We are looking for dynamic, enthusiastic, and passionate, diverse talent wanting to make the move into a career in the fashion, luxury & beauty sectors. 

As a not-for-profit, the TOP programme is free of charge for successful applicants. We require a commitment from selected candidates to attend all workshops, the networking event and to have a genuine desire to migrate into Fashion, Luxury & Beauty.

FINDING THE RIGHT FIT

Candidates must have 4+ years’ experience in professional services or alternate industries, OUTSIDE of Fashion, Luxury & Beauty. For example, accounting, finance, HR, IT, law, marketing, and strategy.

Professional experience

You are a person of colour. This is the founding purpose of The Outsiders Perspective.

Person of colour

You are able to demonstrate that you have tried to access the industry in the past.

Passion for Fashion & Luxury

Selected candidates are required to sign an agreement asserting their commitment to migrate into fashion, luxury & beauty.

Letter of Intent

You will be required to attend and complete 7 evening workshops and a networking event taking place in person in a location in central London. Workshops will be held between 6.30pm – 9pm on the evenings of April 9/10/16/17/23/24/25, 2024. The networking event will be held between 5pm – 10.30pm on the evening of April 30, 2024.

Availability

You live and have the right to work in the UK. Some partners might offer roles in other locations, but ability to move location is not a set requirement.

Residency

The main role of a Merchandiser is to build out a commercial collection that is reflective of the Creative Director’s vision for the brand and the current seasonal collection, whilst building a product strategy to meet the business’s financial targets for growth in product. A Merchandiser works closely with the Design, Sales, Finance and Product Development departments to ensure that the business’s product strategy is aligned, and product margin is protected.Merchandising is an extremely important function of a fashion business that requires an analytical and fashion product understanding.

Strategise on opportunities to develop collections in new and under-developed product categories whilst remaining true to the brand DNA.

Partnering closely with Design team to plan the collection structure and identifying the core range and gaps in collection

Advise on pricing and cost targets to achieve desired margins based on analysis.

Partner closely with the marketing team to ensure marketing strategy supports product/collection strategy.

Partner closely with product development to ensure fabric and garment costs are on track to meet desired price points and margins.

Competitor analysis to assess market position.

Ensure pricing is correct for major international markets / currencies.

Analyse sales performance of past collections to shape collections.

Analyse weekly / monthly sales data of current season and advise on action needed

Communicate to retail and visual merchandising teams to ensure retail is in-line with commercial and brand marketing calendar.

Range plan, buy, and inventory planning for retail outlets

Ability to influence in a diplomatic and engaging manner

Strong taste level and design empathy, understanding of trends.

Excellent analytical and mathematical skills

A TYPICAL CAREER JOURNEY IN MERCHANDISING

> Assistant Merchandiser > Merchandiser > Senior Merchandiser > Director/Head of Merchandising > Chief Merchandising Officer/ Commercial Officer

MERCHANDISING

The Sales function’s key objective is to sell-in a across revenue channels and help customers with their buying decisions. In sales, you will be driving brand and category performance with your sales team to ensure great customer experiences. A key focus of the Sales team is to build relationships with new and existing clients, delivering a personalised and elevated experience with commercial success. Within the Retail operations area, focus is on managing the daily operations of retail stores, including the organisation of product in store as well as the training of store associates.

Meet and exceed individual and store sales and other commercial KPI through storytelling and passion for the brand.

Provide a tailored customer service and demonstrate knowledge and expertise in product, fashion and styling.

Follow the Sales journey to elevate the Customer experience in the store and maintain relationship with the customer.

Capture new luxury clients to grow the individual and store client book with a commercial objective mindset.

Drive retention of clients ensuring volume and spend by ensuring the appropriate follow up on sales or clients requests.

Support with the delivery of gifting and collateral options across key brand moments.

A proven track record in delivering sales and exceeding targets.

Advanced knowledge of Point of Sale (POS) systems.

Ability to handle complex customer service issues; (i.e. dissatisfied customers, complaints, returns, repairs & after-sales).

Assertive with impeccable presentation and communication skills when dealing with clients and colleagues at all levels to build commercially impactful relationships.

> Sales Administrator > Sales Executive > Sales Manager > Head of Sales> Sales Director > Commercial Director / VP Sales

SALES

HR (Human Resources) plays a crucial role in managing and overseeing the people-related aspects of a fashion business. The HR function in fashion encompasses a wide range of responsibilities, including, but not limited to, employee relations, performance management, compliance, diversity and inclusion, compensation and benefits, employee engagement, training and development, talent acquisition. Overall, HR in the fashion industry plays a pivotal role in managing the human capital of a company, ensuring that the organisation has the right talent, culture, and policies in place to thrive in a competitive and dynamic market.

Establish and manage performance appraisal systems, providing constructive feedback to employees.

Work with managers to set performance goals and align them with overall business objectives.

Work with leadership to identify and groom high-potential employees for future leadership roles.

Identify skills gaps and implement training programs to enhance the capabilities of employees.

Address employee concerns and conflicts, fostering a positive and collaborative work environment.

Ensure compliance with employment laws and regulations within the fashion sector.

Stay informed about labour laws and industry regulations relevant to the fashion sector.

Ensure the organisation's HR practices align with legal requirements.

Contribute to the development and maintenance of a positive and vibrant organisational culture.

Communicate and reinforce the company's values and mission to employees.

An empathetic approach is crucial for understanding and addressing the needs of employees, especially in areas like employee relations and conflict resolution. Often dealing with sensitive information, maintaining confidentiality is a cornerstone of ethical HR practices.

Strong leadership skills are necessary to guide and influence the HR team and contribute to organisational success.

Awareness and appreciation of cultural diversity contribute to effective communication and collaboration in the workplace.

Adaptability to changing priorities, regulations, and business needs is crucial.

Ability to negotiate and mediate conflicts is important in resolving disputes and facilitating positive workplace relations.

Strong written and verbal communication skills are crucial for effective interactions with employees, management, and external stakeholders.

>HR Assistant/Coordinator >HR Generalist/Officer >HR Business Partner >HR Manager >Director of HR > Chief HR/People Officer

: For new initiatives, projects without a natural place in other teams, confidential changes, broader transformations, etc.

: Such as Executive Assistant roles which often provide a platform to gain broad experience of the business.

Chief of Staff, or similar ‘right-hand’ roles

 to senior leadership, being able to deal with a wide range of issues.

: As IT becomes ever-increasingly essential to all functions across the business, and as regulation (e.g. GDPR) tightens, there are roles for leadership in this space.

: Whilst this is an integral role in other areas such as production, design and legal, brands are increasingly assigning specific roles for the management of carbon, circularity and biodiversity.

: Sometimes sitting within HR or Strategy, the CM function harnesses the ability to effectively land change across the e2e process.

OTHER

Strategy teams are focused on the vision for the company and the plan to achieve it. Strategy teams focus on the critical priorities for the business across all areas of brand, customer, operations and people. Corporate strategy teams work closely with the CEO office to help define, shape and execute the company strategy across the business. In addition, there are also functional strategy teams (I.e Supply Chain or Commercial) which focus on specific functional priorities to enable the company strategic vision. Optimising existing processes, enhancing ways of working and transforming operating models are part of this. Strategy roles often involve working in collaboration with business experts and technology teams to identify & implement solutions to meet the needs of evolving business models.

Advise and support CEO and C-suite on strategic roadmap.

Develop company-wide strategic vision and roadmap, measuring progress.

Analyse internal and external performance to validate strategic progress.

Support alignment of Executive Committee members on strategic decisions.

Collaborate with PR/ Comms teams to communicate progress to key stakeholders (I.e. investors).

Collate, interpret and communicate external market insights.

Drive company-wide priority projects in partnership with functional leads.

Lead on senior governance forums and committees

Experience in a consulting firm focussed on strategy and transformation.

Ability to manage or lead programmes of work.

Understanding of the Fashion industry and relevant trends.

Ability to interpret data, using insights to deliver on company priorities.

Compelling communication to engage all levels of the organisation, including Execs.

Ability to conduct sound analyses to guide discussions.

Strong data visualisation, Excel and PowerPoint skills.

> Strategy Analyst > Strategy / Project manager> Strategy Director / VP> Chief Strategy / Transformation Officer

STRATEGY

Marketing involves creating strategies that communicate the core values of a brand or fashion house to customers, drive sales and boost revenue. Those who work in marketing are also responsible for tracking consumer trends and habits to inform their decisions. A marketeer in a fashion house would communicate with their audience across multiple channels and partners.

Work closely with the product teams to achieve the best possible content experience and with the copy team to ensure accuracy of online copy and translations.

Understand and actively engage in the latest digital and creative trends. Be able to apply those in thoughtful and creative ways to generate meaningful ideas that deliver against campaign objectives.

Build and publish homepage, landing pages and campaign pages.

Proactively thinking of ideas and approaching partners for opportunities that create brand story, leading on production and management of all external relationships and parties with involvement, including budget management.

Lead in the creation and delivery of marketing moments’ strategy for owned channels collaborating with digital product, merchandising, creative and digital channels to drive online performance and innovative experiences.

Work closely with Wholesale team on retail Marketing initiatives.

Support retailers with marketing initiatives and ensuring retailers have relevant seasonal content.

Source, negotiate and manage relevant creative and commercial collaborative partnerships on an ongoing basis, manage ongoing collaborations and act as key point for collaborative efforts, both commercial and brand building

Work with Art Director to ensure company website and social media channels are kept up to date and functioning, assist with daily uploads and ensure art director has relevant press materials and priorities for posting.

Strong campaign management skills to lead, plan and design successful campaigns for email and owned platforms, with the ability to think and plan ahead and prioritise workload.

Proactive and self-motivated with the ability to drive marketing campaigns forward and to come up with new ideas and new ways of doing things to help make a difference to the team and the business.

Strong stakeholder management and engagement ability.

Analytical and result driven individual, with strong understanding of reporting and KPI tracking methods for marketing.

Innovative thinker. Intellectually curious and interested in what is going on outside and within the sector to help bring new ideas, fresh thinking and new opportunities to the business

> Marketing Assistant > Marketing Manager> Head of Marketing > Marketing Director> Chief Marketing Officer

MARKETING

In Production, the main goal is to achieve budgeted operational KPIs in a safe environment. They oversee all aspects of a company's manufacturing process, including planning, procurement, organizing, and directing workers to ensure that products are being made in a timely and efficient manner.Quality management of fabric and product is an important aspect of this function, ensuring consistency and compliance to standards.

Manage the global production calendar in direct support to strategic marketing calendar moments and global budget to ensure cooperation of activity across regions and functions.

Designing end to end processes with central and regional teams for all production projects.

Managing project risks, including the development of contingency plans across all regions.

Monitoring overall progress and use of resources, managing performance of suppliers and initiating corrective action where necessary across all regions.

Adopting and applying appropriate technical and quality strategies and standards, underpinned by sustainability.

Researching and applying ‘new ways of working’, which are innovative and efficient.

Build good relationships with manufacturers and suppliers with the aim of ensuring shipments are delivered on time and to budget.

Maintenance of accurate fabric information in databases

Knowledge of textiles and fabric techniques (I.e. sewing and pressing skills).

Strong organisation and negotiation skills with an aptitude for budget and a strong attention to detail.

Experience with large volumes of data entry, ensuring complete detail and accuracy even when working at speed.

Some understanding of production techniques both 2D and 3D.

Knowledge and passion for textiles and sustainability.

> Production Assistant > Production Coordinator > Production Manager > Head of Production> Production Director > VP Production / Sourcing & Manufacturing

SUPPLY CHAIN

The legal function in fashion promotes and protects the brand’s best interests with legal and regulatory advice, support and representation. It ensures their policies are compliant with any applicable laws and regulations imposed by local governments. Typical activities include reviewing, drafting, negotiating a wide range of commercial agreements and providing legal advice. Business issues include authenticity of items and collaborations, consumer protection laws, upholding environmental and sustainability standards and ensuring compliance with labour laws. They deal with a range of internal stakeholders/clients and external customer and/or service providers to ensure procedures are followed with legal frameworks in mind.

Review, draft, and negotiate various agreements and contracts.

Support the business to deliver clear and pragmatic legal and implementation advice with respect to various innovation projects.

Lead or support commercial litigation and arbitration filed by or against the company, including management of outside legal resources.

Keeping abreast of legal decisions, statutory changes and other developments and advising the company/ brand on such.

Qualified lawyer in English law (UK), specialising in commercial law (or sometimes employment depending on scope of function, sometimes outsourced) preferred.

Experience in drafting and leading negotiations in complex commercial agreements.

Fluent in legal and business English written and spoken.

Strong sense of integrity and highly confidential.

> Legal specialist > Legal Associate > Legal Counsel

LEGAL

Operations roles within fashion mainly focus on Supply Chain and Logistics; they can be either local or global in scale. Scope includes Store Architecture, network improvement and fulfilment & packaging of products. and warehouse management (monitoring processes and identifying and implementing new processes to seek continuous improvement).

Own, drive and deliver logistics projects which relate to the store and warehousing network.

Work in partnership with service providers to act as a conduit between the business and our trusted partners.

Manage multiple deliveries concurrently whilst remaining focused and maintaining a meticulous eye for detail.

Establish high performing governance and ways of working that results in accelerated project delivery and effective cost management.

Build and coordinate complex cross-functional teams of internal and external stakeholders, ensuring knowledge of local market.

Strong technical understanding to allow engagement with contractors and development teams.

For store architecture, ability to understand design drawings including knowledge and experience of coordinating projects with engineering disciplines.

Strong Commercial acumen with financial and analytical capability.

Strong stakeholder management skills. Ability to lead a matrix project team, to ensure delivery of agreed milestones.

Experience of owning multiple projects and a proven track record of delivering against pre-determined requirements in a timely manner.

Knowledge of procurement and forecasting.

> Construction Manager> Network Engineer > Warehouse Manager/ Team Lead> Fulfilment/ Packaging Manager> Regional Fulfilment Director/ VP

OPERATIONS

The finance team is accountable for end-to-end finance planning and strategy, key activities include budgeting & forecasting, keeping accurate records for all daily operations, preparing Financial statements and audit processes, preparing balance sheets, recording accounts payable and accounts receivable.. In addition, they may play a central role in cost saving initiatives or large-scale programmes. They would typically work closely with all leaders of the business, including budget holders and Merchandising.

Setting the commercial direction of the business in line with strategy.

Produce budgets, forecasts and financial models for the board of directors.

Own capex and opex budget expenditure planning alongside business partners.

Support or lead on investor relations and reporting.

Identify opportunities and own analysis of revenue streams.

Provide advice on M&A, fund-raising and financing responsibilities

Experience working in consumer products, retail/ wholesale finance functions.

Strong understanding of retail operations, particularly stock accounting and supply chains.

Experience in working with ERP/ Finance systems

> Finance Analyst> Finance Manager> Functional Finance Director/ VP> Chief Finance Officer

FINANCE

PR & Communications is key to the success of the fashion brand. Roles include managing corporate relations on proactive communications and engagement activity, coordinating digital content, and executing VIP projects. Another important role within Communications is Copywriting. Working closely with Editorial teams, Copywriters are responsible for writing content for digital and printed materials whilst maintaining the tone of voice.

Maintain the brand tone of voice across multiple channels, ensuring consistent accuracy and messaging.

Work collaboratively with representatives from a variety of teams – marketing, digital design, social, art direction, events, etc. to deliver projects on schedule and to a high standard.

Managing media distribution lists and creating media coverage reports, and managing subscriptions.

Monitoring and handling corporate press office enquiries.

Write collateral for brand events and runway shows, working collaboratively with the graphic design and events teams to refine the brief and ensure the messaging is consistent.

Review suggested copy written by third party retailers, making sure it adheres to our brand tone of voice.

Work on larger-scale projects with third parties, writing all copy in line with the retailers’ requirements.

Experience in writing sparkling copy on a variety of subjects, including fashion.

Be a skilled enough writer to maintain the tone of voice while appreciating and adapting to the nuances of our different digital platforms.

Comfortable and confident working creatively and collaboratively with various teams across the business.

Able to work efficiently to tight deadlines, juggling numerous projects at once, and proactively sourcing relevant information from key stakeholders.

Good understanding of digital channels and how the luxury customer interacts with them.

A creative mind who enjoys contributing ideas and creating strong, engaging content across all channels.

A TYPICAL CAREER JOURNEY IN PR & COMMUNICATIONS

> PR & Communications Assistant > PR & Communications Executive > PR & Communications Manager > Head of PR & Communications > PR & Communications Director> VP PR & Communications

PR & COMMUNICATIONS

The focus of the Digital team is conceptualise and deliver impactful and innovative multi-platform initiatives across marketing channels & commercial environments. The Digital team works closely with Creative and Marketing departments to provide a centre of excellence. Digital is an exciting and dynamic area of the fashion industry due to the constantly changing environment. Some new roles include Digital Personal Stylist, providing digital customers with personalised style advice, and Digital Creative, delivering projects using unique storytelling opportunities through innovation and emerging technologies such as gaming, Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality.

Effectively pitch, develop and refine creative responses, delivering both understanding and excitement to senior stakeholders.

Craft and deliver best in class digital design work through all touch points of the work, keeping the customer at the forefront of every experience.

Support the Creative Lead in a wide range of creative briefs that deliver against project objectives and KPIs driving engagement and conversation among our customers.

To research and reference across a range of media (film, art, technology and fashion)

Experience in digital strategy, implementation and/or transformation.

Knowledge of design principles across web (UX and UI), AR, gaming and leading social media channels.

Solid understanding of XR, interactive web experiences, gaming and new technologies. Research and develop new ways to leverage these into creative design solutions.

A positive, collaborative attitude and can work under tight timelines and is able to multitask in a fast-paced environment.

Confidence to lead conversations with 3rd party brands, providing clear concise feedback.

A good understanding of luxury aesthetic and digital design.

A passion for contemporary visual culture and the wider digital landscape

> Digital Creative> Digital Manager> Head of Digital > Digital Director> Chief Technology/Digital Officer