Study Fashion Buying & Merchandising at Istituto Marangoni Firenze. This full-time postgraduate programme will take your undergraduate studies to the next level or enhance your professional fashion buying and merchandising knowledge. Join now and unlock your potential in the fashion and luxury industry.

Learn how to put together a successful collection range – from the design showroom to the store; the fashion buyer decides what will be on sale next season. They plan the purchasing of seasonal items, identify upcoming trends and choose the right product and brand mix. Fashion buyers are the main drivers in the global fashion retail industry, a pivotal area and influential role in any successful fashion business. At postgraduate level participants will have previous undergraduate level studies in economics, marketing, fashion design with marketing or similar, or proven work experience completing the course with highly specialised skills in fashion buying.

VALIDATIONS

AFAM
Participants who successfully complete this Master programme will be awarded with a First Level Academic Master Diploma. Recognised by MUR (Italian Ministry of University and Research) as an academic diploma equivalent to a university postgraduate level Master degree, participants will obtain 60 CFA (crediti formativi accademici) equivalent to 60 ECTS credits. Pathways available in Milano ‘Fashion Design with Womenswear Pathway’, ‘Fashion Design with Menswear Pathway’ and ‘Fashion Design with Activewear Pathway’ are a specialisation of the main course recognised by MUR ‘Fashion Design’. The final diploma awarded will state the main course title.

DISCOVER THE COURSE

Providing current and future business models, encapsulating innovation, new media and technology in the global buying process, this 9 months course in Florence covers contemporary issues in product selection and purchasing methods.

Buyers need to be business-minded with strong analytical skills and the ability to negotiate and work alongside many departments including marketing and sales, ensuring new collections and items are commercially viable either in store, or via online retailing and e-commerce platforms.

Participants learn the technical and theoretical aspects of a buying campaign analysing different retail formats and key macro trends leading towards a research-based dissertation. By studying the organisation of the buying team and undertaking a fashion industry placement, they fully understand the role and responsibility of buyers and merchandisers in the global market.

Key buying processes include stock mix and import-export techniques as well as pricing strategies and the ability to forecast the profitability of a fashion product. Participants analyse the buying calendar and correctly plan the purchase of a seasonal collection using a balanced combination of products and brands responding to current trends and influences. By understanding how the consumer perceives a collection they are able to put together an appealing, desirable and winning fashion collection.

The relationship of visual merchandising and sales, negotiation techniques, and soft skills in communication, decision making, time management, leadership, and team working enable participants to successfully perform on real commercial projects developing effective buying strategies for a benchmark company. Participants apply the experience acquired on industry projects to prepare their own professional buying strategy for business, as well as potential industry start-ups.

BOF – BADGE OF EXCELLENCE

Badges of Excellence recognise a school’s strengths in four key areas: Best Overall, Best in Global Influence, Best in Learning Experience and Best in Long-Term Value.

– Global Influence – The global reputation and influence of a school, based on the selectivity of a school in admitting applicants and the enrolment rates of admitted applicants.
– Long-Term Value – The students’ preparedness for the real world, based on student progression rates provided by the schools, assessing student satisfaction around employment, career preparedness and accessibility of alumni.
An Overall BoF Score was then awarded to each institution based on the sum-weighted score across all three key indices.

Fashion Management

Designed for participants looking to enter the fashion world

Fashion Product

Build the bridge between creativity, technology and the industry of fashion

Marketing for Luxury

Develop creative visual content for fashion using a variety of media