We’re starting a ‘new thing’ here at Republic – every other week we’ll be interviewing a different person from the awesome Republic crew and giving you a peek into their day-to-day role, discovering how they got the job and sharing their super stylish fashion tips. We’re kicking things off with lovely Rebecca, our External Womenswear Buyer.
Hi Rebecca! First things first – can you tell us a bit about your role and what it involves?
Hi! Ok, so I’m the External Brands Womenswear Buyer for Republic. I view brand collections and select products that I think are right for Republic. I do a lot of range building, which means choosing pieces from collections and cherry picking the colours and silhouettes to build a range that our customers love.
Sounds fun! So what does a typical day look like?
No two days are ever the same, which is one of the things I love most about my job! I might spend a morning looking over the images of a collection and creating moodboards of the things I like. If I have a showroom appointment, I always select more pieces than I need and then go about narrowing my choices down when I’m back in the office.
I spend much of my time talking to people – as a buyer you’re often at the center of everything, so all the other teams come to me for information. I chat to visual merchandising, e-commerce and marketing. And there’s number crunching too – sales analysis helps us understand which pieces are selling well!
What’s your favorite thing about your job? And Anything you’re not so keen on?
Selecting products is definitely the best bit. If I’m honest I have days where I just think ‘I’d have done that for free’, I love it so much! If I’m in an appointment, surrounded by fashion – that’s what I love. You’re always talking about clothing so if you love it, it’s amazing.
You get to see a lot of the country, too –I spend a lot of time in London which I love as it’s great to absorb what’s going on down there. In other roles I’ve been to New York, Paris, Hong Kong…
Things that are a bit harder – the hours are quite tough, it’s not 9-5 and it can be a challenge to balance work with your life and get everything done in a day!
How did you get into your role? Any tips for budding buyers?
I did Retailing at uni and got a place on the Debenhams Buying Graduate Scheme in London. It was quite a traditional route into the role.
As for tips, I think a fashion or retail degree is essential. It’s such a competitive industry so a degree is one of the first things I look for to differentiate applicants. The things you learn in these degrees are really relevant and useful so without one you are on the back foot a bit… although that’s not to say it’s impossible – some people do history or English but have a great flare for products and the right skills. But getting a degree is definitely a great starting point.
Great advice! Now, any style tips for AW12?
We’re just making a start on the Christmas trends – I’m really excited about baroque, and black and gold is absolutely key. Totally loving anything studded and leather too… if you haven’t got a biker jacket this season, you need one immediately! Throwing one on over a dress is a quick, cheap and easy way to update your look.
Rebecca loves this Rare baroque dress… and so do we!
Glad I’m wearing my biker jacket as we speak! What about SS13 – any insider info?
Customising is a really key trend that will carry through to spring – taking a vintage-style silhouette and mashing it up a bit. We’ll also see 80s/90s influences, and grunge will still be around in some shape or form. I’m also loving jumpsuits for spring – both the long and short styles. Really cute!
Thanks, Rebecca! We think that baroque dress would be PERFECT for the Republic Christmas party… get in line, we saw it first!
Jen x
Social Media Team
