Since graduating from London College of Fashion (LCF) UAL in 2010 from BSc (Hons) Fashion Management, formerly BA (Hons) Fashion Management, Rebecca Louise Fox has built a truly global career in buying and merchandising. Now based in Madrid as the Head of Merchandising EMEA for RTW and Shoes at luxury brand Loewe, Rebecca’s career has taken her from the UK high street to Asia’s luxury market, and into the heart of some of fashion’s most prestigious brands.
Her journey began in a small town in the Midlands, where GCSE textiles and old copies of Vogue sparked an early interest in fashion. From working on the shop floor at Topshop to a scholarship in Hong Kong, she quickly developed a passion for fashion across cultures. After gaining experience at brands like ASOS, Urban Outfitters, Mulberry, and Moss Bros, she took a bold step and moved to Singapore for a role at Gucci. Over eight years, she climbed from Regional Merchandiser to Regional Merchandising Manager for South Asia Pacific, before returning to Europe as Senior Merchandising Manager for Northern Europe.
We caught up with her to explore what it takes to thrive globally in luxury fashion, hear her experiences of working abroad, and get her advice on how to climb the ladder to senior leadership in buying and merchandising.
Congratulations on your recent appointment as head of merchandising at Loewe! Can you share more about your personal career journey thus far?
I grew up in a small town in the Midlands, where my first exposure to fashion was GCSE textiles and my school's backdated copies of Vogue. I started a job in Topshop at 16, which really ignited my interest in Fashion. I moved to London to study at LCF, and a scholarship with the British Council to a university in Hong Kong sparked my interest in Asia. I've been really fortunate to have opportunities both in the luxury and the high street sector across London, Singapore, Hong Kong and now Madrid. I've always had a pro-risk approach to taking on new roles, and a job offer at Gucci 9 years ago led to my first role in Luxury.
Since graduating from LCF in 2010, you’ve worked in a variety of exciting fashion roles across the globe - Hong Kong, China, Singapore and now at Loewe in Madrid! What have been your main achievements and challenges when working in these different countries?
I think the main challenge was moving internationally and adjusting to buying for new markets. Singapore was challenging because as a regional hub we were responsible for covering 8 countries all with different nationalities, Local vs. Tourist mixes and varying seasonalities. Taking a granular approach to buying and building topline strategies was a balancing act!
In terms of career achievements, I’m really proud of championing the buy-back of a new market at the time, Thailand, I spent several months being based between Singapore and Bangkok to ensure the seamless transition. It was a proud moment to see the market go from strength to strength and become the number one market in the regional portfolio. In terms of personal achievements, I love coaching and developing a team and seeing individuals grow. Some of my former assistants have gone on to senior leadership roles globally and still remain close friends.
With your extensive background working for major luxury fashion brands, what do you think somebody pursuing a career within luxury fashion should consider?
Starting on the shop floor is important to really understand the retail business bottom up. It's a really tough time for the industry at the moment but if you have exposure on the shop floor and are able to devise solutions which are retail centric it's a huge advantage. I had two years in London where I pivoted my role from regional buying manager to retail buying manager meaning I spent a lot of time on the shop floor with the team with a more executionary approach. This role and exposure on the floor helped me differentiate myself from candidates and secured me the role at Loewe.
I feel like there's sometimes a bit of a stigma around working in a store and as a graduate, it not being something that's recognised as what would typically be considered a ‘graduate role’, but I think it's so important, this type of experience is truly invaluable.
And I think I was probably under that impression as well, to a certain extent. However, the one thing that helped me in my career was actually that retail exposure. For instance, my GM who's the head of regional team at Loewe, he was on the floor in Christian Dior for 18 years and now he's heading up me at Loewe and before that he was heading up Singapore for Dior. I think it’s just understanding the importance of a shop floor and the context of the understanding that you'll get from the retail industry as well as from key stakeholders of the business. Once you grasp this, you will start to understand visual merchandising, client relations and to a certain degree, campaign launches. So, I think that fundamental understanding of how a retail business operates is really important.’
What do you think the future holds within fashion buying and merchandising?
I was lucky enough to attend a Retail Innovation Day recently and it was really fascinating to learn about the future of AI in fashion and the metaverse, so learning how the virtual and physical Retail environments co-exist and work in parallel will be important. I think it's just blending the two worlds together, the physical and the non-physical and how that will shape the industry moving forwards. But that's why I think also having that retail bricks and mortar on the ground will also help you blend those two together.
There was a time when I was working on the shop floor, and I think Prada was selling NFT’s as part of one of their product launches. So, to just even understand the impact that had from a shop floor perspective and the demand that it dried as well as the clients that it's attracting etc. It’s also important to understand how luxury clients are transforming and reshaping because there are your traditional luxury clients which I'm sure everybody knows is typically a high net worth individual. However, there are now also a new breed of luxury client that's more interested in buying into that kind of ‘metaverse’ world. So, to link back to the shop floor, that's where I think the connections interesting.
Do you have any advice for LCF Students who are looking to progress into senior leadership roles within buying and merchandising?
Linking to my point above I think a great way to kick start your career in fashion is in a shop floor client facing role. Within these roles, I gained some amazing industry contacts. I think my advice would also be to have a pro risk approach, particularly if there's a job that comes up internationally. I think what I can say about my career is if I look back, I didn't start in a company or role that I originally was even that excited about. However, that first role has really shaped my career to what it is now.
For instance, my first ever job at university was at Moss Bros which I'm sure for a lot of people is not that exciting as it's very suit centric. But that fundamentally formed my understanding of tailoring and formal wear and the knowledge I gained there; I still use to this day in terms of construction etc. So, I think it's just to be open minded to the opportunities presented to you and if you don't get to start in luxury, that's totally fine. As long as you know that there'll be opportunities that come up along the way, and you will be able to utilise the knowledge that you gain from every element of the of the industry sector.