Sports Apparel Fashion Designer - Job Description
We are looking to hire a Sports and lifestyle Fashion Designer with style and talent to capture the mood of the athleisure
fanatics community for our new and upcoming ready-to-wear line.
The Fashion Designer will keep an eye on the street, travel to shows and read fashion magazines to spot sports and
athletic related trend, interpreting specific color palettes, patterns and prints for each season.
The ideal candidate will sketch designs by hand, create technical production drawings and address buyers as a seasoned
marketer through outstanding business insight and creativity. Main responsibilities will involve all the steps from research
until production: fashion/gym wear trends analysis, planning for both men & women lines, fabric selection & sample
creation, and bulk order placement with the factories.
To ensure success you will be able to spot trends, capture the spirit of the times in your creations and display business
acumen in your ability to apply product strategy.
The Responsibilities:
• Designing collections for both genders across various age groups covering kids and adults
• Staying abreast of industry news to analyze current and future athleisure trends for collections
• Creating mood boards with collection inspiration, color palettes, and fabric trims
• Planning lines and fabric selection processes
• Creating specification sheets in Excel for factory containing all construction details
• Liaising with factory – from initial collection handover to bulk delivery
• Organizing fabric lab dips and accessory samples with supplier
• Managing all sample fittings appointments and reiterating changes made to supplier
• Assisting in photoshoots approach, setting, content and general mood to ensure commitment to brand guidelines
• Creating project timelines in collaboration with management, ensuring design and production stay on calendar
• Analyzing success of lines through sales analysis to detect under-performing products and find solutions
• Providing recommendations for both potential and tangible problems that may arise during production process
• Designing and developing visual communications in line with collections themes
• Conducting market research to identify new trends, fabrics and techniques, and seeking design inspiration
• Collaborating with team members to select seasonal themes, make edits to line, and create new concepts
• Ensuring product is in agreement with business strategy
• Creating production sketches for development packages
• Collaborating with technical designer to ensure development packages are accurate
• Reviewing product for style and fit during presentation
• Presenting story, mood, color boards, and samples to buyers
• Collaborating with garment techs to develop and approve the best fit and construction for seasonal products
The Ideal Candidate
• Holds a bachelor’s degree in design, fine arts, or fashion design or related field with 7+ years design experience
• Is proficient with CAD, Adobe Illustrator and/or Digital Fashion Pro, Corel Draw, Clo 3D. C-Design.
• Is capable of sketching by hand and the PAD
• Has excellent design and conceptual skills with a refined sense of style and color
• Has outstanding communication skills, both written and verbal
• Garment fit & construction, graphic art, color design, fabric & trim development experience is a must
• Able to interpret the needs of the market, retailers and merchandisers & directors
Technical fabrics experience is a must
• Sports and fitness apparel design experience is a must
• Able to recognize trends, conceptualize ideas, and design products
• Is knowledgeable of the product design & development process
• 3D design experience is preferable
• Is capable to independently manage workload, present and report at a senior level
• Has highly developed organization and time management skills
• Has highly developed interpersonal skills including the ability to mentor fellow team members
• Strong presentation skills and expert in excel and project management