Fashion Brand Graphics
Product DescriptionThe seventy designer labels in this book were selected from the most respected brands for women, men, unisex, and children, some of the most common marketing tools such as logos, shop exterior and interior designs, catalogs, shopping cards and shopping bags, along with seasonal promotional tools. Japanese girls love to keep and shopping bags and promotional tools for their favorite fashion brands use and it is a must for a fashio. . . More>>
Just Another Fashion Brand
Fashion Brand Merchandising
Product Description Brand Fashion Merchandising introduces the concepts and practices that will help build a student development, and working with fashion brands. The book consists of four parts, each exploringan important facet of fashion brands and fashion brand process. It includes howbranding and merchandising activities are interrelated and interdependent with respectto marketing fashion-related products. In whatever capacity you engage with fashion brands marketer, Mer. . . More>>
Best Paying Careers For Women – In Fashion
Having spent the last 9 years in seemingly the most glamorous and desirable industry to women, fashion I am often asked about the careers and opportunities for women in fashion and more often what are the best paying careers for women in fashion today?
The beauty about the fashion industry is that it caters for the creative and the business savvy as well as encompassing the back end blood sweat and tears in producing apparel for the Australian and global markets.
Let’s look at the best paying careers for women in fashion…
For the business savvy roles for example Brand Manager, Product Manager or Retail Buyer you need a qualification in business, commence, economics or marketing. Candidate perception is often misunderstood with these roles and in the past 4 years they have become the glamour roles of the industry. The misconception largely surrounds the intense business acumen required to be a success. You need to be numbers savvy, have strong skills in product forecasting, budgets, calculation of EBIT (earnings before interest and tax) and have strong analytical skills and margin and profit focus. All too often candidates see for 15% fascination with the product side of these roles and fail to see that 85% of the job is spent behind an excel spreadsheet.
Salaries in Australia for Brand Manager, Product Manager and Retail buyer vary greatly and are very dependent on the size of the company. With this said, some of the larger brands are the poorer payers. Brand Manager, Product Manager and Retail Buyers earn above national average to executive salaries at the top end. Longevity plays a big role in securing top dollar so proving yourself is essential. Your success will be measured on year in and year out results and growth so 18 months here and there is not going to get you into the best paying careers for women in fashion. You need to have some creative edge in these roles, so a sense of style and fashion is essential as much of the creative team is likely to report to you. These roles will see you provide product direction, range planning and product lifecycle analysis as a response to market forces and trends as well as the financial management aspects..
The creative roles in fashion are probably the most deceptive. Design is hard work and again longevity is going to go along way to allowing you to achieve your financial salary goals. My best advice when negotiating a role in design is to negotiate your increases when you commence. One of the biggest problems in increasing salaries once you start working is the lack of a remuneration plan at commencement.
To be a fashion designer you will need to have studied fashion design at any one of the various International Design schools. Getting accolades will also help. Make sure your design projects reflect commercial fashion and if they don’t leave them out of your portfolio. It is very off putting to an employer of a fashion designer to see arty unwearable fashion in the recruitment process.
As a fashion designer you will not only be responsible for the design of the ranges within the product budgets and brand values but you will be responsible for the outcome, market acceptance or rejection! It is very rare for a design graduate to score a top job as a fashion designer but occasionally it does happen. Your career path is however more likely to commence behind the scenes as a designers assistant. You will sketch, source fabrics, trims and accessories, cut samples, prepare range books and coordinate the design timeline with the pattern makers and sample machinists. Not too much creative here but at least you will be close to the action.
Prove yourself and you will be introduced to designing your own portion of a range with a bit of luck (and blood sweat and tears). As a designer assistant (graduate) in fashion expect to earn average national salaries. You will be competing with a big group of graduates all chasing the dream so embrace anything on offer and be realistic about the brand opportunities offered to you. It is no time to be a brand snob when you have just graduated from design school. If you decide to be brand specific be prepared to wait tables as it may be required for a while until the right break comes you way.
As a Range Designer of a visible and market identified brand expect to earn anywhere from average to executive salaries at the end. When so much hinges on the talents of a designer you would expect higher paying salaries, however, simple supply and demand principles unfortunately come into play. The best news is that when longevity kicks in (if you haven’t started your own label) the role of Design Director comes with a hefty pay packet. As Design Director of a fashion brand expect to earn serious executive dollars. Achieve this in fashion design and you have made it!
Let’s look at the engine room; Production Management, Operations and Supply Chain. These roles are the most critical to a fashion operation. Apparel may not be a perishable commodity but if it is late into store it may as well be. With the changes in supply chain and imports the production of apparel in the last 10 years has changed the nature of these roles significantly. In fashion production, operations and supply chain you can expect to frequently travel to operations particularly in the east and work in some quite deceptive conditions. Let me qualify this by saying that your negotiation skills need to be razor sharp and your ability to identify the right sources is essential.
In terms of qualifications you need a fashion production qualification, business or logistics supply chain management qualification or similar. Garment construction knowledge is essential. You will work hands on and be required to make the call on garment construction issues so it is imperative that you know the lingo. At the low end Production Managers in fashion earn just above national salaries with Operations and Supply Chain Managers earning exceptional executive dollars.
Whilst I have purposely focused on the highest paying roles for women within the fashion industry the obvious roles of General Manager, CEO and Company Director form the highest paying roles in the sector. It is difficult to focus on these roles when the opportunities are quite few are far between. Some outstanding women have achieved these roles in fashion with Sue Morphet of Pacific Brands crashing through the glass ceiling some years ago and moving up the scale with full force. Sue is of particular inspiration having conquered such an exceptional role within an established and traditional brand. There are other women like Sue earning exceptional salaries within the fashion sector, but the roles are few and far between. Salaries at this top end can reach beyond half a million dollars including bonuses and share options.
Natasha Zurnamer is a co Director of Rat Race Recruitment Online, the global hub of fashion jobs featuring 150 fashion job categories and new fashion jobs listed daily. To search or advertise jobs in fashion visit www.ragtradejobs.com
Careers For Older Women – In Fashion
Imagine utilising your skills while you surround yourself in fashion? I am going to suggest for you that a career in fashion is an excellent career for older women. I am passionate at focusing on skill set to get to where you want to get to in your career. Let’s look at fashion careers for older women.
Who said fashion is about youth? Certainly from reading glamour magazines and seeing how the general media portrays body image in fashion you would think so. But there are so many jobs that create a fashion business and I am going to let you know the one’s that are prefect careers for older women.
Presentation is everything and in fashion it’s the entire industries core value. There are a multitude of brands craving for the presentation and style of older women. In fashion retail and wholesale sales particularly I have had numerous requests for the presentation, reliability and commitment of an older woman. Successful Australian brands including Maggie T, Resort Report, Wombat, Dolina, Brown Sugar and many more rely on the presentation of older women to relate to their clients in the retail and wholesale environment. Better still some offer exceptional flexibility to attract older women to their careers including flexible hours and job share structure. Many of my clients have commented on the need to employ older women to relate to the brand and target customer and although it is not policy for them to discriminate should a younger person apply they have found huge success in attracting and employing older women to their brands especially in the retail environment.
Let’s investigate the behind the scenes careers for older women. Over the years and during my days in Fashion Recruitment I have placed many older women into permanent and job share roles in Customer Service, Accounts and as Administrators. The attraction of employing a skilled older woman who may be interested in permanent part time or job share is highly attractive within a fashion head office environment. One of the pluses that employers are constantly quoting to me is that older women are reliable and tend to stay in the role for a long period of time thus providing consistency and sound relationships with customers. By providing flexibility many employers have realised that the benefit to the business is immeasurable. Older women feel that they are being valued by the employer and with this the loyalty that they give has a direct impact on sales and service levels.
The question begs… Is there room for older women in design, product development and brand management roles within a fashion environment? In this instance an older women making a career change into fashion may find obstacles in securing a role in these categories. Experience counts and making a move into a career in fashion in these categories relies on experience. In this instance my suggestion to you is to focus on your foundation skill set and transfer these skills into fashion. For example if you have been an administrator within another industry you could simply make the transition into fashion and create your career within a new environment. Attempting to move from an unrelated skill set into design, product development or brand management as an older woman may result in a lack of opportunities, however, if you have been in a design, product development or brand role within a fashion environment you have a future.
Reposition yourself within a brand applicable to your age and fashion purchasing habits. In design, product development or brand management your success is reliant on your understanding of the target market and what better understanding will you have if you are the customer? That’s not to say that older women are not successfully designing youth brands, they are and always will. But in my opinion your understanding of the target market and adaptation to youth product as you get older can be challenging. If you strategically reposition yourself into a new target market and make use of your skill set you are guaranteed success.
In fashion careers for older women are also common within Senior Management and Operations. Youth is not a factor when it comes to leadership and strategic business management and experience counts. If you have created your career within a fashion environment in operations and management you need to move with the times and adapt to the behaviours, drivers and thinking of the youth you employ. If you can successfully do this which means not adopt stale ideals of how thing were you have a great future. Your career drivers as an older woman may be completely different but your success and especially within a fashion environment is your ability to wholeheartedly embrace change and the youth of today.
One more thing; successful careers for older women within the fashion industry are incalculably reliant on your ability to move with the times without trying to be what you are no longer; young at heart will do just fine.
Natasha Zurnamer is a co Director of Rat Race Recruitment Online, the global hub of fashion jobs featuring 150 fashion job categories and new fashion jobs listed daily. To search or advertise jobs in fashion visit www.ragtradejobs.com
Learn How to Own a Boutique

photo credit: chelseagirl
Once you decide to own a boutique there are three options before you. You can buy an already existing boutique. In this kind of outright purchase you can have an already existing customer base. The second option is opening a franchise of a reputed boutique chain. This way you will have advantage of an already known brand name and good will. The third alternative is to open a brand new boutique of your own.
If you want to own a boutique you should learn to make decisions. From what products to sell to at what price, owning a boutique is all about making the right decisions at the right time. So to be a boutique owner you should not shy away from decision-making. Read more
Time to change your old-fashioned business system into a brand new POS system!
Still relying on your business’ old-fashioned cash registers and hand-written notes handed down to you by your father and his father before him? Say goodbye to your tiring manual business system and say hello to the new POS systems that will surely boost your profit and customer service. Because today is a different world, new technologies have been developed to help boost restaurant Point of Sale system.
As any retail establishment owner would do, ensuring the safety of your profit is a tough task. Money can easily float down the drain if you do not watch carefully! Just by a simple customer’s change mistake, you loose money, especially when an employee of yours abuses their power and help themselves take a few extra bucks from the cash register or give away huge discounts to their friends and families.
If these has happened to you before, well don’t let it happen again! I suggest now would be the best time to consider having a POS system. With the features a POS can offer your business, you can prevent these issues from happening and may even be able to completely eliminate them:
* Long lines which prevent you from working with as many customers as possible
* Frequent customer complaints
* Limited staff
* Overstocking of poor performing items
* Shrinkage (lost or stolen inventory that eats into your profit margins)
* Wasting too much time going over the books
* Financial inaccuracies (overbilling, underbilling, thin profit margins)
* Unorganized data
Since money is involved here, you might as well invest on quality POS systems that will take care of the job smoothly and improve your business’ efficiencies. Buying cheap, low quality POS systems may cause your busines to loose money because of its poor features and easy-to-break components.
Any reliable POS vendor can tailor the appropriate POS solution for your needs, which can enhance your business’ performance and making more customers satisfied. So requesting for a free POS system quote would be a great idea, since expert POS vendors can provide the exact needs of your business, complete with the features that will help your business boost its sales, cost effectively.
Questions to consider
If you want to request for a free POS system quote, below are some of the pointers you might want to consider asking to a POS vendor. The main key to this service is that when you submit your details, it will be matched to the most qualified POS vendors serving your area. And only they will be able to acquire your details which in return prepare the proper POS solution that will meet your business needs and give you their offers. These are some of the questions you might want to ask: Is the POS software user friendly? Which OS is it compatible with? Is POS software compatible with my current business management applications? Can I have a try out of the POS system before purchasing it? Do I need extra POS terminals? What about cash registers? Can I use the same POS for other marketing strategies like a gift card system? How robust are the reporting features? Will I be able to point out where my profit losses are coming from? Can I get set up fast? Does it require extensive staff training? About customer support, at what level can I expect? Is lender available if equipment repairs can’t be made on-site? Are there all-in-one solutions available or do I have to buy everything ala carte?
The author of this article is the Vice-President of Customer Relations at POS-For-Restaurants with over 20 years of experience serving restaurants of all types throughout the U.S.
Unique Selling Propositions For Fashion Business
Any business plan has the three magic letters USP (unique selling proposition). Prior to any new design creation or a series for the season it is essential to brainstorm on the look of the launch collection. This is a quite a process wherein team leaders vouch for various themes and the decision maker finalizes on a project. In a creative field, like fashion designing such management principles are hard to applied. But for survival in this-day competition this is essential.
USP can be a colour, a dress apparel, or simply exquisite dupatta or men’s jhuttis. Dramatic projections on the ramp at a fashion shows are not a reality. This is known to all and hence such creations minus the props are regular sales. It is an extensive work by your marketing team to decide on the launch product. Maintaining the brand is essential. In a desire to augment sales the brand positioning should not be compromised.
Once the brand or the fashion designer has won recognition his reputation is unquestioned. Fashion designing is just not about influencing and begetting customers from Page 3. It’s an era of awareness and to far-reach your sales. Niche clientele is a fleeting lot and succumbs to anything anew. Hence the need to re-invent.
Originality sells! Brand sells! And also distinguished complete works. The mannequin outside your store is impressive but the reality should match. Sizes should be well stocked when you are confident about your sales. Promptness and pro-active customer attending is necessary for business.
Working on the entire look is important. Employ an expert stylist with draping experience to help customers choose the best. Investing in a good advertising agency assures the brand and culminates in sales too.
Planning, research and cultivating new styles goes to maintain a USP. If your USP is cotton and linen then try sequin or pearl embellishments this season. Co-ordinate the same with pointy shoes (a comeback trend) with similar patterning and work. Accessorize well and tie up with leading jewelry brands.
Encourage window shopping, videos on ramp walking and catalogues at reception. Choose a prominent space for hoardings depending on the clientele. Don’t load too much information in print or television. Let the creation speak for itself!
Author: Jennie Amit Gandhi
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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