HEAD OF DESIGN - TEXTILES - BEDROOM & BATHROOM / PREMIUM BRAND

House Of Fashion Associates; Preston; On-site; GBP 70,000 - 100,000; Full time

Job summary

House Of Fashion Associates seeks Head of Design for premium textiles in bedding and bathroom. You will lead a small design team, work with retailers, and drive product development from concept to bulk production.

This role requires strong CAD skills, a hands-on leadership style, and experience with global sourcing and trade fairs. You will collaborate with marketing and product teams to grow the brand across UK and export markets.

Qualifications

• Minimum 6 years’ experience in home textiles, premium bedding and bathroom.
• Hands-on leadership of a small design team and cross-functional collaboration.
• Strong CAD and presentation skills with CAD in AVA or similar tools.
• Experience sourcing fabrics and attending global trade fairs and suppliers.
• Experience working with retailers and international export markets.

Responsibilities

• Lead the design function for bedding and bathroom across main and export channels.
• Collaborate with Head of Product to ensure efficient bulk production and timelines.
• Develop and present compelling design concepts and colorways to customers.
• Brief suppliers, oversee samples, and manage approvals from strike-offs to final samples.
• Dress trade shows and showrooms and support marketing with design inspiration.

Skills

CAD Skills

Drawing Skills

Presentation Skills

Organizational Skills

Time Management

Interpersonal Skills

Deadline Driven

Travel Willingness

Trade Fairs Experience

MS Office

Hands-on

Commercial Acumen

Education

Degree Level

Tools

AVA CAD

Adobe Illustrator

Adobe Photoshop

Microsoft Office

Job description

HEAD OF DESIGN - PREMIUM TEXTILES BEDDING AND BATHROOM

MANCHESTER - HEAD OFFICES

Our client is a very successful and well established premium Textiles brand selling into UK and European retailers. They are now looking to recruit a HOME TEXTILES HEAD OF DESIGN

(bedding / Bathroom ) to join their growing business. Candidates must have a strong background of working in Premium brand Textiles in Bedding / Bathroom and be hands on in their current role.

The role :

• Working with retailers such as John Lewis, Harrods, and many more
• This is a hand on role and managing a small team
• Working closely with the Head of Product/ directors to ensure efficient bulk production of products
• To build a relevant, growing and profitable home textile business portfolio into all targeted trade channels, in existing & new categories/geographies
• Sourcing fabrics and techniques through supplier visits overseas and global trade fairs
• Dressing trade shows and showrooms in the UK and abroad,
• Assisting the Marketing team by providing information on the inspiration behind designs and collections to create product copy
• Assisting the Product Development team by providing CADs of packaging requirements such as insert cards and care labels
• Creating exciting bedding and bathroom designs and colourways in CAD form
• Presenting confidently to customers and internal stakeholders
• Working closely with key customers on exclusive designs to their brief and their timetable
• Working on own brand portfolio from.
• Working on designs for both the UK and varied export markets
• Following design trends and adapting them to our product areas, in order to generate compelling trend resources
• Briefing suppliers in detail to allow them to produce samples to their exact specification.
• Managing the development of samples from key suppliers
• Adhering to the business’ critical path for each project
• Approval of factory submissions from strike offs/lab dips through to full samples
• Maintaining up-to-date knowledge of new design and production techniques and textile technology

SKILLS

• Strong CAD skills specifically in AVA, Adobe Illustrator and Adobe Photoshop.
• Excellent drawing skills and a flair for using colour creatively
• Excellent presentation skills: creating strong visual presentation material and the ability to speak confidently about design concepts.
• Ability to manage a busy workload, strong organisational skills are a must as is the ability to juggle competing demands within the role
• The ability to work to deadlines is essential
• Strong interpersonal skills for dealing with everyone from overseas suppliers through to key customers
• Diligent and organized approach to maintaining records of approvals and developments
• Passion for textiles and a desire to keep learning about this exciting product area
• Commercial acumen with ability to understand pricing architecture for target business.
• Previous experience in a commercial environment, preferably Retail or Brands.
• Willingness to undertake global travel.
• Experience of planning and dressing trade fairs is an advantage
• Experience of using Microsoft Office programs
• Educated to degree level
• Minimum 6 years’ experience in home textiles with experience in PREMIUM home textiles bedlinen bathroom
• Be hands on within the business and role