Book Review: Fashion Buying.
The author’s main concern is fashion buying process, namely, buying clothing, footwear and accessories. A significant part of the book is devoted to the UK fashion market research and its current tendencies. It also includes an outlook for job in the sphere of fashion buying, forecast of sales volume and commercial success within the market.
The author’s manner of wording is simple and clear, the chapters are well-structured, and the arguments are well-supported with the evidence of buyers of different levels working for well-known fashion companies including Vogue, Calvin Klein, Prada, Harvey, Nichols, Wal-Mart, Collezioni (Goworek 35).
The book contains the information that is necessary for a beginner in the sphere of fashion buying. The author uses the principle of lean-and-mean narration providing the reader with abundant information in a concise manner.
The book is unique because it embraces a comparatively neglected research area which, however, greatly contributes into the development of global economy. It also contains comprehensive information related contemporary fashion market, its perspectives and carriers in the field. The information related buying cycles, range planning, budgeting, fabric and garment sourcing, various types of buying is detailed and logically developed (Goworek 21).
First of all, the book can be useful for the graduates who plan to begin a carrier in the sphere of fashion buying. Also, it can be of a great interest for those who are involved in fashion buying process and fashion market analysts and observers (Goworek 172).
The book requires necessary expertise and enough practice to make appropriate statements. Helen Goworek currently occupies a position of senior lecturer in fashion buying, product development and merchandising at Nottingham Trent University. She also has an experience of working in the spheres of manufacturing in the clothing industry, buying and design for major UK fashion retail stores (RetailWeek n.pag.). Goworek has been working as lecturer since 1997 teaching Buying and Global Sourcing, Marketing Management, Managing Global Supply Chain. She lecturers and works as an external assessor in other universities as well (University of Leicester n.pag.).
Fashion Buying is not the only book written by Helen Goworek. She also issued a number of books and publications including Careers in Fashion and Textiles (2006), Collaborative Product Development Processes in Fashion and Textiles (2006), Social and Environmental Sustainability in the Clothing Industry (2008), An Investigation into Product Development Processes for UK Fashion Retailers: a Multiple Case Study (2010), A Model of the Decision-Making Process for Retail Buying (2010), Social and Environmental Sustainability in the Clothing Industry: a Case Study of a Fair Trade Retailer (2011) and many others also written in collaboration with A. Hiller, T. Cooper, and S. Woodward (University of Leicester n.pag.).
In her books she adopted a qualitative approach, used interview methods, academic resources and conference papers. Her books are available in the UK, USA, China, Russia and Spain.
As the author has vast working and teaching experience in the researched field, she can be considered an expert in this field and her opinion is influential.
The book starts with introduction where the importance of buyer’s activity is described. The structure of market levels is outlined (Goworek 5).
Fashion Buying consist of twelve chapters as follows: The Role of the Fashion Buyer, The Buying Cycle, Predicting Fashion Trends, Range Planning, Fabric Sourcing, Garment Sourcing, Buying for Own Label Fashion Multiples, Mail Order Fashion Buying, Buying Branded Fashion Merchandise, Fashion Marketing for Buyers, Careers in Fashion Buying.
In the second chapter Goworek described qualities of a buyer which are necessary to succeed in this industry. Also she outlined effective approaches to liaising and negotiation with suppliers (Association of Suppliers to the British Clothing Industry n.pag.). The author paid particular attention to internal liaising and management skills that are necessary to provide efficient functioning of all departments inside of a company (Goworek 6).
The third chapter was devoted to the description and analysis of the buying cycle. Seasonal character of buying was discussed with an analysis of seasonal sales and appropriate budget planning tied to seasonal fluctuations on the market. The two types of shopping were marked out, namely: comparative and directional shopping. A significant part of the chapter was devoted to range planning and selection; the issues of production and delivery were touched upon together with product development (Goworek 19).
In chapter four sources of fashion forecasting information and the way how the information can be complied were discussed.
In the chapter describing range planning the way how a range plan can be compiled was discussed. Sales history was analyzed and seasons and phases in fashion industry were described as well. Comparative and directional types of shopping were analyzed in detail. Goworek touched upon the issues of how options, sizes and color should be picked out. She also paid attention to the issue of calculating retail prices, classification of fashion merchandize in the framework of the range plan. The author discussed the factors influencing fashion range performance as well (Goworek 43).
Chapter eight contains relevant and useful information regarding large UK store groups. The categories of fashion multiples were described. The issues of product assortment, performance of retail sales, point-of-sale and visual merchandising were discussed in detail. The conclusions were supported by the case study in own label fashion buying (Goworek 95).
A particular attention was paid to Internet sales in the chapter nine where the author described mail order fashion market and the approaches to composing catalogues. Also the author marked out the methods of forecasting and assessing the sales performance and compiling a mail order range. The chapter ends includes several cases in mail order fashion buying (Goworek 117).
The final chapter is devoted to the careers in fashion buying. It allows the reader to get to know whether fashion buying career is suitable for a potential contender. It contains qualifications for career in this field, skills that are necessary to become an excellent performer, and potential for career progression. Also, the author proposed several methods of finding jobs in fashion buying field and described the approaches to composing CV. Besides, Goworek outlined a structure of interview and prepared several recommendations for a potential contender (Goworek 170).
The book is a detailed guidance for those who intend to work in the fashion buying field and build a successful career.
Works Cited
Association of Suppliers to the British Clothing Industry. ASBCI Industry Conference, n.d. Web. 13 July 2012.
Goworek, Helen. Fashion Buying. 2rd ed. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 2009. Print.
RetailWeek. Latest Retail News. Jobs. Analysis and Market Data, 2012. Web. 13 July 2012.
University of Leicester. Helen Goworek. Associate Stuff, n.d. Web. 13 July 2012.
