Lynn Nelson – Career Change to Fashion Buying With Bestseller Internship

A career change to fashion buying after an early start in animal science put Portobello graduate Lynn Nelson on the path to her dream job with Bestseller, a massive global fashion company.

Finishing secondary school and deciding on a course that will determine the rest of your working life is a big ask of any young person with little or no experience of the world of work.

Inevitably, many students select a course of study only to later find it is not for them.

This is how Lynn’s story began yet she later found her true passion in fashion and successfully completed the Fashion Buying and Merchandising course at Portobello Institute.

Lynn had been studying animal science with the aim of getting into veterinary nursing. After two years she no longer wanted to pursue a career in this area and took time out and worked in retail.

Having been exposed to retail for four years, Lynn knew she wanted to do something that was retail-related.

Her career change to fashion buying was supported by her family and friends. Lynn tells us that she initially found out about the course from a blogger on Instagram.

“I followed her, and she used to be one of the buyers in Primark and had also studied Fashion Buying & Merchandising at Portobello Institute,” she said.

To reconfirm things for Lynn she researched the college and read past student testimonials and all of this helped her decision to undertake the course.

Lynn recalls that she has really enjoyed her college experience even though it was quite difficult at times.

“Our tutors were so friendly and easy to approach which made the experience much better. My class really made my experience great too as I made amazing friends that I was able to go to London with to the fashion trade show Pure, an event which is organised by the college for students as part of their studies,” she said.

On nearing the end of the course Lynn felt she had learned a lot and the course content to be very relevant.

“I was understanding more about the fashion buying process, sales and so was able to speak, use and understand fashion terminology,” she said.

Some course highlights for Lynn include mood boards which were a great way to demonstrate creativity and the fashion buying and merchandising process learning about sale forecasts for businesses.

One noteworthy module was a fashion styling module with Sinead Kelly, where students got to do their own fashion styling photoshoots and make an editorial magazine.

Lynn received an internship at Bestseller, an international, family-owned fashion company with 3,000 branded retail stores in 32 countries globally with more than 20 fashion brands for all ages, genders and occasions.

“I am interning for the brand pieces. I am really enjoying it and learning new things every day and can use the skills and theory I learnt from Portobello Institute.

“I would recommend the course, and from researching other courses I feel Portobello Institute was the best choice for me, it was also quite flexible which allowed me to work in my part-time job. Annemarie our course coordinator is a great mentor, she tries to push and help everyone as much as possible to succeed in their career,” she said.

Lynn gives some really sound advice on expectations for a career as a fashion buyer and merchandiser.

“A lot of people think fashion is all about dressing up in clothes and being glamorous all the time, but realistically it’s more about sales and figures,” she said.

The future looks really bright for Lynn and we wish her every success in her fashion-buying career.

Find Out More

At Portobello Institute we have a number of business of fashion undergraduate degrees and post-graduate opportunities. Find out more about our BA (Hons) in Fashion Buying & Merchandising, BA (Hons) in Fashion Management, Post Graduate Certificate in Fashion Buying & Merchandising, Postgraduate Certificate in Fashion Management and other courses.

If you are interested in any of our business of fashion courses or have any questions you can book a consultation call with our expert advisor Sarah Coyne email [email protected] or call 01 892 0041.

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