Senior Merchandiser

Company Description

Apparel Resources is a leading fashion media house offering authoritative insights into the apparel, fashion, and textile industries. Through our digital, print, social, and event platforms, we provide in-depth reporting on fashion trends, sourcing strategies, retail intelligence, and emerging technologies. We empower brands, retailers, and manufacturers to make smarter decisions in a rapidly evolving market landscape.

Role Description: Senior Manager- Conference & Industry Communications

Location: On-site | New Delhi | Full-time

Note: This position is being advertised under the designation Senior Merchandiser to attract candidates with relevant apparel and fashion industry experience. However, the primary responsibility of the role is Conference & Industry Communications, involving industry engagement, speaker outreach, stakeholder management, conference content development, and industry-facing initiatives across our media and event platforms.

We are looking for an experienced professional with a strong background in the apparel and fashion industry to lead Conference & Industry Communications. This role combines industry expertise with the interpersonal and communication skills required to engage senior executives, thought leaders, brands, retailers, manufacturers, and technology providers across the fashion ecosystem.

The role goes beyond traditional event coordination- it involves curating conference content, developing industry relationships, identifying relevant speakers, managing stakeholder communications, and ensuring the successful execution of conferences, roundtables, surveys, research initiatives, and industry engagement programs.

You will serve as a bridge between our editorial, conference, and business development teams and the broader fashion industry, leveraging your market knowledge and network to support content creation, speaker acquisition, partnership development, and audience engagement. This is an ideal role for someone who understands the apparel and fashion business and is confident representing the brand in industry-facing discussions.

Key Responsibilities:

• Act as the primary point of contact for industry leaders, brands, retailers, manufacturers, sourcing heads, technology providers, and other stakeholders for conferences, exhibitions, editorial initiatives, surveys, and industry engagement programs.
• Identify, engage, and manage speakers, panelists, moderators, and thought leaders for conferences and industry events.
• Support conference agenda development by identifying relevant industry topics, trends, case studies, and discussion themes.
• Build and maintain strong relationships with industry stakeholders, attending meetings, events, and networking opportunities on behalf of the company.
• Coordinate speaker communications, session planning, and conference-related stakeholder engagement.
• Provide industry insights and market intelligence to internal teams to support content, conference programming, and business development initiatives.
• Collaborate with editorial, sales, marketing, and event teams to ensure aligned industry messaging and stakeholder engagement.
• Track and report on market trends, sourcing strategies, retail developments, sustainability initiatives, and technological innovations within the apparel and fashion industry.

Qualifications:

• Proven experience (5+ years preferred) in the apparel, fashion, textile, sourcing, retail, merchandising, or related industry.
• Excellent communication, networking, and relationship-building skills with confidence in senior stakeholder interactions.
• Strong understanding of the apparel and fashion value chain, including sourcing, manufacturing, retail, and industry trends.
• Strong organisational and project management abilities.
• Ability to work cross-functionally with editorial, conference, marketing, and sales teams.
• Bachelor's degree in Fashion Merchandising, Apparel Production, Fashion Management, Marketing, Business, or a related field.

Preferred Experience

• Prior experience in conference management, industry relations, corporate communications, partnerships, or business development within the fashion and apparel sector.
• Existing network within apparel brands, retailers, manufacturers, sourcing companies, technology providers, or industry associations.
• Familiarity with media, editorial, B2B events, or industry conference environments is a strong advantage.