At age 18, Vikki Kavanagh found herself walking in through the House of Fraser buying office, and had a creative epiphany. After leaving school, she’d secured a job in the admin office at the department store but it was that moment, seeing the buying team at work, that changed everything.
She describes the experience as perhaps one of the foremost moments in her career, marking the beginning of a professional journey that seems more like the fulfillment of a vocation than a career choice. Today, with more than a decade of buying experience under her belt and a series of career moves that have shaped her eye, she is now is the creative force behind new fashion e-tailer, Very Exclusive, which, only a few months in, has already attracted the kind of cult following many established e-tailers could only dream of.
In a nutshell, a buyer is responsible for selecting each and every thing you see, whether online or in a bricks and mortar store. ‘Our role is all about choosing the right product for the company we work for,’ she explains. ‘It’s all about selecting products that will resonate with their customer base, edited to represent the handwriting of the business.’
Set in a quiet office a few floors up in a building just off Regent Street, Very Exclusive’s London office is a feast for the eyes, full of all the new season must haves you find on the site. And, in a twist that distinguishes it from other fashion retailers, Very Exclusive offers a ‘take three’ payment plan, allowing you to pay off purchases in three easy installments.
And that’s before you start talking about the buy. Part of Very Exclusive’s appeal is that their buy is so different from what you’ll find elsewhere. Rather than offering the big luxury labels like Valentino, Givenchy and Gucci, on Very Exclusive you’ll find a mix of contemporary labels like Karl Lagerfeld, Equipment and Carven, alongside a whole host of new emerging brands you probably have never heard of. And it makes sense – Sarah Curran’s aim has long been to democratise fashion and Vikki’s buy has hit that spot on.
‘We have a very unique and exciting handwriting; we are not buying any basics. Our edit is all about must-have, statement pieces,’ she explains. ‘We are feminine and represent the ‘walk over hot coals’ styles of the season. We respect trends, but also our audience. They have to work for her.’
Despite having an innate knack for it, Vikki never set out to go into buying. She originally planned to study English and psychology at university. Rather, her segue into buying was a natural progression of her love for fashion, which she charts back to her teens. As far as her personal style is concerned, she naturally gravitates towards that ‘Parisian style,’ she tells me. Étoile Isabel Marant and Iro are just a few of the brands you’ll find lining her ever-growing wardrobe.
It’s been a long road to her current position as head of buying. After leaving House of Fraser, she joined Fenwick department store for two years. In 2007, she rejoined House of Fraser as senior buyer before spending six years as womenswear casual buyer at Harvey Nichols. It’s now been just under a year she took the top role at Very Exclusive.
‘My training at House of Fraser was second to none and put me in a great position to understand trading stock as well as technically buying. Fenwick was also an amazing business whom I have huge respect for,’ she explains. We worked in the store and so owned the entire process of selecting product through to personally selling it to customers on the floor. Harvey Nichols was obviously a great move and I learnt an awful lot about product, and strengthening brand relationships,’ she continues. ‘Now I am in the exciting world of pure play online!’
So what exactly does her role involve now? As head of buying, she is essential in charge of everything product you see online and training a small team of buyers, overseeing shoots and deciding which labels to partner with on exclusives. A typical day can consist of anything from strategy meetings and pre and post-buy meetings to working directly with designers.
The whole buying process usually takes six months but can take place as far as ten months in advance of when it appears online. As for her buying strategy, everything is instinctual. ‘I think that intuition comes with experience,’ she says. ‘You need to be in sync with your customer – fluorescent hot pants may be coming from one season but the question is whether that will be something of interest for your customer.’
‘Everyone tackles buys differently. I like to walk through the whole line. I will then know instantly the direction I’m going to go with the collection and will start pulling everything I like,’ she says. ‘Then I see everything on a model – I’ve been known to try things on myself! Then I edit down to the number of pieces we planned to buy. There needs to be a perfect blend of intuition backed by numbers. As Very Exclusive is new we are 100% intuition right now! ‘
So are buyers actually creating trends then, I ask? ‘I think a vital part of what customers actually see as trends in stores are the vision of buyers; it’s our role to edit through what is available to showcase the key looks of the season,’ she explains. But those looks aren’t necessarily the ones you see in magazines. ‘Looks that defy convention excite editors. Looks that appeal to their readers appeal to buyers.’
Young designers are what get her excited. ‘Grace is an emerging label from the Saturday Group,’ she explains. ‘It’s a contemporary eveningwear line, super feminine.’
For anyone wanting to follow in Vikki’s footsteps, her advice is to take your time and harness your relationships as you go. ‘It’s honestly the key to success. If you are collaborative, respectful and fair, you should achieve good things. Trends change, brand and products move in cycles, but the world of fashion is a relatively small one and I would encourage relationship building at every opportunity.’
Images by Paul Whitfield for The Lifestyle Edit.