My Final Monday

Monday morning, on the train, and I can hardly believe this is my last week at Marc Jacobs. If you had told me, May 31st, on that 7:21 train, that this internship would fly by this fast, would have been hard pressed to believe you. I am happy to say, though, that I have gotten so much more out of this experience than I ever thought I would.

First off, I have to admit that I have such a heightened respect for people who commute everyday to and from New York. They are a dedicated bunch who put up with the daily struggle and, more often than not, the unexpected delay. If the situation ever arose where I had to do this on a daily basis, I know I could; but for now, thank goodness it was only for 12 weeks.

I also have a whole new outlook on the fashion industry as a whole. Being a newcomer to the world of retail, I never looked much past the designers themselves. Besides, that's the most glamourous part anyways, isn't it?  But being behind the scenes in the business department at Marc has shown me that the key players are sometimes the women behind the computer screens, scrambling to come up with assortment plans for their next meeting with Imagine X Department Store in Hong Kong. And being able to participate in this, even though it might seem to them like everyday tasks, was an awesome experience for me. Not to go without mention, these business department women are also quite the fashionistas. I didn't meet one person at Marc who didn't have a passion for the brand.

With that being said, this leads me to my last revelation of this final Monday. On my way out of the office on Friday I snapped this picture:

This might seem like just a bunch of sewing machines older than the ones you used in your middle school home-ec class, and in fact, they probably are. But these oldies but goodies reminded me that fashion and retail are living, breathing entities. They are constantly changing, and deserve that much respect at least, from every department, client, and customer. Those bolts of fabric leaning casually against the wall are waiting to be turned into next season's hit bag. Those boxes of thread next to the business departments binder supply will be used later to tailor that dress for Sarah Jessica Parker so she looks smashing in August's photo shoot for Vogue. And who knows, maybe she'll love the dress so much she'll walk off the set with it.  Talk about merchandise marketing right there. (I'm pretty sure this actually happened. Perks of sharing a room with part of the logistics team).

I'm about to pull into Newark and switch to the PATH where things can get pretty hairy in terms of iPad typing. But there are so many more things I want to talk about, now that I can look back on this summer as a whole, so expect some more posts soon!

Bookings, bookings, and more bookings...

Hi everyone!

Things have begun to calm down here on the third floor of MJ Headquarters.  Market has been over for a while, and the orders are starting to finalize.  We still check the "bookings", or orders, everyday; usually three or four times a day, believe it or not, just to make sure things are up to date.  This has become one of my primary jobs: comparing old bookings to new ones, as in this morning's print-out compared to this afternoon's print-out which is later compared to this evening's print-out.  Sounds a little redundant?  I thought so too, but now I'm starting to realize there is indeed a point to this madness.  Detailed reports are requested at any minute of the day from the executives, merchandising team, finance department, sales room down the hall...you name it, someone's asking for it.  Everyone wants (and needs) to know what's going on at all times, because important decisions are often made on the spot.  This includes closing a door (somewhat technical name for a store open in a certain region or country), dropping a product (whether a whole style is cancelled or just a color), or fixing an error that could prevent orders from going through.  So careful (and often) checking is indeed necessary.

Besides checking these infamous orders (finally, they're starting to balance out and stay the same!) I have been putting together reports that contrast this year's sales with last year's sales, all in hopes of coming up with reasonable forcasts and predictions for the upcoming season we're about to start working on (Spring 2012). 

One thing I've been noticing lately is how important it is to double check your work.  Reading emails, reports, or orders with even the smallest typos completely negates any authority the writer has over the subject matter at hand.  Maybe I'm being too tough, but when I hand in something I've spent hours on only to have it handed back to me thirty seconds later because a small color coding is incorrect, I can see how important this is.  If this is one thing I take away learning from this internship, I know it'll be useful in my college career and even more important in my professional life.  With that being said, you can probably guess I spent a great deal of time today checking over numerous excel files to make sure they were perfect--and when I can hand it in to my boss with confidence and see her smile of approval, it's all worth it!

Hoping to dodge this sporatic New York rain on my way home...talk to you soon!

Alex

Update from Marc Jacobs

Hi everyone!

My apologies for the late posting!  These first few weeks at Marc Jacobs were crazy.  I started my internship on the eve of Market, which is basically when the lines (rtw clothing, handbags, collection handbags, etc.) are beginning to be finalized and buyers from around the world are coming into see previews and place their orders.  Those first two weeks were nothing short of staying till 8 or 9 (not exactly the best idea since I'm commuting back and forth to New Jersey every day), working on the weekend, and ordering large amounts of food for the office to share.  Since I'm in the business planning department, I have been working since day one with people to edit reports and help finalize these plans.  I have also gotten to see orders coming in more recently from around the world, which has been really interesting.  Being able to see the differences (and similarities) in what people order for different countries (or even between regions of countries) is fascinating.  The orders from Asia were my favorite though; I've been studying Chinese throughout grade school and now at Penn and I love looking at trends and what's popular, especially in China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan.  Some of the words on the order documents even came up in Chinese, which was a huge excitement for me.

My daily tasks can include anything from editing these orders and matching them with our reports to organizing sales reports from various stores around the country.  I also put together and edit books to display past lines and present lines, with pictures and colors of each item (these are always fun to look at).  One of the more exciting things I've gotten to do is attend a sales meeting with representatives from different departments.  I listened as they discussed how the brand was doing in different department stores as well as against various competitors.  I also got to attend a viewing of the Resort 2011 line for Women's Ready To Wear at the off-site studio (normally this would be held at the headquarters, but this summer they are doing renovations). This was probably my favorite day, because not only did I get a sneak peak at what will be in stores starting in October, but the merchandisers and designers also explained their inspiration and reason for the pieces they created and the colors and materials they chose.

The energy in the office and the people who work here are great too.  Everyone is so fashionable (as you would probably expect) and no outfit I've seen so far seems too outrageous for the office.  All the employees are so obsessed with the brand--which makes for great dedication and loyalty to the company.  So far I'm absolutely loving every minute of being here.  Even if there are a few minutes of down time, there is something always coming up that needs to be done.  One thing I've learned is that you can never offer yourself and your assistance too often.  Even if it is something as simple as offering to do a coffee run, everything is appreciated.  And every task you're given is another opportuntity to learn something new! 

More updates to come!  Until next time,

Alex