Fashion and Apparel Designer | Textile and Print Designer | Accessories Designer

Coach is a leading design house of modern luxury accessories and lifestyle collections, with a long-standing reputation built on quality craftsmanship. Defined by a free-spirited, all-American attitude, the brand approaches design with a modern vision, reimagining luxury for today with an authenticity and innovation that is uniquely Coach. All over the world, the Coach name is synonymous with effortless New York style.

Coach is part of the Tapestry portfolio – a global house of brands powered by optimism, innovation, and inclusivity.

Primary Purpose: The Men’s Outlet RTW Designer will work with the Senior Designer Outlet RTW to initiate concepts each season that are fashion driven, reflective of the creative vision and Coach aesthetic. You will be a part of a dynamic, creative environment where you will collaborate with talented designers and cross-functional partners in the business.

The successful individual will leverage their proficiency in Design to…

• • Create sketches and product prototypes throughout the conceptual design process
  • Partner with senior leadership to refine seasonal concepts, materials, hardware, and color palette for Apparel collections
  • Responsible for timeline adherence; ensure all Design Cards are completed accurately and delivered to Development on time; ensure all samples are available for product presentation and finalization
  • Responsible for upholding design integrity, high quality execution, and timeliness throughout the entire development process from concept through commercialization.
  • Partner cross-functionally with Global Merchandising, Sourcing, and Product Development on a regular basis; participate in meetings with cross-functional category partners

The accomplished individual will possess…

• • Must possess a strong fashion sense and have the ability to interpret trends
  • Excellent interpersonal and communication skills with the ability to interact with a diverse group at all levels
  • Excellent organizational skills with attention to detail and follow-up
  • Strong attention to detail
  • Must be flexible and adapt easily to change
  • Passion for menswear and a thirst for knowledge

An outstanding professional will have…

• Minimum 5 years’ design experience; Men’s / outerwear experience a plus
• Bachelor’s Degree in Design or related field
• Strong ability to CAD technical drawings
• Strong hand sketching skills; ability to create both freeform garment renderings and renderings on figure drawings
• Experience developing product directly with factories; understanding of apparel development from concept through commercialization
• Understanding of materials, hardware, leather, and garment construction & performance (i.e. strong knowledge of fabric, material quality, and how it will perform as a garment)
• Understanding of garment fit & draping and ability to independently conduct fittings on a model
• Strong working knowledge of Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, Microsoft Office

Our Competencies for All Employees

• Drive for Results: Can be counted on to exceed goals successfully; is constantly and consistently one of the top performers; very bottom-line oriented; steadfastly pushes self and others for results.
• Customer Focus: Is dedicated to meeting the expectations and requirements of internal and external customers; gets first-hand customer information and uses it for improvements in products and services; acts with customers in mind; establishes and maintains effective relationships with customers and gains their trust and respect.
• Creativity: Comes up with a lot of new and unique ideas; easily makes connections among previously unrelated notions; tends to be seen as original and value-added in brainstorming settings.
• Interpersonal Savvy: Relates well to all kinds of people, up, down, and sideways, inside and outside the organization; builds appropriate rapport; builds constructive and effective relationships; uses diplomacy and tact; can diffuse even high-tension situations comfortably.
• Learning on the Fly: Learns quickly when facing new problems; a relentless and versatile learner; open to change; analyzes both successes and failures for clues to improvement; experiments and will try anything to find solutions; enjoys the challenge of unfamiliar tasks; quickly grasps the essence and the underlying structure of anything.
• Perseverance: Pursues everything with energy, drive, and a need to finish; seldom gives up before finishing, especially in the face of resistance or setbacks.
• Dealing with Ambiguity: Can effectively cope with change; can shift gears comfortably; can decide and act without having the total picture; isn’t upset when things are up in the air; doesn’t have to finish things before moving on; can comfortably handle risk and uncertainty.

Our Competencies for All People Managers

• Strategic Agility: Sees ahead clearly; can anticipate future consequences and trends accurately; has broad knowledge and perspective; is future oriented; can articulately paint credible pictures and visions of possibilities and likelihoods; can create competitive and breakthrough strategies and plans.
• Building Effective Teams: Blends people into teams when needed; creates strong morale and spirit in their team; shares wins and successes; fosters open dialogue; lets people finish and be responsible for their work; defines success in terms of the whole team; creates a feeling of belonging in the team.
• Managerial Courage: Doesn’t hold back anything that needs to be said; provides current, direct, complete, and “actionable” positive and corrective feedback to others; lets people know where they stand; faces up to people problems on any person or situation (not including direct reports) quickly and directly; is not afraid to take negative action when necessary.

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PURPOSE:
Collaborate and partner with Brand Design and Merchant teams and Mast Global cross functional associates; including Raw Material, Regional TD, Product Development, Product Performance, Production & Sourcing, QA and Vendors and trim/component suppliers, taking responsibility for the technical development of new styles and application of all quality standards relating to fit and construction. Ensure garment consistency across product categories, analyze and communicate risk during development cycle and continuously seek to drive product improvements to ensure best in class fit, comfort and performance with goal of consistently exciting our customers and exceeding wearing expectations.

 

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Act as a positive, supportive, partner, fostering open communication in a cohesive team environment with all business partners, consistently demonstrating our shared values and competencies
• Serve as a functional expert and Brand Guardian for specific product area
• Work closely to support Senior Technical Designer, ensuring any business critical/hot topics are raised in a timely manner
• Respond quickly to change with a positive attitude and willingness to learn new ways to work and achieve objectives.
• Evaluate fit and construction of proto samples ensuring clear direction of design aesthetic, fit intent and construction.
• Lead fit sessions on live model and communicate fit/construction corrections to vendors via written instruction, flat and on body measurements and digital images.
• Partner with design to execute Design Intent and pass off to regional TD partners to commence fit approval cycle.
• Track and manage workflow and ensure seasonal calendar deadlines are met
• Analyze Wear Test results and complete recommendations for product and fit enhancements.
• Establish fit and quality standards to ensure consistency across product categories.
• Identify potential production, quality, and/or costing issues and provide recommendations and solutions.
• Partner with cross-functional teams to align on product performance standards as it pertains to brand integrity.
• Maintain knowledge of product development process from concept through production, including patternmaking, construction, costing, manufacturing and materials.
• Identify and proactively engage in competitive analysis.
• Participate in design, technical and cross-functional meetings.
• Present technical data and initiatives to cross-functional team, flexing style to audience.
• Support merchants, design and regional partners by responding to and analyzing customer feedback and making appropriate recommendations.
• Participate and support new initiatives and projects.

Qualifications
QUALIFICATIONS

• Technical education in garment fit and construction to degree level or equivalent work experience.
• Knowledge of factory, manufacturing techniques and machinery.
• 6-7 years of technical design experience in apparel
• Experience using a product development technical specification program (PDM, PLM etc).
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office applications (Excel, Word etc).
• Organization skills and ability to multi task.
• Ability to identify issues and create solutions outside of established parameters and guidelines.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Ability to travel domestically and internationally.

An equal opportunity employer, we do not discriminate in hiring or terms and conditions of employment because of an individual’s race, color, religion, gender, gender identity, national origin, citizenship, age, disability, sexual orientation, marital status or any other protected category recognized by state, federal or local laws. We only hire individuals authorized for employment in the United States.

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