Skills Needed For Fashion Merchandiser

Forecasting Ability

While more methodical than fortune telling, fashion merchandising does require forecasting ability. A thorough knowledge of past fashion trends and an awareness of current industry developments will serve you well in a fashion merchandising career.

Analytical Ability

Problem solving and analytical ability also come in handy in this field. A good sense of style obviously helps you; however, you must also determine how things fit into a budget and whether they meet the functional needs of consumers. Other criteria may also influence your fashion merchandising decisions, so you will need to be able to analyze a complex set of issues and stand behind your choices

Communication Skills

Fashion merchandising also requires good communication skills. From negotiating with manufacturers to getting your marketing message out to customers, there is ample opportunity to exercise your powers of communication in the fashion merchandising field.


Additional Skills

The world of fashion is a tough world to penetrate, and unless you are armed with the right tools, you may never get in at all. It's a hard fact, but a thriving, dog-eat-dog industry has no room for shy, timid and unlearned fashion wannabes

Now, if you love fashion and everything about it, you already have an edge, but this is not enough. There are a lot facets in the fashion industry that you need to master or at least learn more about to be able to equip you better before entering the scene.

Additionally, fashion merchandisers seek out the target market for a designer's clothing, such as children's clothing stores, department stores or discount retailers

The final component of fashion merchandising is selling. A fashion merchandiser that works with a designer is responsible for selling fashion items to stores, who then sells to consumers. Again the merchandiser must have an idea about forecasting and market trends so they may give their recommendation regarding production of the item. Creativity is important, because a merchandiser must offer suggestions on how to display the items within the store. When a fashion merchandiser works for a retail store, responsibilities include buying and presenting fashion items within the store.

Tasks Of Fashion Merchandiser

As a Fashion Merchandiser, your job is to connect Fashion with consumers. To reach that goal, you may do a variety of tasks, including the following:

* Attending Fashion Shows

* Buying Fashions

* Negotiating with Suppliers and Manufacturers

* Managing Retail Outlets

* Setting up Store Displays

* Advertising and Marketing

Overview of Fashion Merchandising

Every Great Boutique or Department store needs a Wizard of Oz-someone behind the curtain making everything appear as impressive as possible-someone deciding to stock ruby slippers because they're the next big thing. Fashion merchandising experts accomplish tasks like these on a regular basis.

Fashion Merchandising requires a blend of fashion sense and business expertise. Style alone won't yield a successful career in this field. Staying ahead of the fashion curve is a feat involving both art and science. Strategy and marketing know-how are an integral part of fashion merchandising.


Fashion Merchandising is the combination of the processes that a new fashion item must go through to be available in mass quantities to the consumer after it is left the hands of the designer. Fashion merchandising often gets confused with fashion marketing and although they work together, they are two very different things. To understand fashion merchandising completely, it is important to examine the role that fashion merchandising plays in manufacturing, buying, promoting and selling fashion items

Students in Fashion Merchandising learn how to manufacture, buy, promote, and sell fashion items, from clothing and jewelry to cosmetics and furniture. They also learn about textiles (fabrics and the fibers used to make them).