Manager, Product Development, RTW Sweaters

kate spade new york; New York (NY); On-site; USD 110,000 - 170,000; Full time

Job summary

Coach is seeking a Product Development Manager for RTW Cut & Sew & Knitwear to lead end-to-end development from concept through bulk handoff. You will work across Design, Merchandising, Materials Management, and Technical Design to meet quality, cost, calendar, and aesthetic targets.

The role emphasizes fabric/yarn development, BOM management, and supplier coordination. You will drive seasonal strategies, partner with mills and vendors, and manage timing of prototypes and samples to ensure

Qualifications

• 5+ years of apparel product development experience, Cut & Sew and/or Knitwear.
• Experience with fabrics, yarns, and materials development with mills/suppliers.
• Understanding of garment, fabric, and yarn costing.
• Knowledge of knitwear construction and yarn specs.
• Ability to collaborate cross-functionally across teams.
• Strong negotiation and influencing skills.
• Excellent organizational and project management abilities.
• Experience with PLM, BOM management, Excel, and related systems.

Responsibilities

• Lead product development for Cut & Sew and Knitwear across Runway, Runway Takedown, Collection and more.
• Partner with Design, Merchandising, Materials Management, and Technical Design throughout development.
• Execute seasonal product development strategies and priorities set by the Director.
• Collaborate with Design to balance aesthetic, quality, cost, and calendar goals.
• Monitor development calendars and manage milestone deliverables.
• Coordinate development packages, materials, trims, yarns, and fabrics to vendors.
• Manage Prototype, Line Opening, Fit, and SMS samples delivery timelines.
• Coordinate with domestic and overseas partners for development direction.
• Lead weekly Product Team Meetings and milestone reviews.
• Support BOM maintenance within PLM and manage fabric/yarn development calendars.
• Identify new vendor and yarn supplier opportunities and partnerships.
• Prepare seasonal development recaps and business analyses.

Skills

Apparel product development

Fabric/yarn development

Costing

Knitwear knowledge

Team collaboration

Negotiation

Project management

Advanced PLM

BOM management

Excel

Product development systems

Tools

PLM

BOM management

Excel

Product development systems

Job description

Coach is a global fashion house founded in New York in 1941. Inspired by the vision of Creative Director Stuart Vevers and the inclusive and courageous spirit of our hometown, we make beautiful things, crafted to last—for you to be yourself in.
Coach is part of the Tapestry portfolio – a global house of brands committed to stretching what’s possible.
A member of the Tapestry family, we are part of a global house of brands that has unwavering optimism and is committed to being innovative and wholly inclusive. Visit Our People page to learn more about Tapestry’s commitment to equity, inclusion, and diversity.

Coach is a leading design house of modern luxury accessories and lifestyle collections, with a long-standing reputation built on quality craftsmanship. Defined by a free-spirited, all-American attitude, the brand approaches design with a modern vision, reimagining luxury for today with an authenticity and innovation that is uniquely Coach. All over the world, the Coach name is synonymous with effortless New York style.

Coach is part of the Tapestry portfolio – a global house of brands powered by optimism, innovation, and inclusivity.

Manager, Product Development RTW – Cut & Sew & Knitwear

Primary Purpose

The Product Development Manager is responsible for leading the end-to-end product development process for Cut & Sew apparel and Knitwear (Sweaters) from initial design concept through bulk handoff. This role partners cross-functionally to deliver product that meets quality, costing, calendar, aesthetic, and material development objectives. The position is responsible for fabric development and sourcing support for Cut & Sew categories and yarn development and ordering for Knitwear. This role serves as a key partner to Design, Merchandising, Materials Management, and Technical Design to achieve seasonal product goals. Production ownership resides outside of Product Development

The successful individual will leverage their proficiency in Product Development to…

• Lead product development for Cut & Sew and Knitwear categories across Runway, Runway Takedown, Collection, Multi-Channel, and Outlet businesses.
• Serve as a key cross-functional partner to Design, Merchandising, Materials Management, and Technical Design throughout the development lifecycle.
• Execute seasonal product development strategies and priorities established by the Director.
• Partner with Design to deliver product that achieves aesthetic intent while meeting quality, cost, and calendar objectives.
• Monitor seasonal development calendars and proactively manage milestone deliverables.
• Analyze Design Cards and coordinate development launch activities with internal cross-functional teams and external development partners.
• Coordinate distribution of development packages, materials, trims, yarns, and fabrics to sample facilities and development vendors.
• Manage the timely development and delivery of Prototype, Line Opening, Fit, and SMS samples.
• Coordinate workload, communication, and development direction with domestic and overseas development partners.
• Lead weekly Product Team Meetings, fittings, and cross-functional milestone reviews.
• Coordinate development meetings with Technical Design, Merchandising, Materials Management, and supplier partners to drive timely decision-making.
• Partner with cross-functional teams to create and maintain Bills of Material (BOMs) within PLM.
• Lead fabric development for Cut & Sew categories, partnering with mills and suppliers to develop fabrics that achieve design intent, quality standards, performance requirements, and target costs.
• Manage seasonal fabric development calendars, submissions, testing requirements, approvals, and fabric commitments.
• Partner closely with Materials Management to identify and develop new fabric opportunities and innovations.
• Lead yarn development activities for Knitwear, including yarn sourcing, submissions, approvals, and seasonal yarn strategy recommendations.
• Manage seasonal yarn ordering to support sampling and development timelines.
• Maintain fabric and yarn development tracking tools and communicate status, risks, and opportunities to cross-functional teams.

Costing & Business Management

• Create and maintain comprehensive seasonal costing charts, consolidating target costs, actual costs, material costs, supplier information, development milestones, and key business updates.
• Develop category costing strategies and establish seasonal style target costs in partnership with the Director.
• Collect, analyze, and negotiate garment, fabric, and yarn costs throughout the development process to achieve target cost objectives.
• Prepare detailed costing analyses and recommendations to support seasonal business decisions.
• Submit and maintain Working Costs within PLM throughout development milestones.
• Order seasonal sample yardage, development fabrics, yarns, and trims based on Design selections and development needs.
• Attend seasonal buy review meetings to support development planning, material commitments, and MOQ decisions.
• Support identification, onboarding, and development of new vendor, mill, and yarn supplier partnerships.
• Prepare seasonal development recaps and business analyses.
• Partner with Production, Sourcing, Materials Management, and external suppliers to ensure a seamless handoff from development into production.

Qualifications

The accomplished individual will possess…

• 5+ years of experience in apparel product development with expertise in Cut & Sew and/or Knitwear categories.
• Experience developing fabrics, yarns, and materials with mills and suppliers.
• Strong understanding of garment costing, fabric costing, and yarn costing.
• Knowledge of knitwear construction, yarn specifications, gauges, and development processes.
• Ability to work in a collaborative team environment and communicate cross-functionally with all levels of the organization.
• Strong negotiation and influencing skills.
• Excellent organizational, project management, and problem-solving abilities.
• Advanced PLM, BOM management, Excel, and product development systems experience.

Our Competencies for All Employees

• Drive for Results: Can be counted on to exceed goals successfully; is constantly and consistently one of the top performers; very bottom-line oriented; steadfastly pushes self and others for results.
• Customer Focus: Is dedicated to meeting the expectations and requirements of internal and external customers; gets first-hand customer information and uses it for improvements in products and services; acts with customers in mind; establishes and maintains effective relationships with customers and gains their trust and respect.
• Creativity : Comes up with a lot of new and unique ideas; easily makes connections among previously unrelated notions; tends to be seen as original and value-added in brainstorming settings.
• Interpersonal Savvy : Relates well to all kinds of people, up, down, and sideways, inside and outside the organization; builds appropriate rapport; builds constructive and effective relationships; uses diplomacy and tact; can diffuse even high-tension situations comfortably.
• Learning on the Fly: Learns quickly when facing new problems; a relentless and versatile learner; open to change; analyzes both successes and failures for clues to improvement; experiments and will try anything to find solutions; enjoys the challenge of unfamiliar tasks; quickly grasps the essence and the underlying structure of anything.
• Perseverance : Pursues everything with energy, drive, and a need to finish; seldom gives up before finishing, especially in the face of resistance or setbacks.
• Dealing with Ambiguity : Can effectively cope with change; can shift gears comfortably; can decide and act without having the total picture; isn’t upset when things are up in the air; doesn’t have to finish things before moving on; can comfortably handle risk and uncertainty.

Our Competencies for All People Managers

• Strategic Agility : Sees ahead clearly; can anticipate future consequences and trends accurately; has broad knowledge and perspective; is future oriented; can articulately paint credible pictures and visions of possibilities and likelihoods; can create competitive and breakthrough strategies and plans.
• Building Effective Teams : Blends people into teams when needed; creates strong morale
  and spirit in his/her team; shares wins and successes; fosters open dialogue; lets people finish and be responsible for their work; defines success in terms of the whole team; creates a feeling of belonging in the team.
• Managerial Courage : Doesn’t hold back anything that needs to be said; provides current, direct, complete, and “actionable” positive and corrective feedback to others; lets people know where they stand; faces up to people problems on any person or situation (not including direct reports) quickly and directly; is not afraid to take negative action when necessary.

**Our Competencies for All Employees Courage**
: Doesn’t hold back anything that needs to be said; provides current, direct, complete, and “actionable” positive and corrective feedback to others; lets people know where they stand; faces up to people problems on any person or situation (not including direct reports) quickly and directly; is not afraid to take negative action when necessary.
Creativity : Comes up with a lot of new and unique ideas; easily makes connections among previously unrelated notions; tends to be seen as original and value-added in brainstorming settings.
Customer Focus : Is dedicated to meeting the expectations and requirements of internal and external customers; gets first-hand customer information and uses it for improvements in products and services; acts with customers in mind; establishes and maintains effective relationships with customers and gains their trust and respect.
Dealing with Ambiguity : Can effectively cope with change; can shift gears comfortably; can decide and act without having the total picture; isn’t upset when things are up in the air; doesn’t have to finish things before moving on; can comfortably handle risk and uncertainty.
Drive for Results : Can be counted on to exceed goals successfully; is constantly and consistently one of the top performers; very bottom-line oriented; steadfastly pushes self and others for results.
Interpersonal Savvy : Relates well to all kinds of people, up, down, and sideways, inside and outside the organization; builds appropriate rapport; builds constructive and effective relationships; uses diplomacy and tact; can diffuse even high-tension situations comfortably.
Learning on the Fly : Learns quickly when facing new problems; a relentless and versatile learner; open to change; analyzes both successes and failures for clues to improvement; experiments and will try anything to find solutions; enjoys the challenge of unfamiliar tasks; quickly grasps the essence and the underlying structure of anything.