REGIONAL ROUND UPFEATURE - QATAR
THE FUTURE OF
FASHION BUYING Katerina Ilieva is a highly experienced, strategic senior buying professional. Buying for global top-ranked Department Stores (Printemps, Harvey Nichols) as well as stand-alone mono brands (Giorgio Armani, Balenciaga, Chloe, Stella McCartney, Alexander McQueen, Loro Piana to name a few). She has a deep knowledge of the GCC retail landscape, its practices and niche challenges. WHAT IS A FASHION BUYER? Being a fashion buyer may seem all glitz and glamour. In fact, hard work, long hours and relevant skills are required to become a successful Fashion Buyer. Fashion buying is one of the most important retail functions. Done properly, it positively improves sales, margins, overall profitability and the ongoing success of the retailer. Maximizing sales is the ultimate goal of fashion buying in the retail business. You must balance between art and science, have a strong sense of numbers and have a keen eye. You’ve got to be creative.
FASHION BUYING & COVID-19 Normally, the job of a fashion buyer requires extensive travelling, visiting showrooms and attending fashion shows. Pre-pandemic, buyers would scout new trends by visiting
RETAIL PEOPLE . MAY - JUL 2022
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KATERINA ILIEVA
Buying Manager - Luxury Fashion DOHA, QATAR
stores and meeting emerging designers. Fashion shows used to be the primary way for a brand to showcase a new product. Brands have traditionally followed a universal buying calendar when releasing new collections. Global pandemic restrictions have temporarily eliminated the possibility of gathering together, whether for large-scale fashion shows or intimate showroom appointments. That inability of buyers to review new collections in person has forced the industry to get creative. For an industry that prides itself on creativity and innovation, fashion is usually notoriously slow to change the way it operates or adopt new technology. Think about how long it took for many luxury brands to launch e-commerce. However, COVID-19 has propelled the fashion industry to adopt new norms and digitalize the process to make it faster than ever before.
