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Vogue

Behind the Brand: Sears

It’s one thing to “Like” a retailer on Facebook and follow them on Twitter.

It’s quite another to learn about who promotes which clothes belong in your closet.

Name: Robin Vengroff

Position: Styling Sample Coordinator

Employer: Sears

Education: Fashion Communications, Ryerson University

Favourite blogs: Worn Fashion Journal, The Man Repeller, Jak and Jil, Garance Dore, Style Rookie, ModCloth, Refinery29

Favourite mobile app: The Collection – New York Times Fashion

Style icon: Iris Apfel, Jackie O, and my Grandmother

Professional role model: Grace Coddington (Creative Director of Vogue), Alexa White (of W) and ModCloth.com founder Susan Gregg Koger

In 140 characters or less, why can we be optimistic about the future of Sears?

Sears is focusing on gaining back the trust of its customers. It’s a matter of getting back to basics, and putting value and quality first.

What do you enjoy about working for a retailer, rather than a fashion designer or magazine?

Working for a retailer was a big to do on my fashion professional checklist for a number of reasons. I think that the experience I have had in working from both other perspectives was not really fully developed until coming into this environment. Seeing how initiatives get put into place in this kind of world is so different. I like this environment because it pertains to the realistic expectations of shoppers. Fashion magazines are about taking clothes and making them into a story to portray a theme for the season. And working for a boutique fashion designer was geared towards pleasing a very particular kind of customer and style. In this world of mass retail we also develop and market brands and a story or theme for the season, but the customer base is so much larger that I felt that it was extremely important to me in my career to understand that relationship as well.

Sears in particular was enticing for me to work for because it presented a lot of opportunity for growth within company. As a company Sears is very nurturing of its own talent – there are programs in place like the Future Leaders Program for Buyers that trains and develops the skills of employees.

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