WyQuasia King is a 33-year-old Macy’s buyer from Westchester, New York. Her most notable work is the Macy’s and Casper “Divine Nine Sorority” collection – a collection of dresses and suits that celebrates the work and colors of the various Divine Nine Sororities. “It was the most valuable and proudest achievement of my career,” says King. “I was able to identify a need for a group of women that was not being met in this department. The success is immeasurable and I think the impact it has on the industry makes it a huge achievement and makes me really proud.”
There is much more to the fashion industry than just design or styling jobs. Like any other industry, fashion is a business with numerous professions that require many different skills. In this article we introduce one of these professions: that of a buyer.
King’s path into the fashion industry
King didn’t initially dream of working in the fashion industry, although she has always had a passion for fashion. It wasn’t until she was in college that she realized there was a place for her in the fashion industry. Her college career began at St. John’s University in Staten Island, NY, where she studied economics for a year before attending Berkeley College moved to NY and chose economics as her major. She also took the elective “Intro to Fashion.” A buyer gave her class a talk about purchasing as a career, and “I thought, ‘Oh, wow, that’s cool, I think I want to be a buyer.'”
King then changed her major to fashion marketing and management. During her senior year, she was able to intern at Dress Barn as a purchasing assistant, which she discovered is an entry-level position in merchandising. Eventually, Dress Barn hired her as a purchasing assistant. In 2012, King applied to the Merchandising Assistant program at Macy’s, where her responsibilities included order tracking, order creation, and sample room management. From there, King applied to the Macy’s Executive Development Program, “a very competitive training program for anyone who wants to work in merchandising and become a merchandising executive.”
She then moved to Texas, where she became the first assistant buyer of skate and streetwear for young men at JCPenney. King said it was a great two-year experience, but she became homesick and returned to New York, where Macy’s welcomed her back with a position as an associate merchandise planner. In 2019, King was promoted to Director Merchandise Planner, where she was responsible for occasion wear such as formal dresses and evening gowns. In 2020, her position was eliminated along with the entire merchandise planning pyramid, but she was lucky and was transferred to the position she holds today – everyday clothing buyer.
King’s responsibilities at Macy’s
As Macy’s everyday clothing buyer, King surveys trends and the market and selects all everyday clothing in Macy’s stores and online. King added that under her title, she ensures that the items in stores are the right size and fit, that they are on trend, and that the items are sold to customers at a price they deem appropriate. She is responsible for the entire shopping experience, including what is seen online. “It’s a really cool position because I pick out all the dresses before the client even knows what she’s going to wear, so we work a year in advance. “That’s basically the purchasing job, and there’s a person for every single area,” King said.
Everyday life as a buyer
For King, a normal day is “a busy day.” She starts her day by checking the previous day’s sales to see how her business went overall, and then she goes out looking for new trends and new styles for the season she’s working on.
She also likes to meet with her team of four to review the previous week’s bestsellers so they know what customers were interested in. She then ensures that what customers like is back in stock. This means she meets with her marketing partners, price and financial planners and assortment planners to develop strategies for the products she puts together.
King explains that no two days are the same, but her favorite day at work is the actual shopping, where she shops for new trends, meets with different resources, looks at fabrics and prints, and essentially chooses the product. “A lot of what I do has to do with mathematics. “So if you’re not a person who likes math, I would say shopping isn’t for you,” advises King.
A career advice
According to King, persistence is key in this business. “There aren’t many buyers who look like me in this industry in general,” she notes. “If you want to become a buyer, you have to be persistent; You have to know that it doesn’t happen overnight, make the right contacts, learn from the right people. And I think it’s important to round out your experience well.”
This article originally appeared on FashionUnited.uk. Translated and edited by Simone Preuss.