Fabric Sourcing Manager

John Lewis Partnership; City Of London; Hybrid; GBP 59,000 - 70,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading retail partnership in the UK is seeking a Fabric Sourcing Manager to develop and manage the fabric sourcing strategy. This role involves overseeing fabric sourcing projects, negotiating with suppliers, and ensuring alignments with design and sustainability standards. Ideal candidates will have expertise in fabric sourcing and strong knowledge of raw materials. The position offers a competitive salary and a hybrid working model.

Qualifications

• Expert in fabric sourcing, development & knowledge with great overall knowledge of raw materials.
• Experience of working directly with mills and yarn suppliers across the globe.
• Strong Fabric knowledge across woven and jersey in production.

Responsibilities

• Develop fabric sourcing strategy including mill locations and quality.
• Recommend introduction, growth, decline, and exit of mills.
• Ensure sourcing aligns with design and business strategies.
• Deliver overall fabric and trim sourcing strategy.

Skills

Expert in fabric sourcing

Experience with mills and yarn suppliers

Strong knowledge of woven and jersey production

Fashion and trend awareness

Job description

About the role

We’re recruiting a Fabric Sourcing Manager to join our Sourcing team on a 12 month contract.

In this role, you will be responsible for the development of the overall fashion fabric sourcing strategy and will manage fabric bases or projects of high strategic importance and complexity.

You are an expert in fabric who is responsible for the sourcing, negotiation and consolidation of own label fabrics and trims, delivering profitability and sustainability that meet directorate strategy whilst ensuring fabrics are aligned to trend /design and customer needs.

• Salary range - up to £70,000 depending on experience

• Contract type - This position is a fixed term contract/secondment until January 2027.

• Working pattern/flexible working - The Partnership has adopted a hybrid working approach, meaning you'll be able to work a mixture between the office and home based upon your personal needs whilst balancing the needs of the business. The Sourcing team meets in the office 3 days a week in the office to connect and on a more ad-hoc basis to attend key meetings.
  

Key responsibilities

• Recommendation of fabric sourcing strategy, inc mill numbers, location, quality, cost, lead times

• Responsible for which mills to introduce, grow decline and exit

• Global consolidation opportunities

• Define ways of working to ensure the fabric sourcing is aligned with Design, tech & CR to achieve the best possible outcome for the season including trend, cost and alignment to strategy.

• Delivering the overall fabric and trim sourcing strategy

• Support of the Fabric Sourcing Coordinator

• Responsible for the sustainable fabric sourcing requirements to align with business strategy.

Essential skills/experience you’ll need

• Expert in fabric sourcing, development & knowledge with great overall knowledge of raw materials, fabric qualities, current costs and business performance standards.

• Experience of working directly with mills and yarn suppliers across the globe.

• Strong Fabric knowledge across woven and jersey in production from spinning to bulk.

• Strong fashion and trend awareness

About The Partnership

We’re the largest employee owned business in the UK and home of our cherished brands, John Lewis and Waitrose. We’re not just employees, we’re Partners, driven by our purpose to build a happier world. As we look to our future, there’s never been a more exciting time to join us.

We’re ruthlessly focused on being brilliant at retail. We continue to innovate, adapt and diversify. Never Knowingly Undersold on price, quality and service in John Lewis and passionately serving food-lovers in Waitrose.

As Partners we all share the responsibility of ownership and in its rewards. We use our voices to contribute to our success, working together through the good and challenging times, holding true to our behaviours and treating everyone with kindness and respect.

We all own making the Partnership somewhere we belong. Embracing our differences and creating an environment where we’re free to be ourselves and can THRIVE. Growing ourselves individually, and as a collective.

As Partners, we make all the difference. And, we all own it.

Important points to note

It’s important to note that some of our roles are subject to pre-employment vetting (which may include DBS checks for successful candidates). If required, you’ll be informed and provided with information about vetting during the recruitment process and we encourage you to complete any vetting documents quickly to avoid delays. Any DBS checks required will be carried out by a third-party registered body and financial probity checks may also be required for some of our roles.

We occasionally close vacancies early in the event we receive a high volume of applications, and therefore, we recommend you apply early. If you require a reasonable adjustment due to a disability which means you may need longer to complete your application please contact us as soon as possible.

We want all of our Partners to have a good work-life balance and we support flexible working. This might mean flexible or compressed hours, job sharing or shorter hour contracts, where possible. Please discuss this further with the hiring manager during your interview.