I applied through a recruiter. I interviewed at AKIRA in Apr 2026
Interview
The interview process was super disappointing. An outside firm contacted me, and from there I had two interviews — one with a recruiter and one with an executive. The final round was in person at the office, where I spoke with the founder and a merchant. I never heard back afterward. Very unprofessional!
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Describe a time you failed and what you learned from it?
HR set up an interview for first round between me and the DMM. The interview was so chaotic and unorganized. The DMM had brought a buyer into the interview with her which I was unprepared for since this was just supposed to be set up between me and the DMM. At one point the DMM just got up and left and I was just talking to the buyer until she came back. I noticed they took AI notes that sent a recap to everyone after the meeting (I have my own feelings about using AI and wish they would have asked for my consent on this). I understand why the AI notes were there though because there is no way this DMM would have remembered anything I told her about my experience with how chaotic the interview was and that she had gotten up and left during it. I sent a thank you email like I always do and haven’t heard back on my application at all in weeks. Which is fine because I’m uninterested after that experience, but it just shows the unprofessionalism this company has. I wouldn’t waste your time interviewing for this company unless you’re new to the fashion industry and just need to get experience.
I applied through a recruiter. The process took 2 months. I interviewed at AKIRA (Chicago, IL)
Interview
Very informal, lacked definition of process. Not many questions asked. Job description provided and the job requirements discussed during the interview were completely different. Had the job description been more descriptive, it would have been easier to determine if it were the right position for me. They were truly looking for a technical designer not a buyer.