EXPERIENCED GRAPHIC DESIGNER – ATHLETICS & ECOMMERCE

Athlete Zone; Corvallis (OR); On-site; USD 27,000 - 30,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Paid time off

SIMPLE IRA match

Employee discounts

Professional development

Job summary

Corvallis Custom is seeking an experienced graphic designer to create apparel and merchandise for collegiate athletic brands, student-athletes, and ecommerce partners.

This hands-on role covers concept to production, including artwork prep, brand alignment, and licensing coordination. You’ll own design from idea to finished product, influencing ecommerce launches and catalog visuals.

Qualifications

• Professional graphic design experience.
• Strong portfolio demonstrating design fundamentals.
• Advanced proficiency with Illustrator and Photoshop.
• Strong typography, composition, color, and layout skills.
• Experience creating artwork for physical products.
• Understanding of vector/raster artwork and production file preparation.

Responsibilities

• Create original apparel and merchandise designs for collegiate brands and partners.
• Develop concepts based on brand guidelines and audience.
• Design within brand systems while creating fresh products.
• Create collections and ensure visual coherence across products.
• Prepare production-ready artwork and mockups.
• Collaborate with licensing teams to ensure compliance and approvals.
• Prepare ecommerce-ready imagery and maintain organized files.

Skills

Graphic design

Portfolio

Illustrator

Photoshop

Typography

Brand guidelines

Production artwork

Project management

Independent work

Licensing awareness

Education

Graphic Design degree welcome

Tools

Adobe Illustrator

Adobe Photoshop

Job description

Full-Time | Corvallis, Oregon

$19.50–$22.00/hour

Design merchandise people actually wear.

Corvallis Custom is looking for an experienced graphic designer to join our team and create apparel and merchandise for collegiate athletic brands, student-athletes, organizations, and ecommerce partners.

This is a hands-on creative position where you'll take products from concept to launch. You'll create original merchandise designs, develop product artwork and mockups, work within collegiate licensing and brand requirements, prepare production-ready files, and help turn your designs into finished products sold through our ecommerce stores.

We're especially interested in designers with experience in athletic apparel, collegiate merchandise, sports graphics, licensed merchandise, streetwear, screen printing, or retail product design.

Previous experience creating licensed collegiate merchandise or working with collegiate licensing is a major advantage.

This is not an entry-level design position. We're looking for someone with the experience and judgment to independently produce professional creative work. We don't expect you to already know our ecommerce platforms or internal systems—we can teach those.

About Corvallis Custom

Corvallis Custom is an established Oregon printing and merchandise company producing custom apparel, print, signage, promotional products, and ecommerce merchandise.

We work with collegiate athletic programs, student-athletes, organizations, businesses, and other partners to create products and branded ecommerce experiences.

We're a small team, which means this position offers something that's harder to find in a large creative department: ownership.

You won't simply create a graphic and hand it to another department. You'll see your work move from an idea on your screen through approval, production, ecommerce, and ultimately onto products people purchase and wear.

What You'll Do

Merchandise & Athletic Design

A major part of this position is creating merchandise.

You'll:

• Create original apparel and merchandise designs for collegiate athletic brands, student-athletes, organizations, and ecommerce partners.
• Develop concepts based on brand guidelines, customer direction, merchandise trends, and the intended audience.
• Design within established athletic and collegiate brand systems while creating fresh, original products.
• Create collections and groups of products that work together visually.
• Adapt designs across garments, colors, print locations, and product types.
• Create professional product mockups and presentation graphics.
• Revise designs based on athlete, partner, customer, and licensing feedback.
• Help continually improve the quality and commercial appeal of the products we offer.

We're looking for someone who understands that designing merchandise is different from simply creating a good-looking graphic. The finished design has to work on the product, meet production requirements, represent the brand correctly, and ultimately be something customers want to purchase.

Product Development & Production Artwork

You'll help take designs from concept to something we can manufacture.

Responsibilities include:

• Preparing production-ready artwork.
• Working appropriately with vector and raster artwork.
• Managing colors, typography, placement, sizing, and artwork specifications.
• Designing with screen printing and other production processes in mind.
• Preparing artwork for different garment colors and configurations.
• Creating ecommerce-ready product imagery and mockups.
• Maintaining organized working and production files.
• Reviewing final artwork before production.

Experience designing for screen printing, apparel decoration, or merchandise production is highly desirable.

Collegiate Licensing & Brand Compliance

Many of the products we create are officially licensed.

You'll help manage designs through the licensing and approval process, including:

• Designing within collegiate brand and licensing requirements.
• Reviewing artwork for compliance before submission.
• Submitting designs through CLC and other required approval processes.
• Responding to requested revisions or rejected designs.
• Tracking approvals and maintaining accurate records.
• Ensuring licensed products receive approval before publication or production.
• Helping manage periodic licensing renewals and resubmissions.

Previous experience with CLC, collegiate licensing, or licensed merchandise is a major advantage, but we can train an experienced designer on our specific processes.

Ecommerce Products & Stores

Once products are approved, you'll help bring them to market.

You'll:

• Create and update ecommerce products and listings.
• Upload product imagery and mockups.
• Configure sizes, colors, and other product options.
• Create and maintain product categories and collections.
• Build visual assets for ecommerce stores.
• Help set up new athlete, organization, partner, and merchandise stores.
• Review products and stores before launch.
• Maintain visual consistency across our ecommerce properties.
• Troubleshoot routine product and store issues.

Previous ecommerce experience is helpful but not required. We can train the right designer on our ecommerce platform and internal systems.

Marketing, Collaboration & Creative Leadership

You'll also create supporting product-launch graphics, social media assets, ecommerce banners, collection graphics, promotional graphics, and reusable creative templates.

You'll work closely with project managers, athlete marketing staff, production staff, and company leadership. You may also provide creative direction and feedback to interns or junior team members.

Formal management experience is not required.

Who We're Looking For

A strong candidate will have:

• Professional graphic design experience.
• A strong portfolio demonstrating excellent design fundamentals.
• Advanced proficiency with Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop.
• Strong typography, composition, color, and layout skills.
• Experience creating artwork intended for physical products.
• Understanding of vector/raster artwork and production file preparation.
• Ability to work within established brand standards.
• Strong attention to detail and file organization.
• Ability to manage multiple projects and deadlines.
• Ability to work independently while collaborating with a small team.
• Ability to receive feedback and translate it into effective revisions.

A degree in Graphic Design, Visual Communication, or a related field is welcome, but equivalent professional experience and a strong portfolio are equally valuable.

Experience We Especially Value

We're particularly interested in experience with:

• Collegiate athletics or licensed collegiate merchandise
• CLC or other licensing processes
• Athletic apparel and sports graphics
• Screen-print apparel design
• Streetwear or retail merchandise
• Ecommerce product development
• Apparel, printing, or promotional-products companies
• Collegiate bookstores or athletic departments

You do not need experience in every area.

If you're a strong merchandise designer, we can teach you our ecommerce, licensing, and internal systems.

Portfolio Required

Your portfolio will be an important part of our hiring decision.

We're especially interested in seeing apparel graphics, athletic or sports-related design, merchandise collections, typography-driven merchandise, licensed or brand-controlled work, finished products/mockups, and designs created within established brand guidelines.

If you have collegiate or professional sports merchandise in your portfolio, please identify the work you personally created and your role in the project.

We value demonstrated design ability and relevant experience more than credentials alone.

Compensation & Benefits

$19.50–$22.00 per hour, full-time

Starting compensation is based on portfolio quality, relevant professional experience, apparel and merchandise experience, and the ability to independently manage the design-to-product workflow.

Candidates with demonstrated collegiate licensing, athletic merchandise, apparel production, and ecommerce product-development experience may qualify toward the top of the range.

Benefits include:

• Paid time off
• 3% SIMPLE IRA employer match
• Employee discounts
• Professional development and hands-on experience across design, merchandise, ecommerce, and licensed athletics

What Makes This Position Different

At a large company, a designer may work on one small part of a product or campaign.

Here, you'll see the entire process:

Concept -> Design -> Approval -> Licensing -> Product -> Ecommerce -> Launch

you'll have significant creative ownership and the opportunity to see products you designed move from your screen into production and ultimately onto customers, fans, and student-athletes.

Corvallis Custom is an equal opportunity employer.