Consumer | Retail
Keller is widely recognized as a leading fashion recruitment firm and we specialize in helping companies to source and connect with the brightest talent in the industry. Our goal is to assist clients across a wide range of fashion sectors in hiring and retaining the right candidates to help turn their business into an industry leader.
The global fashion industry is valued at $1.7 trillion, with the United States alone valued at nearly $343 billion. This sector includes the sale, marketing, production, and design of fashion, footwear, and accessories. These levels are all interconnected, and the field is dynamic. It offers a diverse range of positions and creative opportunities, and contributes greatly to the international economy.
However, as with any industry, the fashion sector is not without its challenges. Economic fluctuations and shifts in consumer spending can impact the industry. This sector also faces challenges with sustainability, such as resource depletion and global waste due to fast fashion. Additionally, there are concerns regarding the working conditions and wages of fashion workers in developing countries.
Even so, the fashion industry experiences a high volume of applications for a range of roles every year. Positions are limited, making this sector particularly competitive. In such a saturated industry, it can be challenging for companies and organizations to find and hire the best candidates for their vacancies.
To succeed, companies need leaders who are capable of staying on top of industry trends and navigating the complexities of the market.
At Keller, we are known for the extensive collective hands-on recruitment experience of our team. Each of our experts boasts vast qualifications (educational and professional), advanced technical market knowledge, and specialized recruitment skills which we utilize to bring clients the very best talent for their fashion brands.
Over the years, Keller has built enduring relationships with long-term clients thanks to our tailored approach, commitment to quality, and excellent outcomes.
At Keller, our team of headhunters aims to identify top-level candidates who have the creativity, vision, practical skills, and flexibility needed by our client companies. Now, more than ever, we also look for talent with a deep understanding of digital engagement and cutting-edge technology. We bridge these gaps through our stellar search and recruiting services. Our tailored process includes Assessment, Talent Acquisition, and Organization Transformation.
The first step in our process is thoroughly assessing the needs of the fashion brands and companies we serve. For this reason, we start by having a meeting between our client and our team of recruitment experts.
During this meeting, our recruiters take the time to get to know the ins and outs of the organization. This includes its company culture, the dynamic between existing team members, and the job duties and challenges of the vacant position. During this meeting, our team also establishes our client’s expectations of the qualifications, experience, personality type, leadership traits, and work ethic of each potential candidate.
This information provides our recruiters with valuable insights we use as search parameters when attempting to identify the perfect match.
The next step in our process is acquiring the right talent for our client.
Thanks to our recognized NPAworldwide partnership, our executive search agency has access to a wide network of industry professionals from which we can select qualified candidates who seem to fit the client’s requirements. To help expand our candidate pool, we also make use of more conventional channels, such as job boards, cold calls, and emails, to reach candidates.
Once we have selected an initial group of potential candidates, they undergo our rigorous vetting process. During this evaluation, our headhunters look at each candidate’s merit, skills, and professional history.
In addition, we use advanced psychometric tests to understand more intricate factors such as their work ethic, motivational drivers, and management style to determine who meets our client’s hiring requirements. Our vetting process also includes screening each candidate’s history to rule out things like criminal records.
The candidates who pass our screening process successfully are then shortlisted and recommended to our client.
Our headhunters understand how crucial recruiting and hiring the right talent is for a company’s success. By analyzing talent gaps and areas for improvement, we are able to source the ideal talented professionals who can thrive in their role and offer new ideas and strategies to boost the business’s chances of success.
Because every brand is unique, our services do not end after placement. Beyond recruiting top talent in the fashion industry, our headhunters also offer HR advisory services aimed at improving processes and workflows. We stay close to both candidates and employers, offering support with onboarding, organizational design, and succession planning so that the candidate and business continue to thrive long after the contract is signed.
Keller provides bespoke executive search services tailored to the client’s business needs and goals. Our mission is not limited to merely filling open roles; we are committed to connecting our clientele with forward-thinking leaders who are able to meet and even exceed the demands of consumers.
Over the years, this commitment has helped Keller build and maintain enduring relationships with our clientele.
As part of our mission to provide excellent service, our recruiters value and practice continuous learning. It allows our team to stay updated on all current events, trends, developments, and findings in the fashion sector, as well as any tech advancements in the recruiting arena.
Part of what makes our searches successful is our commitment to diversity and inclusion in our process. We place great importance on ensuring that all candidates are treated fairly. For this reason, candidates are only assessed based on their merits and suitability for the role, and we hold no bias against any candidate’s gender, race, age, religion, or personal expression.
Keller employs a team of experts who have gained extensive first-hand experience over their many years working and recruiting in the fashion sector. We have learnt many valuable lessons from these experiences, and they have guided us in the development of our tailored approach. One of these experiences stands out in our memories for the catalytic impact it had on our methodology.
In our first few years as a recruitment agency in the fashion sector, Keller made use of a one-fits-all approach to recruitment. This was because we served a limited number of companies that were all similar in size and had similar needs. As a result, our approach worked well enough for them.
With this success, however, came a more diverse client base that included a particularly large, influential company in the fashion business. Used to our previous success, we applied our generic approach in good faith and expected the same results.
Unfortunately, we were unable to make a successful placement. The candidates we had compiled for our client did not meet their needs in terms of leadership style and personality type, which would have resulted in friction with the existing team members. Even though the professionals we recommended had the correct qualifications for the position, our generic method failed to take into account whether they would make for a good cultural match.
While our team found this experience challenging, it taught us the importance of tailoring our approach to meet the unique needs of each client we serve and showed us how limiting a one-fits-all approach can be.
Since then, we have developed and perfected the tailored methodology we are renowned for today. Our name has become synonymous with premier fashion recruitment, and we have built enduring relationships with our clientele. Our success has also had a significant influence on the industry by helping to shape the way executive search is understood worldwide. As a result, we have gained a long-lasting reputation for high-quality, reliable executive search services.
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Keller delivers exceptional executive search services to find great candidates for companies in various fields within the fashion industry. We serve local and global organizations in a wide range of fields, including (but not limited to) the following:
As a leading executive recruitment firm, Keller’s fashion headhunters have decades of combined experience immersed in the fashion and retail sector, guiding luxury fashion houses, companies, and start-ups through every stage of the recruitment process. Our consultants possess deep industry expertise and a thorough understanding of seasonal calendars, product development, and the global market dynamics that influence sell-through and margin.
The depth of our industry expertise, combined with our holistic approach to fashion recruitment, allows us to attract even passive candidates who rarely surface in public searches or through traditional hiring methods. We identify and attract exceptional talent to fill a full spectrum of critical positions in the fashion and beauty industry, including C-suite and leadership professionals.
Reach out to our team to inquire about your available positions.
When you partner with Keller, you are partnering with a team of professional headhunters who believe that your success is our success. Our experienced recruiters are known for their ability to connect the right talent with the right company in order to empower their business. By taking over the recruitment process, Keller allows teams to focus on what really matters.
Our headhunters have access to an extensive network of industry professionals with the dedication and skills needed to thrive in their new roles.
Our team of headhunters maintains confidentiality and professionalism at all stages of the search process. All information provided to us by our clients will be handled with utmost discretion. We uphold industry standards for data protection and safeguard client and candidate privacy by making use of responsible and ethical search practices.
We are dedicated to finding the perfect match for your business. However, we acknowledge that even our tailored solutions can never truly be infallible. To help ensure successful placements, we employ a 210-day replacement program. If the hired executive fails to fulfill the duties of the role within the first seven months of their employment, we will redo the search and provide a more suitable replacement at no additional cost to you.
Keller is committed to helping our clientele craft their brand’s future. As part of that commitment, our experts greatly value feedback and use it to improve our services. For this reason, we aim to respond to the questions, critiques, and comments from our current and future clients constructively and respectfully.
Contact Keller today and let our consultants connect you with top-tier fashion leaders.
“Keller’s service was exceptional. The team took time to understand what we needed, and we were impressed with their speed. We were able to find a new addition to our department much faster than expected and they are already doing great things for our business.”
- Liam S., HR Director
"Keller’s team was a pleasure to work with. They were very responsive and professional, and seem to have a great grasp on the fashion industry. They kept communication honest and proactive throughout the whole process. We couldn't have asked for a better recruiter."
- Noah W., Head of Operations