Head Designer, Girls’ Sportswear

Confidential; New York (NY); On-site; USD 120,000 - 170,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Comprehensive benefits package

Job summary

Confidential is seeking a hands-on Head Designer to lead a team in developing girls’ sportswear collections for infants through tweens. Submit seasonal designs for branded, licensed, and private-label lines sold through mass-market and specialty retailers on-site in New York.

The Head Designer works with the Division Head and Head of Sales to shape seasonal direction and build assortments for retail customers, overseeing calendar, tech packs, and approvals with factories and licensors.

Qualifications

• 5+ years children’s apparel design experience, including girls’ sportswear across infant-to-tween range.
• Experience designing licensed children’s apparel and private-label collections for mass-market retailers.
• Experience supervising designers and leading seasonal collections from concept through pre-production.
• Strong knowledge of garment construction, fabrics, printing, and garment-wash techniques.
• Proficiency in Illustrator, Photoshop, and Excel.
• Experience using a product lifecycle management (PLM) system.

Responsibilities

• Lead and mentor direct reports and oversee seasonal collections from concept through line adoption and pre-production.
• Research children’s apparel trends and translate them into silhouettes, fabrics, colors, prints, and graphics for each age group and retail customer.
• Create original prints and graphics and guide, review, and approve artwork developed by the design team.
• Design with target garment costs in mind and partner with Sourcing on fabric, trim, and construction choices.
• Prepare production-ready tech packs and review and approve those prepared by the design team; keep PLM records current.
• Evaluate lab dips, fabrics, trims, artwork, and garment samples; communicate design details to overseas factories.
• Own the seasonal design calendar and track sample approvals to meet production deadlines.
• Coordinate licensor submissions and approvals and present seasonal collections to retail buyers.

Skills

Leadership

Team management

Communication

Education

Bachelor’s degree in fashion design or related field

Tools

Adobe Illustrator

Adobe Photoshop

Microsoft Excel

PLM system

Job description

An established children’s apparel company seeks a hands-on Head Designer to lead a team and develop girls’ sportswear collections for infants through tweens. The role oversees seasonal design for branded, licensed, and private-label collections sold through mass-market and specialty retailers.

The Head Designer works closely with the Division Head and Head of Sales to shape seasonal design direction and build assortments for retail customers.

Responsibilities

Lead and mentor direct reports and oversee seasonal collections from initial concept through line adoption and pre-production.

Research children’s apparel trends and translate them into silhouettes, fabrics, colors, prints, and graphics suited to each age group and retail customer.

Create original prints and graphics and guide, review, and approve artwork developed by the design team.

Design with target garment costs in mind and partner with Sourcing on fabric, trim, and construction choices.

Prepare production-ready tech packs and review & approve those prepared by the design team. Keep design files, tech packs, and approval records current in the PLM system.

Evaluate lab dips, fabrics, trims, artwork, and garment samples. Communicate design details, revision requests, and approval comments directly to overseas factories.

Own the seasonal design calendar and track sample approvals across the design team to meet production deadlines.

Partner with Technical Design and Production to evaluate fit and construction and jointly approve pre-production samples.

Coordinate licensor submissions and approvals as needed and present seasonal collections to retail buyers.

Required qualifications

At least five years of children’s apparel design experience, including girls’ sportswear across the full infant-to-tween range.

Hands-on experience designing licensed children’s apparel and private-label collections, including experience designing for mass-market retailers.

Experience supervising designers and leading seasonal collections from concept through pre-production.

Strong knowledge of garment construction, fabrics, printing, and garment-wash techniques.

Proficiency in Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop, and Microsoft Excel.

Experience using a product lifecycle management (PLM) system.

A bachelor’s degree in fashion design or a related field, or equivalent professional experience.

Strong written and verbal communication skills and the ability to manage multiple seasonal deadlines.

We offer a comprehensive and competitive benefits package.

Full-time, fully on-site | Monday through Friday. This is not a remote or hybrid position.