Careers in Fashion and Luxury Companies时尚与奢侈品行业的职业

1. How to Enter into the Fashion Industry
1. 如何进入时尚行业

**Instructions and advice for everybody: **
给所有人的指南和建议：

• Do not rush, you should start from the basics. Sometimes even a short experience in a store can help you better understand the targeted market and the business. A lot of activities in the company come directly from store activity: i.e. CRM, visual merchandising, buying, communication.
  不要急于求成，你应该从基础开始。有时即使在商店里短暂的工作经历也能帮助你更好地理解目标市场和商业运作。公司中的许多活动都直接来源于商店活动：例如客户关系管理（CRM）、视觉陈列、采购和沟通。
• Send your résumé to everyone in the industry, not only to "the top 10 of the world." Working in the fashion business could mean working for an ingredient brand, renown supplier of luxury brands for a niche brand or a start-up based on new production processes (3D printing for example). All opportunities can be challenging and interesting!
  将你的简历发送给行业中的每一个人，而不仅仅发送给“世界十大品牌”。在时尚行业工作可能意味着为原料品牌、知名奢侈品供应商、利基品牌或基于新生产工艺（例如 3D 打印）的初创公司工作。所有机会都具有挑战性和趣味性！
• Always focus on your strengths and continue to leverage on the skills where you stand out in. If you have a creative background and designing experience it could be difficult to jump in a marketing analysis based office, even if within the same industry. Buying is an office where numbers and numerical analysis count a lot so if you think you are not confident with numbers, formulas, and analyses it is better not to apply for this kind of position. The fashion industry is characterized by a variety of roles and each role has specific features. Some skills can be appropriate for a role, others not. Think about PR: in this role you have to be able to create relationships and network. If you are a shy person maybe it is not your role. Moreover some skills can be acquired by practice or study some others are more instinctual.
  始终专注于你的优势，并继续发挥你在其中脱颖而出的技能。如果你有创意背景和设计经验，即使在同一行业，也很难进入一个以市场分析为主的办公室。采购部门非常注重数字和数据分析，所以如果你对自己的数字、公式和分析没有信心，最好不要申请这类职位。时尚行业的特点是角色多样，每个角色都有其特定的特点。有些技能适合某个角色，而另一些则不适合。以公共关系为例：在这个角色中，你必须能够建立关系和拓展人脉。如果你是一个害羞的人，也许这个角色不适合你。此外，有些技能可以通过实践或学习获得，而另一些则更依赖于直觉。
• Find a mentor and/or sponsor in each phase of your education or career path.
  在每个教育阶段或职业发展阶段的每个时期，寻找一位导师和/或赞助人。
• Modern résumés and Linkedin profiles are focused on goals achieved and competencies acquired, always remember it when updating yours.
  现代简历和 LinkedIn 个人资料都侧重于已实现的目标和已获得的技能，更新你个人资料时请始终记住这一点。
• If you live in the U.S. and your dream is to work in the fashion business, you can move abroad to Europe (mainly Italy or France). It can be really stimulating and a good idea for your career, but remember that a lot U.S. fashion brands have their own headquarters in NY. To mention a few Ralph Lauren, Marc Jacobs, Michael Kors, Reed Krakoff, Tory Burch, Coach, Alexander Wang, Alice+Olivia…
  如果你居住在美国，并且梦想在时尚行业工作，你可以选择到欧洲（主要是意大利或法国）发展。这可以非常激励你，并且对你的职业生涯是一个好主意，但请记住，许多美国时尚品牌总部设在美国纽约。例如，拉夫·劳伦（Ralph Lauren）、马克·雅各布斯（Marc Jacobs）、迈克尔·科尔斯（Michael Kors）、里德·克拉科夫（Reed Krakoff）、托里·伯奇（Tory Burch）、蔻驰（Coach）、亚历山大·王（Alexander Wang）、艾丽丝+奥利维亚（Alice+Olivia）等……

Instructions for Students or Graduating People:
给学生或毕业生的指导：

• Enroll in all University courses with a fashion or a fashion economics background and select courses with a practical part (workshop activity) in cooperation with a companies.
  选修所有具有时尚或时尚经济学背景的大学课程，并选择与公司合作开设包含实践部分（工作坊活动）的课程。
• Be always prepared with your most updated résumé.
  始终准备好你的最新简历。

Instructions for People with Little Experience Trying to Change Jobs Within the Fashion Industry:
给时尚行业内经验较少、试图转换工作的人的指导：

• Focus on the activities you have learned in your first experience(s) so far and try to communicate them in an accurate and powerful way. Try to imagine what the qualities you have are and what can be useful in the new tasks you are interested in.
  专注于你迄今为止在第一次经历中学到的活动，并尝试以准确而有力的方式传达它们。试着想象你所拥有的品质以及它们在你感兴趣的新任务中可能有什么用处。
• Continue to update your LinkedIn profile and search for different opportunities.
  继续更新你的领英资料，并寻找不同的机会。
• Participate in dedicated groups of discussion and use other specialized platforms.
  参与专门的讨论小组，并使用其他专业平台。
• Contact head hunting offices (Kilpatrick is a good head hunting office if you have been in the business for a few years).
  联系猎头公司（如果你在行业内工作几年了，Kilpatrick 是一个不错的猎头公司）。
• Once a week visit the section "Work with Us" or "Careers" in all corporate fashion firms’ websites to find interesting opportunities.
  每周访问所有企业时尚公司网站的“与我们合作”或“职业”部分，以寻找有趣的机会。

Instructions for Experienced People who Want to Change Industry and Enter Fashion’s
希望转行进入时尚行业的经验人士的说明

• Networking is one of the best options to exploit in this case. Use all your contacts!
  在这种情况下，建立人脉是最佳选择之一。利用你所有的联系人！
• Re-focus on your education path. You can enroll in a specific course, master, etc. dedicated to the new industry you would like to approach.
  重新聚焦你的教育路径。你可以报名参加专门针对你希望进入的新行业的课程、硕士等。
• Update your résumé in a powerful way with the help of a coach.
  在教练的帮助下，以强大的方式更新你的简历。
• Contact head hunting offices. At this step in your career it is good to send résumés to offices in search for managerial positions (i.e. Egon Zehnder).
  联系猎头公司。在职业生涯的这个阶段，向寻找管理职位（例如 Egon Zehnder）的办公室发送简历是不错的选择。

2. Main Roles in a Fashion Company
2. 时尚公司中的主要角色

The chart below recaps roles, functions and keywords related to each role
下表总结了与每个角色相关的职责、功能和相关关键词

2.1 Being a Merchandiser in a Fashion Company
2.1 在时尚公司担任商品经理

A merchandiser is a figure connecting the commercial people in the company with the creative ones. The merchandising team is usually responsible for pricing and balancing product categories and prices in a collection. It prepares training for sales people both during the selling campaign (for vendors in the showroom) and before selling the collection to final customers (for sales managers in stores). In order to build the collection prices and structure together with the designer team, they have to work hard on sales analyses referred both to final customers (sell out analysis - for directly operated stores in the company, licensee mono-brand stores and special corners inside department stores) and sell in analysis after sales campaign in the show room. Together with the creative division, it can take part in clothing fittings, model castings, etc. The role is connected with the one of designers because together and starting from fabrics purchased they begin to envision the collection development long before it will be on the market!
商品经理是公司商业人员与创意人员之间的桥梁。商品团队通常负责定价和平衡系列中的产品类别和价格。它为销售人员提供培训，包括在销售活动期间（针对展示厅的供应商）和向最终客户销售系列之前（针对门店的销售经理）。为了与设计师团队一起建立系列价格和结构，他们必须努力进行销售分析，包括针对最终客户（销售分析——针对公司直接运营的门店、授权单品牌门店和百货商场内的专卖店）以及销售活动后的展示厅销售分析。与创意部门一起，它可以参与服装试穿、模特选拔等活动。这个角色与设计师的角色相连，因为他们一起从购买的布料开始，在产品上市前很久就开始构思系列发展！

Moving from a company to another you can find a different job scope: you can be a regional merchandiser. In huge companies the world can be divided in regions or areas and so you can be for example a European merchandiser. In smaller companies the office in Paris or in Milan is in charge of the global business and you can be a merchandiser in charge of all markets.
从一个公司转到另一个公司，你可以找到不同的工作范围：你可以成为一名区域采购商。在大公司中，世界可以被划分为区域或地区，因此你可以成为一名例如欧洲采购商。在小公司中，巴黎或米兰的办公室负责全球业务，你可以成为一名负责所有市场的采购商。

2.2 Being a Buyer in a Fashion Company
2.2 在时尚公司成为一名采购商

This role is not focused only on one brand, but usually the difficult aspect of this job is to mix different brands and product categories together in a unique space (physical or digital) and offer the customer products in line with his or her taste.
这个角色不仅限于一个品牌，但这个工作的难点通常是将不同的品牌和产品类别结合在一个独特的空间（实体或数字）中，并向客户提供符合其口味的商品。

Today the role is complicated by the fact that you do not have to sell to a “customer,” but rather you have to consider **tourists **(usually great spenders especially if coming from eastern countries), informed customers, e-consumers, and so on. The buyer today has to think about different shopping experiences, services connected to shopping, and different targets. In huge companies there are different buyers for different targets (i.e. for physical and digital stores, for regions). Buyers work together with visual merchandisers to offer customers a complete and wonderful experience. For buyers, sales analyses are key but are not enough if you would like to compete in a global market (and if the company has a website you do compete in a global market!) Fifteen years ago, in allocating the budget for future season, the buyer had to consider only the previous season sales of a single store and slightly change the buying from one season to the next, adding some products every one or two seasons and looking for some new trends. Today the buyer has to adapt to a fast moving digital world. All shopping logic has changed and new opportunities and perspectives flourished from this new scheme!
如今，这一角色因您不必向“顾客”销售，而需考虑游客（尤其是来自东方国家的游客，通常是伟大的消费者）、知情顾客、网络消费者等事实而变得复杂。今天的买手必须思考不同的购物体验、与购物相关的服务以及不同的目标。在大型公司中，针对不同目标（即实体店和网店、不同地区）有不同的买手。买手与视觉陈列师合作，为客户提供完整而精彩的体验。对于买手而言，销售分析是关键，但在全球市场竞争（如果公司拥有网站，您就在全球市场竞争！）中则不够。十五年前，在分配未来季节的预算时，买手只需考虑单家店铺上季的销售情况，并在每个季节间稍作调整，每季或两季添加一些产品，寻找一些新趋势。如今，买手必须适应快速发展的数字世界。所有购物逻辑都发生了变化，并从这个新方案中涌现出新的机遇和视角！

2.3 Being a Creative Director in a Fashion Company
2.3 在时尚公司担任创意总监

If you want to know more about the role of the designer/creative director, here you will find three suggested movies where the role is performed by real characters.
如果您想了解更多关于设计师/创意总监的角色，这里将为您推荐三部由真实人物扮演该角色的电影。

**The Director **- A recent movie on Gucci and Frida Giannini as a creative director
《导演》——一部关于古驰和弗里达·加尼尼担任创意总监的最新电影

Movie info http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2767266/
电影信息 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2767266/

Trailer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NiTdZ0CsxGw

Valentino, the Last Emperor - A look inside Valentino's life just before leaving the company
华伦天奴：最后的君王 - 揭秘华伦天奴离开公司前的最后时光

Movie info http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1176244/
电影信息 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1176244/

Trailer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UGJJRPWqvzM

Lagerfeld Confidential - A portrait of the extravangant and fab life of an icon
拉格菲尔德：一位偶像的奢华与狂放 - 描绘拉格菲尔德的浮华生活

Movie info http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0809439/?ref_=nv_sr_1
电影信息 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0809439/?ref_=nv_sr_1

Trailer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=85XSH-C-WEQ
预告 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=85XSH-C-WEQ

3. How to Create Your Own Brand
3. 如何创建自己的品牌

Starting from the framework of a business plan (there are lots of business plan frameworks and on the web, you can find thousands, but the important thing is that the plan can help you to reply to the right questions):
从商业计划的框架开始（网上有大量的商业计划框架，你可以找到成千上万种，但重要的是计划能帮助你回答正确的问题）：

People wanting to start a business often only focus on the value proposition (your idea). The business idea is core, but not enough! If you want to create your own start up you have to focus on a lot of relevant aspects and be sure they are connected with your value proposition in a consistent and sustainable way. This attention paid to the entire business plan nowadays has to be more than in the past.
想要创业的人往往只关注价值主张（你的想法）。商业想法是核心，但还不够！如果你想要创建自己的初创企业，你必须关注许多相关方面，并确保它们以一致和可持续的方式与你的价值主张相连。如今对整个商业计划的关注程度必须比过去更高。

The web has in fact shaken up the so called first mover advantage. When you started a business, before the internet, you had greater entry barriers to an industry but then your advantage could be usually protected for a more or less long period of time. Today, to create a business you only need a computer and an internet connection, but for this same reason a lot of people can enter the business with more successful ideas and easily secure an advantage.
互联网实际上已经动摇了所谓的先发优势。当你开始创业时，在互联网之前，你进入一个行业的进入门槛更高，但你的优势通常可以持续一段较长的时间。如今，要创办一个企业，你只需要一台电脑和互联网连接，但同样的原因，很多人可以用更成功的想法进入这个行业，并轻易获得优势。

To protect your advantage today the first thing to do is to concentrate on the whole business plan framework and be sure that the value proposition is properly linked with all other aspects of the plan.
如今要保护你的优势，首先要集中精力在整个商业计划框架上，并确保价值主张与其他所有计划方面正确关联。

《https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UGJJRPWqvzM》、《https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=85XSH-C-WEQ》、《http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2767266/》、《https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NiTdZ0CsxGw》、《https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=85XSH-C-WEQ》、《http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2767266/》、《http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1176244/》

这份材料全面介绍了时尚与奢侈品行业的职业发展路径，主要分为三个部分：如何进入时尚行业、时尚公司的主要角色以及如何创建个人品牌。以下是对内容的分析和总结：

1. 如何进入时尚行业

材料提供了针对不同人群的实用建议：

• ​​通用建议​​：从基础开始（如零售经验），广泛投递简历（不限于顶级品牌），专注自身优势，寻找导师，并注重简历中突出成就和技能。
• ​​学生/毕业生​​：选择与实践结合的课程，始终保持简历更新。
• ​​转行人士​​：通过人脉、进修课程、更新简历和联系猎头来过渡。
• ​​跨行业转入者​​：依赖人脉、再教育、简历优化和猎头公司（如Egon Zehnder）。

2. 时尚公司的主要角色

介绍了三个核心职能：

• ​​商品经理（Merchandiser）​​：连接商业与创意团队，负责定价、产品结构、销售分析和培训，角色可能因公司规模不同（全球或区域）。
• ​​采购（Buyer）​​：需整合多品牌产品，适应多元化客户（如游客、线上消费者），注重数据分析和与视觉陈列合作，且需应对数字化变革。
• ​​创意总监（Creative Director）​​：推荐通过纪录片学习真实案例，如《Valentino: The Last Emperor》（链接1）展现Valentino的职业生涯，《Lagerfeld Confidential》（链接2和3）讲述Karl Lagerfeld的生活和工作。

3. 如何创建个人品牌

强调商业计划的重要性：

• 不仅要有创新的价值主张（商业想法），还需确保所有业务方面（如营销、财务）与之协调一致。
• 互联网降低了创业门槛，但也加剧竞争，因此需通过全面规划保护优势。

总结

这份材料为时尚行业从业者提供了从入门到创业的系统指导，突出了实践、人脉和持续学习的重要性，同时通过真实案例（如纪录片）加深对关键角色的理解。对于想进入或提升在该行业的人士，这些建议具有较高的参考价值。