Apparel merchandisers work in the fashion industry and figure out what products and materials to buy to keep a brand successful. They closely collaborate with designers and buyers and analyze fashion trends and customer choices to best curate future merchandise.
You will analyze trends in the industry to forecast what investments will bring revenue to your brand. You will also be responsible for overseeing the style of garments for sale in retails stores or fashion houses. Planning and implementing store layouts will also be your duty.
A degree in fashion design is usually expected of candidates applying for this position. You will have to be up to date on the latest fashion trends and use visual design software such as Photoshop and Illustrator. Excellent interpersonal and communication skills are a must and, of course, good taste.
How to Become an Apparel Merchandiser
There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being an apparel merchandiser. For example, did you know that they make an average of $19.55 an hour? That's $40,660 a year!
Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow -2% and produce -105,200 job opportunities across the U.S.
What Does an Apparel Merchandiser Do
There are certain skills that many apparel merchandisers have in order to accomplish their responsibilities. By taking a look through resumes, we were able to narrow down the most common skills for a person in this position. We discovered that a lot of resumes listed selling skills, math skills and communication skills.
How To Become an Apparel Merchandiser
If you're interested in becoming an apparel merchandiser, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 62.6% of apparel merchandisers have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 6.4% of apparel merchandisers have master's degrees. Even though most apparel merchandisers have a college degree, it's possible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.
Choosing the right major is always an important step when researching how to become an apparel merchandiser. When we researched the most common majors for an apparel merchandiser, we found that they most commonly earn bachelor's degree degrees or associate degree degrees. Other degrees that we often see on apparel merchandiser resumes include high school diploma degrees or master's degree degrees.
You may find that experience in other jobs will help you become an apparel merchandiser. In fact, many apparel merchandiser jobs require experience in a role such as sales associate. Meanwhile, many apparel merchandisers also have previous career experience in roles such as cashier or merchandiser.
Apparel Merchandiser Career Paths
In addition to switching up your job search, it might prove helpful to look at a career path for your specific job. Now, what's a career path you ask? Well, it's practically a map that shows how you might advance from one job title to another. Our career paths are especially detailed with salary changes. So, for example, if you started out with the role of buyer you might progress to a role such as office manager eventually. Later on in your career, you could end up with the title district manager.
Average Salary for an Apparel Merchandiser
What Am I Worth?
Top Skills For an Apparel Merchandiser
The skills section on your resume can be almost as important as the experience section, so you want it to be an accurate portrayal of what you can do. Luckily, we've found all of the skills you'll need so even if you don't have these skills yet, you know what you need to work on. Out of all the resumes we looked through, 40.2% of apparel merchandisers listed customer service on their resume, but soft skills such as selling skills and math skills are important as well.
Apparel Merchandiser Demographics
Apparel Merchandiser Gender Distribution
After extensive research and analysis, Zippia's data science team found that:
- Among apparel merchandisers, 80.5% of them are women, while 19.5% are men.
- The most common race/ethnicity among apparel merchandisers is White, which makes up 76.0% of all apparel merchandisers.
- The most common foreign language among apparel merchandisers is Spanish at 28.6%.
Online Courses For Apparel Merchandiser That You May Like
Learn the key principles of great Visual Merchandising & Window Dressing...
The essentials of merchandise management, buying, range planning, product development and many more...
How Do Apparel Merchandiser Rate Their Jobs?
Top Apparel Merchandiser Employers
Most Common Employers For Apparel Merchandiser
| Rank | Company | Average Salary | Hourly Rate | Job Openings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Anthropologie | $40,660 | $19.55 | 16 |
| 2 | Fabric.com | $40,660 | $19.55 | 2 |
| 3 | Amazon | $39,655 | $19.06 | 4 |
| 4 | ThirdChannel | $39,169 | $18.83 | 81 |
| 5 | Shopko Optical | $37,657 | $18.10 | 4 |
| 6 | Kroger | $36,547 | $17.57 | 2 |
| 7 | Auburn University | $34,062 | $16.38 | 2 |
| 8 | Lids Sports Group | $34,056 | $16.37 | 5 |
| 9 | Finish Line | $32,478 | $15.61 | 3 |
| 10 | Sam's Club | $31,976 | $15.37 | 3 |