SS21-round-up: How buyers place their orders

Buying for SS21 is in full swing but things are different from usual
this season. From delayed and scaled-down collections to the digital
ordering process – what informs the planning and budget of fashion buyers
from Zurich to Paris?

Buyers adjust their planning

“This season is very special and we see several strategies adopted by
brands: a smaller drop or sometimes a capsule that is presented later,”
said Maud Barrionuevo, head buyer at 24S, the luxury online platform owned
by the LVMH Group. The website offers items from more than 300 brands for
men and women. “Some themes from AW20 are occasionally kept into SS21.
Other brands only offer a single drop in September.”

Downsized collections or cancelled pre-collections for SS21 could
already start to affect the turnover of many fashion retailers from the
second half of the year. Instead of the usual delivery start in November,
the first SS21 products might end up in stores much later this time round.
“Our summer starts in January for almost 50 percent of suppliers, and we
may not be able to achieve the sales we usually have in November and
December,” said Miriam Anlauf, a buyer for the women’s department of German
retailer Peek & Cloppenburg Düsseldorf.

However, the disruption to the fashion calendar caused by the pandemic
also brings advantages for buyers. “Many suppliers have not finished their
sample collection in time, which means that main collection and
pre-collection are presented together,” said André Myburgh, head of
merchandise fashion and accessories at the Zurich-based department store
Jelmoli. “This is certainly good for us, then you have an overview of
everything and don’t have to divide your budget in advance.”

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“The schedule is usually very full, we make four or five appointments
per day. For this season, we will probably slow down the pace because
buying will take longer,” said Régis Pennel, the founder of the Parisian
boutique L’Exception. He expects the ordering process, which began at the
end of June, to continue until October.

Zeineb Chaouch, co-founder of the Paris concept store Le DiX, only
places orders if the partner brands are willing to accept them. His store
works mainly with sustainable fashion brands, most of which offer one
collection or less per year. In ‘normal times’, the low frequency can be a
handicap, but during a pandemic, Chaouch can be more flexible.

Digital buying

The majority of the orders of Brussels-based designer boutique Stijl
have to be completed virtually this year. This is frustrating, said men’s
collection buyer Hendrik Opdebeek. “In our market niche, seeing and feeling
is essential. A shirt is a shirt. Only when it has passed through the hands
of a designer does it become a designer piece,” he said. “You really only
see the difference to a shirt from the high street when it goes on the
catwalk and then into the showroom.”

Gabriela Holscher-Di Marco, the owner of designer store Ela Selected in
Düsseldorf, also rejects digital buying. The designers she carries offer to
drive to her store to show their collections like in the old days. “We used
to do that a lot in the past. For me it is simply important that I meet the
designers every season and feel the human touch, the personal encounters,
the look and feel and the showroom atmosphere, and hear from the designer
what he or she had in mind for the collection,” said Holscher-Di Marco.

The details of the fabrics and colours can often not yet be adequately
represented. This makes it especially difficult to buy new brands in a
digital-only way and that’s also why many buyers believe that a part of
their job will always remain physical. “As soon as something is in dark
blue or black, you can’t see exactly whether it is padded or quilted, for
example,” Jelmoli buyer Myburgh said. “With denim, I find it difficult to
get the wash across the screen. And if there is a shade of blue that
doesn’t look right – you will end up with the pile right there until the
sale.” He and his buyers have requested ‘Swatchcards’ to be able to touch
the material for garments with technical fabrics.

“The combination does it in the end. The recent times have shown that
many things can be done extremely well digitally,” said Peek & Cloppenburg
buyer Anlauf. For her, it is helpful if a supplier provides a kind of
‘storytelling’ with the collection, such as moving pictures and a
360-degree view of individual pieces to show the fall of a garment. Whether
or not her team will visit the showroom to view the collections also
depends on how much will be ordered. “If we’re spending a very big amount
of the budget and we’re buying big quantities, we’re naturally already
interested in making sure the item is what we expect it to be,” Anlauf
said.

”Digital appointments take a lot longer than an actual physical
appointment,” said Mytheresa fashion buying director Tiffany Hsu. She
thinks that the actual process of physical buying cannot be replicated for
larger collections with multiple categories, but that it’s possible for
brands that offer a smaller range of products, provided they offer
high-quality images of models wearing the garments. She also said that the
quality of the line sheet, which is used by brands to present the most
important information about themselves and their collection to buyers, can
be enhanced. This also applies to the quality of the images available to
buyers. “Since we are an e-commerce company and we are selling to our
customers digitally, my expectation for brands selling products to buyers
is on the same level, which is not always the case,” Hsu said.

Buyers place orders more cautiously

Many buyers start the season more carefully than they would before.
“Our general approach is more cautious, and that’s necessary. The
never-out-of-stock items and basics could be increased – in the end, it
also depends on what the suppliers offer,” Anlauf said. Peek & Cloppenburg
wants to increase its sustainable assortment and also have a share of
timeless clothing.

“In any case we will buy less for next season. We will put some
non-seasonal pieces back in the store next summer,” said Opdebeek from
boutique de Stijl.

Mytheresa buyer Tiffany Hsu also bets on timeless pieces. But unlike her
colleagues, she plans to increase her budget compared to last year and
place orders as usual to ensure that they arrive on time.

“I think buyers will become more cautious and look at what and when they
bring pieces to the shop floor,” said Jelmoli buyer Myburgh. “Going for
more quality and never-out-of-stock – I think that will definitely change,
that you don’t buy frantically anymore because you have an upper budget
limit and have to spend it. Those days are over.”