I interned as a Buying Assistant at Anthropologie HQ... here's what I learned.
- Mimi Piqua
- Nov 8
- 5 min read
Last year, during my gap-year, I was eager to get as much physical experience within the fashion industry as I could. Desperate to not let the year go to waste, I tried to fill it with industry experiences that would enrich my progression into industry.
I ended up spending June - September, spending time with my friends and travelling around Europe before they all headed off to their retrospective unis. When they all disappeared I of course had the classic ‘what am I doing?’ debacle, so I got myself a part time job. Working as a partner at Waitrose!
It was during this three month period between September - December 2024 that I juggled Modelling, part-time work at Waitrose, and my month long internship at Anthropologie as a Buying Intern. Which is what we are going to dive into today…
The How
During my Year 13 (final year of college) I was told we had to partake in a two - week work placement, and knew I wanted mine to be in a dynamic fashion HQ in London. I began emailing loads of industry professionals, via linkedin, Mastheads, or simply google. I emailed so many people and I hate to be the bearer of bad news but only about 5% of them got back to me, of the 5% that replied most of them said unfortunately they don’t offer it.
I got two accepting responses, one of which was from a Senior Buyer at Anthropologie UK!! However by the time she responded I had already finished Year 13. She apologised profusely for not having responded at the time and was very eager, and open to the idea of me coming in to learn from her and her team, shadowing buying meetings, etc…
The When
We arranged the logistics, and came to the agreement I would come in for a month-long period on all my days off from Waitrose. Which ended up being 3 days a week with 1 day WFH (Hybrid set up - Much like most office jobs now).
I had never experienced a 9-5 before, as a freshly eighteen year old girl, so I was nervous for how long it might feel, and was I built for an office job? However it turned out to go ridiculously fast, which was largely due to the fact I enjoyed the work I was doing and the environment was thrilling for me.
The What
On my first day I strolled up 30 minutes early, too anxious to be late. The building itself is the URBN HQ on Brick Lane, in London. A beautifully capacious building, housing the entirety of the URBN Corporation - Urban Outfitters, Anthropologie, and Free People.
By the time I managed to navigate myself to the Anthro floor it was 9am, I met with the huge team, being given a tour of the entire building and ending up viewing the different teams within Anthropologie.
There was Womenswear, Menswear, Homeware, and Womens Accessories & Cold Weather Buying & Merch, as well as Marketing & Communications teams - and finally an in-house studio where photography teams work regularly to take all Anthro ecomm photos.
It was within the Women’s Accessories & Cold weather buying team that I worked, I spent most of my time, doing largely the tasks below:
Sample retrieval from the in-house post office.
Sample sorting in the warehouse.
Allocating samples for photography/ marketing.
Shadowing buyers in Supplier meetings/ buying sign offs.
Trend forecasting powerpoints on many different categories e.g. Jewellery, Winter Accessories, Outerwear, Beauty, Denim (I worked occasionally on the womenswear buying team!)
Examples of my trend forecasting:
Of course as a buyer your main role is to be able to accurately predict and effectively produce products that your target consumer is going to want to buy - therefore providing a lucrative product for the company. It is also their job to think about how much of each product they should order, will it be a recurring purchase, what colourways, patterns, materials, packaging. Which supplier is best? So many things to think about!!!
So my main role over my month was to do the research behind which their purchasing decisions would be made from. I focused largely on evaluating and analysing:
Upcoming Trends - Looking into pre-existing trends, will they have enough strength to stay for another season? As well as what trends are likely to come back in current seasons. Based on research into recent Fashion Weeks - what patterns, cuts, colours were used. How can they filter down from luxury into our pricepoint for our consumer?
Industry Competitors - Reviewing the same category e.g. Outerwear at other retailers with multiple different price points, high street, mid market, and luxury. While also evaluating composition and design to decide where our price should lie in the mix!
Influencer Trends - Specifying on exactly what the current favourite influencers over Tiktok, Instagram, Pinterest etc are wearing as it filters down into mainstream shops.
More Examples of my Trend Forecasting
I learnt so much from this placement and met so many amazing people along the way. One of which convinced me it is never too late in life to change your pathway! So many of the BAA, or BA’s (Buying Admin Assistant and Buyers Assistants) had degrees in something completely unrelated to buying or even fashion as a whole! One of the girls I got quite close with had a degree in History, but she realised after her degree that she wanted to work in fashion!
Core Takeaways:
One of the core moments while doing this internship was when I got to shadow the Senior buyer in a buying meeting, overhearing the entire discussion with an eyewear supplier. We discussed the profit margins, timelines, packaging, and which colour-ways worked - based on my trend forecasting! As well as a sign off I sat in on with the head of Anthropologie UK where we displayed our upcoming outerwear collection for A/W24 to them and they loved it!
And another one was when we were playing with a load of gold necklace chains that had arrived alongside a whole heap of charms, and my job for that day was to customise the chains to create a few necklaces that would then be sold in store if they liked them! And the buyer did like my design and ordered that necklace configuration from our jewellery supplier! It was crazy knowing that something I had just put together would now be mass produced and sold in stores.
On a completely separate note it was actually during one of my days at Anthropologie that I got the message from my modelling agent telling me to, “Call her ASAP!”, So I could meet with my Japanese Agency! I was sitting in one of the meeting booths at 10am on a Friday when I found out I would be going to Japan for 3 months - and then I had to play it cool for the rest of the day!
The Comeback...
So Anthropologie definitely holds a special place in my heart! The entire experience was superb and I loved every second of it. Upon leaving, the team put together a whole hamper of old samples together so I got to leave with a new handbag, earrings, shoes, tops, and beauty. It was amazing!
The whole team were truly the loveliest, and we have since stayed in contact over social media. It is because of this that I’m now going back to Anthropologie this year! To help them again in a two - month long placement working within the Buying Department once more. Hence the article about my experience coming out of the woodworks over a year later!
I will of course be documenting that on the @itswithlovemimi Instagram and the @mimipiqua Tiktok, but above all else - right here on the blog!!! So keep an eye out for that.
With love,
Mimi x
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