One Day, One Job » buyer

Elie Tahari

Willy Franzen — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 15:54:47 +0000

I’m probably more fashion conscious than the average guy, but not remarkably so. I have a few brands that I really like wearing—Bonobos and lululemon athletica for example—and most of the rest of the stuff that I buy I get from Gilt Groupe, which is always introducing me to new brands. I figure that it’s important for me to stay up on fashion to some extent because so many of you are interested in jobs in the fashion industry. I recently noticed that one brand that I’ve seen on Gilt Groupe before, Elie Tahari, has a number of job openings available. Elie Tahari is both the name of a designer and “a privately held global lifestyle brand with a presence in more than forty countries.” The company is headquartered in New York and serves both men and women who are “looking for fashion and value in luxury ready-to-wear.”

Jobs Are In Fashion

The story of Elie Tahari is extremely cool. According to Wikipedia he came to the United States from Israel in 1971 to work as an electrician. He spent his first years here as a transient, and eventually ended up working in a boutique clothing store. This inspired him to start designing “women’s fashion inspired by the new york city nightclub scene.” That seems to have worked out pretty well for him considering the fact that he’s built a $500 million business. To get a feel for what the line is all about, you should head over to ElieTahari.com. Getting the scoop on their jobs won’t be so simple. They do have a Careers section on their website, but it is woefully outdated. A quick Google search for “Elie Tahari jobs” is your best bet, as it turns up Monster.com results like Planning Assistant, Assistant Colorist, and a true entry level job—Assistant Technical Designer. There’s also a HotJobs posting for a Fit Model, and you can always use Elie Tahari’s Careers site to submit a résumé.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you wear Elie Tahari?

Mona Lisa Style

Willy Franzen — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 15:56:32 +0000

I don’t know a lot about how the fashion industry works, but I do know that buyers are the people who make the decisions about which items end up in stores and on websites. Mona Lisa Style is a New York City based startup that wants to help buyers “master the art of merchandising” through technology. While most industries have moved a large portion of their business online, the fashion industry is lagging behind. According to Mona Lisa Style’s Blog the way that many major companies place orders for clothing is by writing an order on a piece of paper and faxing it. All of the organization and tracking of orders is also done over the phone and on paper. Mona Lisa Style realizes how stupid this is, and they want to change it. They want to make buying as easy as online shopping.

The Art of Merchandising

As far as I can tell, Mona Lisa Style is really early as startups come. They’re self-funded, have 3 employees, and don’t even have a Chief Technology Officer / Lead Developer yet (they’re looking for one). That is a big red flag, since software as a service business typically need really strong technical talent. Still, I’m impressed with the concept behind Mona Lisa Style. They’ll certainly have an enormous challenge pushing an industry that is dragging its feet into the digital age, but if they can do it, they stand to reap huge rewards. If you love the risk and want to work towards changing the way that the fashion industry works, then you should check out Mona Lisa Style’s job postings on Startuply. Maybe they’ll join the ranks of big name NYC fashion startups like Gilt Groupe and Bonobos. Right now they’re looking for a CTO and a Fashion Sales Representative. If you’re interested, you can reach out to them at careers@monalisastyle.com.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What do you think of Mona Lisa Style’s chances?

Kate Spade

Willy Franzen — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 13:49:41 +0000

I can’t remember whether it was late in my middle school years or early in my high school years, but there were certainly a couple of years in the late 90s when Kate Spade was as hot as could be. Whether it was a wallet, calendar, or other accessories from the New York based fashion designer, the girls in my classes went crazy for them. At that point in my life, I wasn’t the most fashion conscious kid, so I probably thought Five Star binders were still cool. Despite my ignorance of fashion back then, even I knew what Kate Spade was. Since Kate Brosnahan started her line in 1993, her company has grown exceptionally. Hallmarked by “utility, wit and playful sophistication,” Kate Spade’s offering includes handbags, shoes, accesories, clothing, jewelry, baby items, fragrance, glasses, and even paper. The company now runs 46 retail shops and continues to be a huge name in the fashion industry.

Are You Playfully Sophisticated?

Despite my use of capitalization in this post, Kate Spade is a brand that seems allergic to capital letters. It’s a big part of their branding, and it’s widely recognizable. Since fashion is all about branding, it’s no surprise that most people wouldn’t notice that Kate Spade was purchased by Liz Claiborne in 2009. It appears that Kate Spade continues to run itself separately, and that becomes even more evident when you look at Kate Spade’s Jobs page. They have quite a few opportunities available, and a number of them seem perfectly suited to new grads. There are a ton of retail positions, but we’re just going to focus on the corporate positions like E-commerce Coordinator, Assistant Buyer, and International Marketing Assistant. You can apply for these positions directly from the job postings, so give them look and see if they fit.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you own any Kate Spade?

FreshDirect

Willy Franzen — Mon, 12 May 2008 13:17:52 +0000

Some people love grocery shopping, some people hate it, and most people don’t have time for it. If your college campus was anywhere near a Wegmans, then you probably made time for the supermarket; however, once you start working a full-time, entry-level job in a city with no Wegmans, grocery shopping will likely become an imposition. That’s where FreshDirect steps in. They deliver fresh, affordable food to your doorstep quickly.

How Do They Do It?

Ordering groceries online isn’t a new idea, but doing it right is. There have been quite a few grocery companies that have offered online ordering, but most have missed the mark in one way or another. FreshDirect has mastered “just in time” production to get their customers the freshest food and the best prices. Grocery stores are expensive to run and middlemen hike up prices. FreshDirect avoids both of these costs by controlling the entire distribution process. They have a huge refrigerated facility, where they store and prepare food that is “made to order.” FreshDirect only operates in the New York City area right now, but they’re rapidly expanding.

Fresh Jobs

FreshDirect’s Jobs page shows quite a few openings, many of which appear to be entry-level. It’s hard to tell, since FreshDirect chooses not to fill in the experience box on many of the postings. The only job that is explicitly described as geared towards new college grads is as a FreshDirect Experience Analyst; however, these jobs also require little or no previous work experience: Merchandising Analyst, Purchasing Assistant, Purchasing Assistant, Produce, Operations Analyst – Plant Operations, Analyst, Quality Assurance, Logistics Analyst, and Junior HR Generalist, Plant Operations. The descriptions for each listing are quite detailed, so you should be able to tell which jobs will best fit your experience and education. All of FreshDirect’s jobs are located in Long Island City, NY, which is actually a neighborhood in the borough of Queens, not its own city. There’s not much more information available about what it’s like working for FreshDirect, but there is a photo tour of their plant.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you get your groceries delivered? By FreshDirect? How do you like it?

Netflix

Willy Franzen — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 13:00:48 +0000

Whether you hit the multiplex with your friends, had them over to watch a rental, or sat alone and watched in your room as you languished through your awkward stage (everyone has one), Friday nights in Middle School always seemed to revolve around movies. To get a rental, you’d have to beg your Mom to take you to Blockbuster. Then you’d have to lobby her on why you were mature enough to rent an R-rated movie, despite the fact that you just made it to legal age for a PG-13. Those days are long gone, and not just because you’re an adult now. Now, you either wait a couple days for the mailman to deliver your movie or you sit for 10 minutes while you download it. Netflix has ruined those cherished moments of arguing with your mother about movie rentals and late fees, but I think we can all agree to forgive them.

If your love of movies has persisted beyond your Middle School years, Netflix is the perfect place to begin your career. Not only do they look like a fun place to work, but they also have done a fantastic job of marketing their employment brand online. In fact, their list of 8 great reasons to work for Netflix made it to the top page of reddit. If you don’t know what reddit is, Wikipedia says it’s “a social news website where users can post links to content on the web. Other users may then vote the posted links up or down, causing them to appear more or less prominently on the Reddit home page.” Reddit users aren’t the easiest crowd to please, so it’s actually quite an impressive feat for a corporate careers page to get so much attention from them.

We sifted through Netflix’s 4 pages of job openings to find you the positions that we think are most suitable for a new college grad. There were 4 jobs that really stood out: Indie Films Content Buyer (this sounds so cool!), Replications Manager, Operations Coordinator, Site Content Coordinator – Electronic Delivery – all of these positions are located in Beverly Hills, CA. There is a lot of depth in Netflix’s job descriptions, but they could stand to be written in a livelier style. Netflix brags about being a “flat” organization in which people at all levels of the organization work on both high and low level tasks. That could be good or bad depending on your point of view. Typically a flat organization means opportunities to advance quickly for someone who is coming in at the entry-level.

Netflix also has a General Application for people who don’t see a position that suits their interests. Give that a try if you don’t see anything you like in their job listings. Or you could just sit at home and try to win $1 million from Netflix by building them a better movie recommendation algorithm.

Note: On April 24th we revisited entry-level jobs at Netflix.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you think Netflix’s business model can continue? Or will movie rental by download completely take over in the next few years?