Associate Designer – Soft Wovens Tops & Dresses
Seeking an Associate Designer with a focus on soft woven tops and dresses. Reporting to the Director of Design & Merchandising, this role contributes to the design and development of product that resonates with a broad customer base and supports a growing ecommerce business. The ideal candidate combines strong creative ability, technical design skills, attention to detail, and a collaborative working style.
Key Responsibilities
- Partner with senior design leadership to execute seasonal collections for soft woven tops and dresses from initial concept through final production.
- Research and shop the market for seasonal trends in silhouettes, fabrications, trims, and details to inform category direction.
- Create hand sketches and Illustrator CADs to clearly communicate design concepts, updates, and final details.
- Assist in building seasonal presentation boards showcasing key colors, fabrics, prints, patterns, and silhouettes.
- Help maintain accurate, current linesheets and share updates with cross-functional partners.
- Support style set-up and tech pack creation in Full Circle (or similar systems), ensuring a clean and accurate handoff from development to production.
- Prepare for and support all major handovers (proto, SMS, and production), tracking changes, comments, and follow-up actions.
- Communicate regularly with internal teams and overseas vendors to monitor timelines, track sample status, and resolve day-to-day design issues.
- Participate in key milestone meetings (Color/Mood, Sketch Review, Proto Review, Merchandising Review, Handover, Target Fit) and contribute thoughtful design input.
- Collaborate closely with Merchandising, Technical Design, Product Development, and Production to ensure cohesive execution across soft wovens categories.
- Attend fittings and provide aesthetic and design feedback to achieve the intended fit, quality, and overall brand vision.
- Review lab dips and print/embroidery strike-offs to ensure color and artwork consistency across styles and deliveries.
- Adhere to the design calendar, track key deadlines, and help keep development milestones on schedule.
- Ensure all sales samples are clearly labeled and tagged with any necessary notes, fit/construction callouts, or disclaimers.
- Assist with SMU (special make-up) requests from concept through production, keeping cross-functional partners informed of changes and status.
Qualifications
- Background in fashion design with experience or strong interest in soft wovens, especially women’s tops and dresses.
- Proficiency in Adobe Illustrator for CAD development and presentation materials.
- Strong sense of trend, color, print, and silhouette appropriate for a contemporary women’s RTW customer.
- Highly organized and detail-oriented, comfortable managing multiple styles, seasons, and deadlines at once.
- Effective communicator with the ability to collaborate with merchandising, technical design, product development, production, and overseas partners.
- Familiarity with PLM or ERP systems (such as Full Circle or similar platforms) is a plus.
