Meet The Buyers at Modefabriek: Berden

In Meet the Buyers at Modefabriek we introduce you weekly to buyers of various multi-brand stores, great boutiques and sustainable stores. This week: Berden's buying team.  

 Marleen, Petra, Robin and Shirley are the 4 buyers for women's fashion of Berden Fashion. Berden's total buying team consists of 10 buyers who are responsible for women's, men's and children's fashion, but in addition to this they also sell nightwear and home textiles. Berden has eight stores and a large webshop where they are jointly responsible for buying the collections. The physical stores can mainly be found in North Brabant, Limburg and Gelderland. Each branch has a different target group, which means that the buying method will be different for each store.  This makes it a fun challenge for the women's buying team. Each buyer is responsible for her own division and buys according to their style groups: Miss Blue & Trendy, Miss Daily, Miss Ambitious and Lady Elegant.  

(from left to right: Marleen Maaskant, Petra Lans, Robin Mennens, Shirley Baeten)

"In addition to buying, we also regularly visit fashion fairs and travel abroad to get inspired for the upcoming season. Because of the past period we have encountered what it is like not to visit the fairs and we have missed this enormously. In addition to the international trade fairs, we also think it is important to visit Modefabriek because the trends for the Dutch market can be found here."

Berden Fashion 

"Berden has been a real family business for almost 120 years. Not only because the baton has been passed on from generation to generation and we have fashion for all ages, but also because we see our colleagues and customers as family. In addition, we find family happiness very important. Family happiness means being there for each other. In good times to celebrate festive holidays, but also in bad times to ease the pain. We hope that customers think of us when they are looking for that one festive dress or that one matching outfit for a special occasion."  

Why is it relevant to visit a trade fair such as Modefabriek?  

"It is very nice for us as buyers to be able to visit all brands at one location. We often see the collections at the international fairs, therefore we get a good idea of what we want to buy that season. Modefabriek is an interesting trade fair for us because we can spot all the trends we have already seen abroad translated to the Dutch market. In addition, we also see which brands have a strong and striking collection and which brands may not fit the current collections at Berden. And always nice: new brands that we may want to add to our total brand package. We also find it interesting and instructive to go to trend watchers, for example Christine Boland. All this together ensures that we get a lot of insight into the colors, styles, trends, shapes and material use of the coming season. We are inspired by the beautiful stands and styling and we can pass this on to our marketing and VM departments. They translate this back to our stores and online channels." 

What are you looking forward to next season? 

"We are very much looking forward to visiting the national and international fairs and cities again. In addition, it is nice to meet professional colleagues and acquaintances live again, because this has become less recently. Or only in a digital way. At Berden, we are also in full development in the field of Sustainability. We are therefore curious to see what the innovations around this has been incoperated by the brands."