Ever wondered what guides a fashion buyer’s decisions? Ballantynes’ Georgie Mears tells Cityscape it’s a blend of instinct and data.

Georgie Mears began her career as a buyer 3½ years ago at Ballantynes, working under the senior buyer. Six months on she was buying for the Contemporary Lounge on her own, and then later started buying for the women’s footwear department. About a year ago she took on the Designer Atrium as well and now buys for all three departments.

Were you in fashion before your role at Ballantynes? I completed my Bachelor of Design majoring in fashion as well as a business diploma at Otago Polytechnic. Determined to get a head start I moved straight to Melbourne, where all major fashion head offices are for the Australasian market. I started in retail on the shop floor and worked my way up into management, then to visual merchandising, while juggling a production role one day a week – just to get myself through the door at a head office.

How did you come to know Ballantynes? I’m an Ashburton girl. My mum, auntie, nana and grandma have shopped at Ballantynes for as long as I can remember, so I definitely knew it pretty well before I started with Ballantynes.

From the outside your job looks very glamorous but it’s probably quite stressful as well? It can be very glamorous meeting leading New Zealand and international designers, but a lot of extra hours come with the role. Early morning flights and then into showrooms where brand managers take you through the collection style by style. All brands vary, from Huffer for example with a 200-piece collection to a 50-piece collection from one of our smaller brands. Meanwhile you’re juggling the many customer profiles at Ballantynes that you envision buying into the piece. They all vary, but the brand manager’s role is to give you market insight to how their brand is performing locally and globally. Then they’ll give you insight to where the designer took inspiration from and who they anticipate the collection being purchased by. We then return back to the office to map out which collection drops in which month that season.

How far offshore does that take you? I travel to Sydney and Melbourne on average every two months and Auckland regularly. Recently I returned from a London and Paris buying trip. At Ballantynes we want to source exclusive products for our customers on a global scale so I am one of five buyers that travel overseas twice a year.

How much work went into planning that trip? Buying trips are a blend of instinct and data. So you go in with the gut feeling of a brand or collection before viewing, and you hope that you have the ability to visualise the customer wearing it. There’s definitely times where you rein in your own excitement when you see certain brands before placing objective orders, but it’s all part of the fun of the job.

Was there a highlight of the Paris/London trip for you? The feeling of landing in Europe where the seasonality you’ve been working in flips in a day – heading from our Canterbury winter and jumping into the Paris heatwave and the instant inspiration of Parisians in all new Spring/Summer fashion. European men and women have incredible, effortless style. They are always so polished. Also, the guilt-free pleasure of coffee and croissants every morning!

Do you still have fun shopping for yourself or does it feel like work now? Never! If a fashion buyer is over shopping they are in the wrong role. In buying you are constantly on watch; market research and trend forecasting is a large part of the job. Whether that’s scoping out the amazing in-store and window displays at Harrods or Selfridges – they’re world-class department stores. Some may think a buying position is shopping – if that’s the case I love shopping for Canterbury.

What new brands are you most excited about? Ballantynes is proud to be launching AllSaints (UK), A.P.C. (Paris), Self-Portrait (US) and Mulberry footwear in February 2020. These brands will be exclusive to Ballantynes in the South Island and we welcome these brands to our Designer Atrium. I can’t wait to see our customers’ reaction to our new international offering.

In the Spring Edit are there some trends you really love? In our Spring/Summer 2019 we did a capsule on glam. There were some stunning satin and silk pieces. When I say glam, it’s just showing that Christchurch is back up and running – there have been a lot of events and we’re coming into wedding season. We just wanted to show that Ballantynes is the place to find all of those event pieces that you’re after. Although we saw 70s- and 60s-inspired dressing happening last winter, it’s still going in spring. So we’ve got a vintage edit, too. That’s florals and linen, and some vintage colourways and palettes. It’s quite varied.

Have you snapped up any new pieces for yourself? Ballantynes launched new brands Rebecca Taylor NYC, ACLER and Viktoria & Woods this Spring/Summer. My personal favourite is the ACLER trench coat – we all know a Canterbury spring well enough to know there could be a snowfall due. This ACLER coat is perfect for trans-seasonal dressing at this time of year.

Are there any sites or magazines that you trawl religiously? I still love picking up magazines. I don’t want that to ever die. Print is so important to us. I love Fashion Quarterly. It’s always so exciting to pick those up because I see Fashion Quarterly as a leading fashion magazine in New Zealand. I love seeing our pieces from our New Zealand designers that have been put in trends or certain photoshoots and editorials. That’s always really exciting to see. Vogue Australia is another one we watch quite closely with emerging Australian designers as well. I love flicking through all the editorial pieces. It’s super exciting.

What things do you take into account when prospecting new brands? When they’re new brands you want to be buying into the highlight pieces of the collection. That’s a good example of when data may tell you not to invest but the ‘wow’ factor speaks louder than numbers. With these pieces we look into what might be picked up by PR and editorial, which work well for awareness and positioning in the market, so customers will go online or come in and look for them and will often buy into the brand for the first time for a more wearable or commercial item.

What’s the best part of your job? Because I work with over 100 brands I get to see first-hand before anybody else what trends are coming through and I get to work with so many New Zealand and Australian designers. The amount of people I get to work with is really exciting and seeing things first-hand is definitely the best part of the job – getting that insight before others. And the travel. The glamorous and the not so glamorous parts of it!

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