For the summer of 2017, I am interning at Pricilla's Chic Boutique in Yakima, Washington. For 10 weeks I will be interning here, logging 400 hours.
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Priscilla’s Chic Boutique began selling high quality fashions since 1995. This boutique offers fashion from all over the world, including Paris and New York and clothing made in the USA. The boutique has an onsite– alterations specialist to makes sure everything fits perfect for the customer and brides to be can bring in their wedding dress to fit perfect for their day. The internship responsibilities include but are not limited to: customer service across multiple online platforms, work collaboratively with team on creative direction, maintain and update content on social media sites, maintain and update store inventory online, assist with photo shoots, styling, model(s) scheduling, general administrative tasks and errand running, media outreach and vendor relationship management. Requirements of the intern are organized, able to commit to at least 15 hours a week, must use hours for college credit, and a background in fashion is a plus.
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During this internship I would like to learn more about product buying, social media and visual merchandising. During this time I am wanting to learn more in depth from a store owners perspective the business side of fashion and how fashion business can be successful in an area that is not a fashion capital or with a market that does not have a disposable income. I would like to learn more about how to budget for a boutique and what the day to day responsibilities for a boutique. I would like to learn more about boutique pricing and how to create a realistic budget. I would also like to learn about their marketing techniques and advertising methods. Learn the ins and outs of clothing, accessories, footwear lines and how to keep up with the latest trends in the industry and how they are sold. I want to learn more about merchandise turn over and markdowns. During this internship I will be in a hands on learning environment where I can gain new knowledge and experiences that I can take with me after the summer.
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Central Washington University offers a broad education that covers many areas within the fashion industry. When I am working on window and in store displays I will apply what I learned about color, line principles and contrast from my store to body class. When I am assisting with ordering new merchandise I will use what I learned about consumer target markets and pricing from intro to the fashion industry. I will also use excel spreadsheet techniques to stay organized and finding information to reference in the future. Trend Analysis will help me to spot up and coming trends for this specific target market. Fashion Trend Analysis also added to that knowledge, with helping me develop skills to analyze the economic, cultural and social changes that influence fashion forecasting. I will also be able to use my knowledge from digital presentation techniques in making mood boards and doing research on companies and products. I will also use what I learned in merchandising and buying about product ordering and performing retail math operations. I am hoping to use my knowledge from my time in the Apparel, Textiles and Merchandising major at Central Washington University to succeed and shine during this internship.
