Fashion Buyer - Accessories/Jewelry

AKIRA•Chicago, IL

23d•Onsite

About The Position

AKIRA is looking for a fashion-forward, super intelligent, math-minded, and highly motivated Fashion Buyer in our Accessories Department. This is a position with significant growth potential for the right person. This position will play a hand in sourcing, buying, and planning. The right person will be open to a variety of tasks, from digging into the retail database to understand the company's merchandising data, to traveling to LA/Vegas/NYC/Italy/China/etc. on a buy, to calling pages of vendors for shipping updates, to going to the stores to lead a markdown project - you are energized and ready to go.

Requirements

You must be highly analytical and data-driven. You must be able to take a spreadsheet of data on Excel and analyze it in a meaningful and impactful way
You must arrive with a working knowledge of key merchandising concepts such as open-to-buy, sell-thru, inventory turn, etc.
You must be highly motivated and driven to succeed. We want you to take ownership of your duties. We want you to proactively find areas of improvement and take leadership
You must be excited about fashion, in particular ACCESSORIES. You must be excited about new trends and constantly learning about construction, material, and other concepts regarding design
You are able to (and enjoy) regular travel and meeting with vendors, producers, and others in the fast fashion industry. You can represent the AKIRA brand in a positive manner
You are confident and extroverted and extremely comfortable with communication, whether in person, over the phone, Skype, or email. You have excellent follow-through
You are a fashion leader. You follow all the style blogs and scour through Instagram for the latest and greatest looks. You are always one season ahead of the pack. You love and appreciate a wide range of different styles
You have graduated with a Bachelor's degree from an accredited university
You are way above average, and only want to work at a place that is nowhere near average
You thrive in a fast-paced work environment and embrace solving complex challenges
You are a collaborative and hard-working problem solver, who leads by example

Responsibilities

Coordinate with Buyers, Planners, Accounting, Quality control, Receiving departments, and vendors to ensure production requirements are followed
Communicate with vendors any revisions or changes to garments expressed by the Buyers
Assists with the preparation process for the negotiation of product pricing with vendors and management
Communicate any changes to existing orders to the Purchase Order department
Work to consistently obtain Pre-Production and Top of Production samples on time
Responsible for trying on production samples throughout the day as needed.
Maintain a library of best-selling styles
Manage the data and files for production matters
Organize selling, pull reports for Buyers and ensure that all Purchase Order deliveries are made to the appropriate department
Begin to effectively utilize the merchandising systems and understand warehouse process
Develop and demonstrate basic product knowledge through sharing information with Buyer as a result of competitive shopping