Fabric Manager

Matalan; Liverpool; Hybrid; GBP 60,000 - 90,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

20% staff discount

Thrive Recognition Scheme

Wellbeing support

Life Assurance

Retail Rewards platform

Pension Scheme

Career development opportunities

Job summary

Matalan is seeking a Fabric Manager to lead fabric development and sourcing, ensuring quality, performance, sustainability, and cost targets are met. You will partner with Buying, Design, Technical, and Supply Chain teams to drive end-to-end fabric development and delivery aligned with customer expectations and critical path requirements.

The role involves leading innovation, maintaining fabric standards, and embedding responsible material choices, while collaborating with global suppliers to

Qualifications

• Textile Technology or Fabric related degree required.
• Strong knowledge of fabrics across multiple bases and performance criteria.
• Experience with fabric testing and standards is desirable.
• Excellent communication with overseas suppliers and internal teams.

Responsibilities

• Lead the strategic development and management of fabrics and yarns to meet quality, performance, sustainability, and commercial objectives.
• Drive fabric innovation by identifying new materials, technologies and industry trends.
• Own and improve core fabric and yarn standards using data and reporting for decision making.
• Develop and manage the fabric library, promoting standardisation and cost efficiency.
• Provide specialist guidance and training to cross-functional teams.

Skills

Fabric development

Sourcing fabrics

Supply chain collaboration

Education

Textile Technology or Fabric related Degree

Tools

Digiview

PLM

3D technology

Job description

The Fabric Manager will lead the development and sourcing of fabrics that deliver the required quality, performance, sustainability, and cost objectives. Working in partnership with the Fabric Technical Manager, Buying, Design, Technical, and Supply Chain teams, the role is responsible for driving an efficient end-to-end fabric development process, ensuring the right fabrics are developed and delivered to meet customer expectations, business objectives, and critical path requirements.

From humble beginnings to disruptive innovations in the retail industry, find out about how Matalan is ever-evolving here.

We know as a team, we are stronger together - we champion equality for all and make lasting connections that go beyond work. We thrive off our inclusive culture, encouraging our colleagues to bring their true selves to work and contributing to collective creativity, open-mindedness and growth.

We want give every candidate the opportunity to perform at their best throughout the application and interview process and then ultimately in their role. If you require any adjustments during our recruitment process, please don't hesitate to let us know.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead the strategic development and management of fabrics and yarns, ensuring they meet Matalan's quality, performance, sustainability, and commercial objectives.
• Drive fabric innovation by identifying new materials, technologies, and industry trends, ensuring Matalan remains competitive and delivers value-led products to customers.
• Own and continuously improve the core fabric and yarn standards, monitoring performance through reporting and data analysis to support informed decision-making.
• Manage and develop the core fabric library, promoting fabric standardisation, consolidation, and reuse to improve consistency, efficiency, and cost optimisation across product categories.
• Act as the technical fabric expert, providing specialist guidance and training to Buying, Design, Sourcing, Technical, and supplier teams to support product development and enhance fabric knowledge across the business.
• Collaborate with Buying, Design and key stakeholders to drive consistent quality across all fabrics and yarns, including nominated sources in the supply base
• Lead fabric sustainability initiatives by embedding responsible material choices and supporting the delivery of Matalan's environmental and ethical sourcing targets.
• Identify opportunities to rationalise fabric routes and reduce duplication of similar fabric qualities, driving efficiencies within the supply base while maintaining product performance and customer expectations.
• Represent Matalan at key fabric exhibitions, supplier events, and industry forums to source innovation, build strategic supplier relationships, and identify future opportunities.
• Lead product and fabric deep-dive initiatives, using customer insight, product performance, and technical data to drive continuous improvement and enhance product quality.
• Collaborate with Buying, Design, Sourcing, and supplier partners to resolve fabric-related production issues, ensuring robust root cause analysis and continuous improvement.
• Identify, trial and embed new technologies (e.g.Digiview, PLM, 3D and other emerging tools) to enhance efficiency and effectiveness within the fabric function and wider business where fabric/colour systems are required for decision making
• Mentor junior members of the team to support their knowledge development in fabric and yarns
• Drive the fabric related Key Line Process conversations to ensure that the price and quality of fabrics from nominated mills is competitive

• Textile Technology or Fabric related Degree
• Previous experience in Fabric Development / Management within a fashion or homeware omni channel retailer
• Strong fabric knowledge across multiple bases
• Experience in Textile Testing and fabric standards
• Fabric Sustainability knowledge advantageous especially in Sustainability industry activity and Standards
• Experience of Supply Chain management on an international basis
• Good communication skills including experience of dealing with overseas suppliers and factories
• Highly organised with acute attention to detail

In addition to competitive salaries, we also offer the below core benefits:

• 20% staff discount, which increases with length of service
• Thrive Recognition Scheme
• Wellbeing support provided by the Retail Trust
• Life Assurance
• Retail Rewards platform offering discounts for other retailers
• Pension Scheme
• Access to a wide range of career development
• Additional benefits may apply depending on your role and area of the business