Fashion merchandising encompasses various activities from forecasting to retail sales, focusing on items that have decorative and functional value, primarily in apparel. It involves design development, sample creation, product specification, and critical roles like buying and production merchandising, all aimed at ensuring the right products reach consumers at the right time and price. Fashion buyers play a crucial role, selecting garments for retail, monitoring trends, and coordinating closely with designers and suppliers.

1. Fashion Merchandising
By
Mrs J.Athirstam

2. FASHION MERCHANDISING
Fashion merchandising involves all the activities starting
from the fashion forecasting, design and product development till to
retail sales and this also include production merchandising and retail
merchandising.
This will be taken care by the buyer’s part. Fashion merchandise
includes items of retail merchandise which have decorative value
either with or without also having functional value. Fashion
merchandise includes mostly item of apparel since they can all be
decorative and functional. Fashion merchandising refers to all the
planning and activities involved in bringing the right fashion
merchandising at the right place at the right time with right quantity
at the right price and with right sales promotion.

3. FASHION MERCHANDISE PROCESS

4. FASHION FORECASTING
It shows or direct the company new fashion presentation
for the upcoming season, so that it can understand the new
fashion concept, the store‘s Merchandising approach and better
help to their customer. Generally fashion prediction is done by
the fashion direction in case of big organizations and by owner
himself in case of small organizations.

5. DESIGN DEVELOPMENT
The design is developed based on themes using the element s of
design such as color, texture, line, shape and fabrication and adopting the
principle of fashion such as proportion, balance, rhythm, emphasis and
harmony. The design development should be practical which suits the
current trends & also feasible to convert into the finished product. Design
development is mainly done on the requirement of number of lines and
groups that are going to be offered by the company for the particular
season.

6. SAMPLE DEVELOPMENT
The collection of designs developed by the fashion designers and the
designs that have excellent prospects should be selected and taken for
sample development process.
PRODUCT SPECIFICATION
The specifications with regard to the particular product or style could be
helpful in setting the product specification for the particular style of
garment. It will direct the production department in the industry to develop
and plan their merchandising activities and production planning and
organize the thing for effective and efficient production of the merchandise.
MERCHANDISING PLAN OR POLICY
It is a long range criterion for fashion buying and selling also for associated
activities such as sales promotion. Merchandising plans are planned quite
a few months ahead of the selling season.

7. BUYING
It is a very vital task of fashion merchandising because it is the real process of
manufacturing the product and displaying it for the sales at retail stores. A
buyer’s task consists of both the buying and selling features of retailing.
PRODUCTION MERCHANDISING
Production merchandisers are the face of garment industry. He normally
represents the garment industry to the buyer. The role of production
merchandising is very crucial as success of any coordination skill of
production merchandiser. The role of production merchandiser can be
summarized as follows
Communication with buyer
Coordination within the production
Follow up of different approvals
Production development
Costing
Sourcing or purchasing of raw material
Preparation of BOM, TNA and trim card
Shipment scheduling

8. RETAIL MERCHANDISING
Retail merchandising refers to the various activities which
contribute to the sale of products to the consumers for their end use. Retail
merchandising is such a part of everyday life that people often take it for
granted; it is one of the fastest changing, most dynamic industries in the
world today. Every retail store has its own line of merchandise to offer to the
customers. The display of the merchandise plays an important role in
attracting the customers into the store and prompting them to purchase as
well.

9. RETAILING
PROCESS

10. MERCHANDISING PROCESS
Process Flow Chart of
Merchandising:
Receive product package form
buyer
↓
Sample development
↓
Price negotiation
↓
Order confirmation and receive order
sheet
↓
Sourcing acceptable quality goods
right time
↓
Material collection and receive it in

11. Check and listing
↓
Swatch card making and approval
↓
Pre production meeting
↓
Daily collect daily production report and
daily quality report
↓
Arrange final inspection
↓
Shipment

12. Flow Chart of Buying House
Contact with the Buyer
↓
Communicate
↓
Meeting
↓
Send L/C to the Garment
↓
Develop the product
↓
Inspection by Buying House
↓
Complete working paper or document for
shipping
↓
Send one copy to the bank ↔ Attach one
copy with the product
↓
Shipment

13. Working Procedure of a Buying House
Every organization has its own working procedure. It’s varies from organization to
organization. Buying house work flow is given below,
First of all marketing merchandiser contact with a buyer and collect an order by
showing the garments they made before or directly ask which type of garments
buyer need.
Then find out the suitable factory for that specified garments. The factory must be
audited by recognized organization (Depends on Buyer).
Do consumption & costing and bargaining with factory for cost for the specific
product. Finalize cost and send it to buyer.
Then development merchandiser develops the product send 1st pattern for any
correction.
Usually buyer makes some modification on 1st pattern, so 2nd pattern is
submitted according to 1st pattern comments.
Then fit sample is made and QC (Quality Controller) check is it follows the
approved 2nd pattern.

14. Then the Red seal sample is sent for approval which is also known as buying
sample. And if the red seal sample approved then the order is confirmed.
Then production merchandiser starts his work.
Production merchandiser basically follows up the total production stage. After
getting approval of red seal sample he has to book the fabric and trims.
Follow up the fabric and trim arrived in factory in time or not. After all approval
he does production planning meeting with factory.
QC has to follow the production is running with approved item, fabric and
accessories or not. QC helps production merchandiser by giving all production
information.
QC’s main task is to check all samples (red seal, gold seal, web sample etc)
sent to buyer, and help factory people if there any confusion with production.
Fabric, trims accessories are checked in lab in buying house. It‘s called in-
house test like Bulk fabric hanger, shade variation in shade continuity, lab dip,
fabric quality etc.
Different types of inspection also done in lab before ex-factory/shipment.
After doing ex-factory showing packing list and some commercial activities

15. FASHION BUYERS DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES
A fashion buyer is someone who makes purchasing decisions for a clothing
retailer. Fashion buyers choose apparel and accessories to be sold in retail stores.
A buyer may own their own store or boutique, or work on behalf of a fashion store or
department store. They meet with various vendors and designers to look at clothing,
shoes, and accessories to decide if they are the right fit for the store. Fashion
buyers must be aware of the store’s budget, clothing quality and price. They need to
be knowledgeable about fashion trends and styles as well.
In the retail industry, a buyer is an individual who selects what items are stocked.
Buyers usually work closely with designers and their designated sales
representatives and attend trade fairs, wholesale showrooms and fashion shows to
observe trends. They may work for large department stores, chain stores or
smaller boutiques. For smaller independent stores, a buyer may participate in sales
as well as promotion, whereas in a major fashion store there may be different levels
of seniority such as trainee buyers, assistant buyers, senior buyers and buying
managers, and buying directors.

16. FASHION MRCHANDISE PURCHASES
Fashion merchandiser engaged in-
Researching current fashion trends and predicting what may be popular in
the future
Attending fashion shows
Creating advertising and marketing campaigns
Developing a budget and making sure that everyone stays within it
Negotiating with manufacturers and suppliers
Pricing clothing and other fashion accessories
Researching customer demographics to determine how to market them
Coordinate efforts with sales, design, and merchandise planning teams

17. ELEMENTS OF FASHION BUYING
A fashion buyer plays a crucial role within the fashion industry, as they
are the individual who selects what garments and accessories will be in store
for next season. Fashion buyers typically work in close connection with fashion
designers and their sales representatives to understand what will be trendy with
retail shoppers. A fashion buyer always needs to be ahead of the curve; the
fashion-buying career is heavily involved in fashion forecasting for each
season.
Fashion buyers attend fashion trade shows, visit showrooms, and most
importantly, fashion shows, to understand the next fashion trends. Fashion
buyers can work in a variety of settings, including large, corporate retail stores,
boutiques, and small retail establishments.