What Are The Key Aspects Of Apparel Merchandising In The Modern Age?
Introduction Apparel merchandising is an integral part of the apparel production industry, as it is the department which mediates the marketing and production departments. An apparel merchandiser is the interface between the buyer & the exporter. He or she is responsible for everything from order analysis to its shipment. Because it is such an integral part of the apparel industry, and thus, the fashion industry, there are various fashion institutes in the country such as the fashion designing colleges in Delhi, which offer an apparel merchandising course.
What Are The Key Aspects Of Apparel Merchandising? The key aspects of apparel merchandising are same as those of apparel manufacture. This is so because an apparel merchandiser has to oversee all of the functions of apparel production to create a report or manifest of sorts to better plan the merchandising. All of these functions are taught to students in a merchandising course in Delhi. The aspects of apparel production that an apparel merchandiser has to oversee include:
Sampling
Sampling is a common practice where the factory has to develop a garment according to the buyer’s provided specific design or particular tech sheet or a reference sample.
Costing
Profit is the target of any business organization. Costing of garment is calculated by adding up the cumulative cost of raw materials, trims price (including air cost & up charges if necessary) print cost (if available), washing cost, CM (cost of manufacturing) etc.
Production planning
Once a bulk order has been confirmed, the factory has to plan the production. The time and action chart i.e. T&A chart is a compulsory part of this stage. The T&A chart is a compilation of total timelines, for example, the time required for material procurement, the timeline for the cutting task to begin, the pre-production sample submission deadline, the timeline to finish sewing and finishing, the final inspection date and the shipment date.
Cutting, Sewing & Stitching, Thread Trimming And Washing
These are the processes that create an apparel from a garment.
Finishing
Garment quality checking, measurement checking, pressing, ironing, and spot removing all are included in finishing.
Folding And Packaging
Once the product has been finished it is then folded and packed. Folding method is different from buyer to buyer and product to product. Each buyer has different packaging strategy.
Miscellaneous processes
Nowadays garments cannot be marketable without having an extra ornamental task like printing, embroidery, special washing, special garment dyeing, hand embroidery etc.
Final inspection and dispatch
Garments manufacturers have to do a final inspection before dispatching finished goods to buyer’s destination. The apparel merchandiser plays an especially vital role in this process.