Technical Designer

Mary Square, LLC; Apex (NC); On-site; USD 95,000 - 125,000; Full time

Job summary

Mary Square, LLC is seeking a talented Technical Designer to join our creative team and help bring seasonal collections to life. You will partner with design, production, and vendor teams to execute fit, grading, and tech packs, ensuring samples meet quality standards.

The role requires a Bachelor in apparel technical design, 8+ years of experience, proficiency in Illustrator and Excel, and mentoring responsibilities as the team scales.

Qualifications

• Bachelors (BFA, BS, or BSCS) with specialization in apparel technical design.
• Completed courses in pattern making, advanced sewing/construction, tailoring and draping.
• Experience with pattern making, sewing, grading, tech packing, flat sketching and fitting.
• Strong understanding of Adobe Illustrator and digital pattern design.
• Experienced in the apparel design process and knowledge of bulk production.

Responsibilities

• Establish fit and measuring standards for all styles across brands.
• Refine spec’ing, fitting and grading processes and rules.
• Determine measurements for new designs and base-size samples.
• Manage fit meetings, construction, and decoration placement with teams.
• Grade specs for production and oversee fit sampling with factories.
• Create tech packs and transfer fit notes to factories.
• Flat sketching and tech packing to support design and development.
• Support calendar timelines and cross-functional decision making.
• Mentor direct reports and ensure on-time delivery.

Skills

Fit expert

Grading

Tech packing

Flat sketching

Pattern making

Fitting

Collaboration

Mentoring

Production readiness

Adobe Illustrator

Microsoft Excel

3D technical design

Education

Bachelors in apparel tech design

Tools

Adobe Illustrator

Microsoft Excel

3D technical design

Job description

Mary Square is a women-owned lifestyle and apparel brand inspiring women to live their yes. We offer meaningful gifts, statement jewelry, and apparel designed to uplift and connect. With bold original artwork and a passion for quality, we proudly serve over 4,000 boutiques across the U.S. As we continue to grow, we’re seeking a talented and detail-oriented Technical Designer to join our creative team and help bring our seasonal collections to life.

Position Overview

The Technical Apparel Designer is crucial when it comes to knowing the fit and construction details of a design. Your primary duties will be to collaborate with the design team, production team and our vendor partners to ensure the finished product meets the company’s quality standards. During that process, you will execute fit and construction from initial concept through production, produce technical specification packets, determine measurements of new designs, and produce the information necessary for sampling and manufacturing apparel.

Key Responsibilities

• Support the apparel design team as the fit expert by establishing fit and measuring standards for all styles of all brands across the company.
• Refine the spec’ing, fitting and grading process.
• Establish grading rules for each brand and applicable segmentation.
• Determine measurements of new designs for base-size sample requests.
• Responsible for conducting fit meetings with models and designers for development protos within the category, inclusive of construction, fit, and decoration placement (where applicable) in alignment with the tech pack.
• Once style/fit samples are approved, grade the specs for the desired sizes.
• Oversee fit sampling and work with factories to resolve any fit challenges.
• Design "how to measure" pages of the tech pack.
• Transfer the fit notes to the factory and answer their questions in revising a sample.
• Assist in design and development by flat sketching and tech packing.
• Support the calendar adherence by prioritizing the flow of technical product details to meet calendar timelines & supporting cross functional decision making.
• Partner with design, attending presentations and meetings, providing feedback on technical feasibility, brainstorming ideas, and solutions to ensure the design vision is translated into product meeting size, fit & product standards, inclusive of but not limited to any segmentation strategy by sales channel or key account.
• When necessary, make adjustments to patterns and samples for fit sessions.
• Ensure measurements and garment construction are accurate, complete, and production ready in accordance with the seasonal calendar timelines. Recommended solutions if needed maintaining deadlines and bulk production acceptable product decisions.
• Maintain seasonal body and style metrics and standards to ensure consistency.
• Providing technical support as it relates to quality control standards and specifications.
• Collaborating with sourcing to meet production timeline.
• Ensure the final tech pack and approved samples are available in preparation for pre-production and production protocols.
• Manage and mentor direct reports to ensure a collaborative team and on time deadlines.

Qualifications

• Bachelors (BFA, BS, or BSCS) with specialization in apparel technical design.
• Minimum of 8 years of relevant work experience.
• Completed courses in pattern making, advanced sewing/construction, tailoring and draping.
• Experienced in pattern making, sewing, grading, tech packing, flat sketching and fitting.
• Strong understanding of Adobe Illustrator and digital pattern design.
• Experience with 3D technical design preferred.
• Proficient knowledge of Microsoft Excel for spec’ing and grading purposes.
• Experienced in the apparel design process and knowledgeable of bulk production process.
• Detail-oriented, organized, proactive, self-starter, team player and ability to effectively mentor and manage direct reports as the team scales.