In order to really connect and achieve more sales we really have to put the customer first and take their suggestions and comments to give them what they want.
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Friday, September 19, 2008
Friday's Fab Fashion Quote On Unexpected Fame
"I'm so blessed to be given this opportunity. One minute I am walking down the street in the Dominican Republic and the next minute I am coming to the U.S. for the first time and working with famous models like Liya Kebede and Chanel Iman and photographers like Steven Meisel and appearing in ads for a major company like Lancome. It's really unbelievable" -Arlenis Sosa, Model
Source: WWD Friday September 5, 2008 pg 14
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Thursday, September 11, 2008
NY Fashion Week, The Frenzy of It All!
Why I Love the Fashion Industry
I was leaving work today and right outside my building was an unexpected surprise. As you may know by now, I am an entreprenuer- fashion accessory designer and creator of www.newyorkaccents.com. I do however; freelance in the apparel industry, most recently in fashion production doing garment cost negotiating and sample tracking with the factories. So, in this particular assignment, I'm working in the same building as some of the Calvin Klein offices. I took the elevator down to the lobby as normal to find paparazzi right in front of me ready to shoot. Oh well, I guess that I disappointed them because, I'm not famous. What's going on I thought? What did I just walk into? Oh! Someone told me it's Calvin Klein's fashion show. It is NY Fashion Week after all. How convenient! I kind of got caught up in the frenzy and excitement of star gazing. The paparazzi's wandering eyes and constant buzz influenced me so, I broke out my digital and played the game.
Why do I love this industry? I know the work that goes on behind the scenes in creating, developing and costing a garment. I appreciate the process of taking a sketch which starts from an inspiration and then communicating this idea to the producing offices, who are located offshore in countries like Asia, India and Brazil among others. The back and forth communication between the offices can be tiring but, it has to be done in order to get the sample in of what the design team and the merchandisers desire. It has to be priced to meet the company's margin goals and it has to be fitted on a model so that it can be graded for production. It's a very dynamic process with many eyes looking at one garment and many hands touching a garment before it is approved to show during market week or in this case, fashion week!
The market week presentation is the result of tons of behind the scenes preparations in order to show (sell), your collection (idea) to buyers and to create industry buzz. I truly love and appreciate this entire process.
Here are some shots that I took. Now remember, I'm not a professional photographer. These are what I call real street shots. Who did I see? Just a few very big fashion icons and celebrities like Anna Wintour, Tyra Banks, Andre Talley, Eva Mendes, Constance White, and a Japanese movie star among other people whom I don't know their names.
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Wednesday, September 3, 2008
Why Feel Great About FREE Give Aways?
Giving away your fashion product or fashion service is a great way to gain immediate feedback, get referrals and win new customers. If your product or service is desirable, people will definitely want to respond. I love the actual feeling of giving away a t-shirt, bangle, or most recently fine art from the Le Grande Parterre Collection (French Gardens and Abstract Art). It makes me feel that I have something worthy to give. I place a high value on my product and towards the people that I am connecting with. I feel as though they deserve a free gift as a way of stopping by my website and browsing or making a purchase.
You can give away your product or service randomly or offer a limited time free trial. Imagine the joy and unexpected surprise that you give to someone by telling them that they've just been randomly selected to win your product or service. For me, the entire process of emailing the winner, letting them choose the item that they want from the featured category and shipping it to them feels really good. It says that I do have room to spare, to share my product.
To get feedback ask for a direct comment or suggestion or you can create a very short survey. If, the feedback is not as good as you expected, that's great because, then you get to improve your product or service. Really listen to what they have to say and implement it in another version. Test this new version and see if it sells better than your original.
It's all about connecting with the customer and prospect and having them feel comfortable and trusting of you and your product or service.
Go ahead! Brighten someone's day today by sharing your fashion product or service.
Do you already give FREE give-aways? Share what product or service you offer for free and how it is working with you.
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