Important Interview Question and Answer for Merchandising Job

Interview Question for Garment Merchandiser:

An interview board consists of various types of specialized person in different fields of apparel sector. You have to face so many interview question from those specialists. Mainly you have to ask some basic interview question at first. From my all job interview experiences, I want to suggest you one thing that, before facing any interview in readymade garments sector or textile sector you should increase your basic knowledge from all the different section of textile or garments industry. This article has presented some important basic interview question from apparel section. Hope these interview question will help you to achieve your dream job.

Interview Question and Answer for Apparel Merchandiser:

The below interview question and answer are very important to get garments merchandising job.

1. What is grain line?

Pattern pieces normally carry a line is called grain line. When pattern pieces are laid down during marker making over the cloth, the grain line should be parallel to the warp if the fabric is woven and wales in case of knitted fabric. Only the exception is seen for bias cut.

2. What is handle?

It is a characteristic of fabrics that is perceived by touching, squeezing or rubbing them.

3. What is hip?

It is a specified level down from the waist seam and garment closed measure straight across garment, from one edge to the other.

4. What is waist?

Regular waistband or elastic relaxed, garment closed and with front and back waistband edges even at the top, measure across the middle of waistband or along elastic relaxed from one edge to other.

5. What is sleeve length?

It is the measurement from center back neck seam or edge straight across to shoulder or armhole point, along sleeves fold line down to bottom edge of sleeve opening.

6. What is sleeve inseam?

Measurement from under armhole seam to bottom edge of sleeve opening (cuff included) with vent closed (if applicable).

7. What is pleat?

It is used to increase the fullness of the garments. It is generally made by folding the fabric. Dart and pleat both are used in the back part of the Men’s shirt usually.

8. What is inseam length?

Along inside seam of leg, measurement from crotch seam down to bottom edge of leg opening. Rib or elastic bands included in this measurement.

9. What is drape?

It is a character of fabric which indicates flexibility and suppleness of fabric.

10. What is durable press (DP)?

The name given to a special finish that provides the garments with shape retention, durable pleats and pressed creases, durably smooth seams and wrinkle resistance during use and after laundering or dry cleaning. Durable press also can be added to the stretch fabrics to produce garments that stretch yet hold their shape and their creases.

11. What is double faced fabric?

Cloth with both ends similar is termed as double faced fabric.

12. What is basic block?

Assimilating of diagram of net dimension on papers each and individual part without any allowance which is called pattern and it is called also basic block.

13. What is crease?

Crease is any kinds of folding in cloths.

14. What is color bleeding?

It is the pigment or dye or color of a cloth that is partially gone into the water if such colored cloth is soaked in water or solvent. Pigment dye come out from one place to another and is stuck place near by suck characteristics is called color bleeding.

15. What is crocking?

Crocking is the act of taking out color from the dry and wet cloth by rubbing or scouring.

16. What is back length or HPS?

HPS stands for high point of shoulder. Normally it is known as back length which is measured from high point of shoulder down to bottom edge of garment.

17. What is back rise?

It is the measure from crotch intersection point, along center back seam following curve up to waistband top edge.

18. What is CBN?

CBN stands for center back neck. It is the measure from center back neck seam or edge down to bottom edge of garment.

19. What is blind stitch?

It is a special type of stitch that cannot see from the face side of the fabric but can easily see from the back side.

20. What is back stitch?

It is one kinds of hand stitch for sewing the apparels, which could also do by using sewing machine.

21. What is CF Line?

The straight line bottom to up vertically along the middle point of the body front of a shirt or jacket.

22. What is bar tack?

Re-stitching over a very short length to give and increase the area of a high load bearing strength (E.g. belt loops and pocket corner are bar tacked).

23. What is back tacking?

Approximately 1cm or small stitch backward at the beginning and finishing of sewing, which is used securing of the sewn end so that the thread could not be loosed easily.

24. What is allowance?

When garment is made by adding extra dimension with the net dimension of the garment is called allowance.

25. What is back rise?

The distance from the crotch back waist line is called back rise.

26. What is across back?

It is the measure of straight across back of garment at the midpoint of arm hole  seam or edge from one side to other.

Bill of Material (BOM) | Bill of Materials Information | Bill of Materials Format

What is BOM?

BOM stands for bill of material. It is actually a list of raw materials which are needed to be sourced for making the garments. It should be prepared and sourced the materials before starting the garments production. Before preparing bill of material, garment merchandiser should be aware about the shipping date of the garment.

In readymade apparel industry, BOM is normally prepared by factory merchandiser or production merchandiser. After that, it is approved by responsible person from the factory owner and handed over to the purchase department to purchase and in-house the required raw materials in timely.

BOM Information:

Bill of material contains the below information’s:

1. Details description of raw materials,
2. Consumption of raw materials per each garment,
3. The person name, who is responsible for sourcing,
4. Supplier name,
5. Projected cost per each item,
6. Product quality,
7. Product specification,
8. Product color name or color code,
9. Raw material price,
10. Sourcing date,
11. Cuttable Width,
12. Total cost of raw material,
13. Product code (It is often called a style no. for fabric or input),
14. Size (buttons) or length (zippers).

BOM Preparation Method in Garment Industry:

After confirmation of a garment export order, production merchandiser or factory merchandiser receives the details information of the product (product quantity, color, size, style etc.) from the buying merchandiser. Then he prepare bill of material sheet by maintaining a specific format which normally followed in ready-made garment sector. Here, one thing should be noted here that, production merchandiser or factory merchandiser should provide bill of materials to the purchase department to source raw materials according to the style of garments. Otherwise they may mix-up all.

Boll of Materials or BOM Format Followed in Apparel Industry:

All the production merchandiser follow the below bill of materials format in apparel sector.

Bill of materials or BOM format followed in apparel industry

Duties and Responsibilities of Sampling Department in Garment Industry

Sampling Department in Garment Factory:

Sampling department plays a significant role to achieve a garment export order for the factory. It is the main section for any garment manufacturing factory. As its importance, this article has presented the various important duties and responsibilities of sample department.

Sampling Department in Apparel Industry

Responsibilities of Sampling Department in Apparel Industry:

Sample department of apparel manufacturing industry has to maintain the below responsibilities:

1. Getting clarifications about style details from the merchandiser,
2. Checking pattern’s work-ability,
3. Preparation of different samples and getting the buyer’s approval,
4. Informing quality related problems, encountered during preparing samples to QC,
5. Minimizing operations and consumption.

All the above responsibilities have explained in the following:

1. Getting clarifications about style details from the merchandiser:

It is the first task of any kinds of garment sample department. Here, the responsible person has to know about the details of sample from the garment merchandiser. In this stage, apparel merchandiser explains various important matters related with sample garment to the sample department personnel such as style, size, color, fabrication, washing, embroidery etc.

2. Checking pattern’s work-ability:

After receiving all the information’s of sample garment, here sample department personnel has to cut the pattern paper according to the buyers instruction which he received from the apparelmerchandiser.

3. Preparation of different samples and getting the buyer’s approval:

Fabric has to cut here according to the definite pattern and sewing the garments by maintainingbuyer’s instruction. Others instruction also maintained here such as wash, embroidery, print etc. Finally it’s sent to the buyer for approval. In this way, various types of samples such as proto sample, fit sample, photo shoot sample, salesman sample, size set sample, top sample, shipment sample etc. are made here.

4. Informing quality related problems, encountered during preparing samples to QC:

It is one of the most important tasks of any sampling department. If found any problems during making the sample then it should be informed to the quality controller (QC) instantly. After that, quality controller will take necessary steps to solve those problems.

5. Minimizing operations and consumption:

Sampling department has to maintain other tasks of minimizing operations and fabric consumptionwhich will be maintained during garment production.

Responsibilities of a Garment Merchandiser in Apparel Industry

Garment Merchandiser:

Garment merchandiser is like a bridge between the buyer and industry. He has to look after every job like buying the raw materials which is required to finish the product, making the garment, finishing the garment, preparing documentation and finally shipping. Actually, he is the main responsible person to make the product in timely. As its importance, this article has presented a vast discussion on the roles and responsibilities of a merchandiser.

Garment merchandiser works in apparel industry

Duties of Merchandiser in Readymade Garment Industry:

An apparel merchandiser should follow the below responsibilities:

1. Internal & external communication,
2. Sampling,
3. Preparing internal order sheets,
4. Accessories & trims in-housing,
5. Preparing purchase orders,
6. Getting approvals on lab dips,
7. Advising and assisting production and quality department,
8. Taking responsibility for inspections,
9. Giving shipping instructions and following shipment.

All the above responsibilities of a garment merchandiser have explained in the following:

1. Internal & external communication:

A merchandiser has to communicate not only with the buyers but also with the others such as suppliers, nominated factory owners, fabric manufacturers etc.

2. Sampling:

It is one of the most important task for all the apparel merchandisers. Here, sample have to developed according to buyers instruction. Different types of sample should be developed here such as proto sample, fit sample, fit sample, photo shoot sample, sales man sample, size set sample etc.

3. Preparing internal order sheets:

An apparel merchandiser has to prepare various types of internal order sheets such as costing sheet, booking sheet etc.

4. Accessories & trims in-housing:

After confirmation of a garment export order, a garment merchandiser has to book and in-house all kinds of trimmings and accessories according to buyer’s instruction.

5. Preparing purchase orders:

Different types of purchase orders should be prepared here by the garments merchandiser such asfabric, sewing thread, trimmings and accessories etc.

6. Getting approvals on lab dips:

It is the other important task of an apparel merchandiser. At first, lab dip should be done by maintaining buyer’s recommendation and submitted by the merchandiser to the buyer for its approval. If it’s ok then buyer approved it for running garment production.

7. Advising and assisting production and quality department:

A garment merchandiser must have to make good relationship with the garment production and qualitydepartment for smooth and fault free production. This also creates a great impact on shipping the product timely.

8. Taking responsibility for inspections:

Inspection should be done before shipping the product to the buyer. Here, merchandiser plays a significant role to inspect the product by using strong quality department or third party quality inspector.

9. Giving shipping instructions and following shipment:

It is the last and final tasks of an apparel merchandiser. Here, garment merchandiser advises various instructions to the commercial department about shipment of a garment export order. By maintaining those instructions, commercial department will ship the products to the buyer.

Top 25 Interview Questions and Answers for Garment Job

Interview Questions and Answers:

Interview is a common scenario for any kinds of job. Each and every applicant has to face it. It can be very easy or tough which totally depends on the instant situation of viva board. During interview, you may face with your known topics or not, but you should be confident there. This article has presented some important interview questions and answers which may help you in your interview.

13. What is L/C ?

L/C means letter of credit. It is commitment by an opening bank on behalf of the importer in favor of the exporter that the bills drawn by them on the importer countries covering the shipment of specified items and quality of goods within stated period. It will be paid in exchange of documents under certain items and condition.

14. What is invoice?

After sending the garments goods to the importer country, the documents mentioning the price is sent to the buyer for collecting is called invoice.

15. What is quota?

It is an agreement between governments of the importer country and the exporter country. In details it is the quantities of garments of different categories upon the manufacturing countries according to the business policy.

16. What is FOB?

FOB means free on board. If the price of the goods is mentioned in invoice without transport cost then it is called FOB.

17. What is C&F?

C&F means cost and freight. If the price of the goods is mentioned in invoice including transport cost then it is called C&F.

18. What is CIF?

CIF means cost, insurance and freight. If the price of the goods is mentioned in invoice including transport cost and insurance cost then it is called CIF.

19. What is category?

Category is a number which indicated what type of fabric is used for making the particular garment and it also indicated the type of this garment.

20. What is face of fabric?

The surface of the fabric that is intended to be seen because it presents s better appearance than the other side due to its characteristics i.e. weaves, luster, finish etc. in many fabrics, especially industrial fabrics, face and back are identical.

21. What is faced cloth?

A term sometimes applied to the fabrics that have a separate set of warp or filling yarns on the back of the cloth i.e. pile fabric, flannel fabric.

22. What is fusing?

The term generally refers to partial melting. In bonding, fabric layers are joined together by fusion of an adhesive under heat and pressure.

23. What is the abbreviation of G/D?

G/D stands for grams per denier.

24. What is gauge?

In knitted fabrics, it is a measure of fineness or number of wales per unit of width across the fabric. Higher gauge numbers indicate finer texture.

25. What is grading?

When different sizes of patterns are made from the master pattern of the garment is called grading.

Letter of Credit (LC)

Letter of Credit (L/C):

L/C means letter of credit. The technical term for letter of credit is ‘Documentary credit’. It is a common word for merchandisers in apparel merchandising. L/C is a payment term generally used for international sales transactions. It should be mentioned that L/C deals only in documents but not goods. L/C works in favor of both of the Buyer and seller. The bank that issues the L/C is termed as Issued bank or Buyer’s bank. The bank which advice the L/C to the seller is called Advising bank or Seller’s bank.

L/C for Garments

There are mainly two types L/C. these are-

1. Master L/C,
2. Back to back L/C.

Both of those are described in the below:

1. Master L/C:

When a L/C is opened to import goods directly from the exporter is called master L/C. This L/C is issued by the buyer (Buyer’s bank) to manufacturer. Master LC has higher financial value than back to back L/C.

2. Back to Back L/C:

When a L/C is prepared by the manufacturer to collect raw materials for production from the suppliers is called Back to Back L/C. Back to Back L/C has 70-80% financial value of master LCs.

Difference between Master L/C and Back to Back L/C:

SL No.	Subject	Master L/C	Back to Back L/C
01	Definition	This type of L/C is prepared by the buyer to import goods from the manufacturer.	This type of L/C is prepared by the manufacturer to collect raw materials from raw materials supplier for the production.
02	Issued Bank	Issued by the buyer’s bank.	Issued by the manufacturer’s bank.
03	Types of L/C	It is a basic L/C.	It depends on master L/C
04	Purpose	To import goods from the manufacturer.	To collect raw materials from the Raw material suppliers.
05	Financial Value	It has higher financial value than Back to Back L/C.	It has lower financial value than master L/C.

Sample | Sample Room | Sample Room Activities

Sample:

Sample garment is very important in readymade garment business. A sample is that by which any person can understand the production, qualities, and performance of the total garment export order. Sample is made in the sample room according to buyer’s instruction. It can ensure the garment buyer as well as to the customer about the pre and post condition of the garments order. Sample is also used to take required ideas from the market about the business promotion of that order.

Sample Room:

Sample room in reaymade garment industry

Sample room is the most important section in the readymade garments industry. A sample room is that where design ideas are taken from drawing to tangible garment. It is that kinds of production room where required amount of sample (2pcs or 3pcs or more) can be made according to the buyer’s recommendation.

It should be noted here that, the most experienced and well performer employee engaged in the sample room section. The sample room is consists with the fashion designers, pattern makers, sample pattern cutters, fabric specialists, sample machinists, fit specialists who all are expert in their specific area.

 

After making the pattern of the garments, it’s lay down onto the required quality of fabric and cut out the necessary amount of pieces for the particular style. After that, cutting fabric sent to the sample machinists who complete all kinds of sewing operations by using different types of sewing machines. Finally, quality controller checks the garments by following the buyer’s recommendation and submit to the garments merchandising department.

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Activities of Sample Room:

There are some important activities of every sample section in the garment manufacturing industries which is pointed out in the below:

1. To make the proper sample by following buyer’s instruction.
2. To understand the requirements of buyer.
3. To fulfill the requirements of buyer.
4. To inform the accuracy or confirmation to the buyer that the bulk production is going to be right.
5. To confirm the measurement and fabric requirements.
6. To make the perfection in the pattern and marker.
7. To make perfection in the fabric consumption.
8. To make perfection in the garment costing.
9. To utilizes the skill operation with skilled operator during garment sewing.
10. To get understanding completely to the operators and management as well about the upcoming garment production of that order.
11. To combine the overall performance of a garment export order.