Who Really Shapes Fashion? The Hidden Power of Merchandisers Over Designers
365 days of fashion: the e-ncyclopedia of fashion
Thursday, February 20, 2025
When we think about fashion collections, we tend to credit designers with creating the magic. They are the ones sketching, draping, and bringing a creative vision to life—right? But behind every runway collection, there’s another, often overlooked force shaping what actually makes it to stores: merchandisers.
These are the people who decide what sells, what stays, and sometimes even what gets designed in the first place. In fact, in many major fashion houses, the direction of a collection isn’t solely determined by the creative director or design team, but by a strategic, commercially driven process led by merchandisers.
What I Learned at Alexander McQueen
When I started my career at Alexander McQueen, I was convinced that the design team had full creative control over the collections. But one of the biggest surprises came when I discovered how much influence the collection merchandiser had.
I had assumed designers led the entire process, from ideation to final garments. But I quickly learned that the collection grid—the blueprint that determines