General Summary:
The Raw Materials Specialist role supports worldwide leather and materials development that translates our brand design philosophies into clear, executable, direction for vendors, suppliers, and other outside research institutes. In partnership with the Director of Raw Materials, this role will lead and evolve the leather and materials research and development initiative with our regional sourcing teams. The role will have a high degree of partnership with the design teams supporting our owned brands portfolio.
Location: This is a hybrid position and will be expected to work in the NYC office 3-5 days per week
Reports to: Director, Raw Materials
Essential Duties & Responsibilities:
- Partner with the design team to bring latest ideas and innovation, while also conducting continual research and development.
- Support the leather and materials R&D process to translate the brand aesthetic into clear, executable direction for sourcing teams that manage vendors/suppliers.
- Work together with design and sourcing teams on development and allocation strategies.
- Align with regional sourcing strategies and ensure product and material expertise and capabilities are also in alignment.
- In partnership with the sourcing team, drive material and trims digitalization throughout the vendor base.
- Maintain consistent alignment between design and sourcing on overall concepts as it ties to the brand & seasonal strategies.
- Source seasonal design requests with appropriate vendors to offer creative solutions if the request is outside the brand’s sourcing and pricing strategy.
- Attend leather and materials shows as appropriate to gain perspective on newness, innovation, sustainability, and trend as it applies to the brand.
- Utilize technical expertise to realistically translate the design intent on leather and material requests to meet raw material cost parameters and guidelines.
- Support sourcing to develop and maintain a portfolio for regional vendors with curated vendor/market strength, capabilities, and opportunities.
- Maintain a leather and materials resource library to support seasonal inspirations as well as archive historical and fundamental leather/materials.
- Ensure product key milestone and calendar dates are met; create and manage material trackers to track cost and development packages to regional teams.
- Support sample leather and materials development with sourcing, determining proper hand feel, finishing and construction.
Required Skills & Competencies:
- Technical knowledge of leather and materials, constructions, and finishing; prior experience in footwear strongly preferred
- Working knowledge and understanding of product development and production
- Attention to details, initiative, and strong verbal and written communication skills
- Strong organizational skills and ability to maintain data integrity
- Strong analytical skills
- Ability to negotiate and build consensus across multiple functions
- Strong interpersonal skills, including the ability to regularly interface with senior management, work effectively with Designers and Production partners
- Ability to travel both domestically and internationally
- The ideal candidate will have strong understanding of current and upcoming material trends and will build strong relationships with material vendors to give us access to purchase the most desired materials and trends.
- This is a hybrid position and will be expected to work in the NYC office 3-5 days per week
Experience:
- 5+ years of experience in leather and materials research and development
Education:
- Bachelor’s degree in Textile, Fashion Design, or related field OR relevant work experience
The estimated pay range for this position is $68k to $102k. The successful candidate’s actual salary offer will take into account a wide range of job-related factors including skill sets, years and nature of relevant experience, training, pay rates of associates in similar positions, the candidate’s location, and other organizational needs. The estimated pay range has been adjusted for the applicable geographic differential. This range does not include benefits such as health insurance, paid or unpaid time off work, and retirement.
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Why Choose A Career with Designer Brands?
Empowering associates and building strong teams poised to disrupt the retail and footwear landscape through positive change is at the core of who we are at Designer Brands.
- Invested in helping our associates learn, develop, achieve and grow into strong leaders
- Shared commitment to creating a culture fueled by engagement, excitement, optimism and fun
- Dedicated to giving back and community involvement
About Designer Brands:
Designer Brands Inc. is one of North America’s largest designers, producers and retailers of footwear and accessories.
- Designer Brands Inc. operates a portfolio of retail concepts in nearly 1,000 locations under the DSW Designer Shoe Warehouse, The Shoe Company, and Shoe Warehouse brands and operates leased locations in the U.S through its Affiliated Business Group.
- Designer Brands designs and produces footwear and accessories through Camuto Group, a leading manufacturer selling in more than 5,400 doors worldwide.
IMPORTANT NOTICE:
We learned of a fake job offer scam where individuals are using a company’s name and branding to create emails and websites designed to trick individuals into providing personal information because they think they are applying for a job directly with the company. To combat this, companies are listing their legitimate hiring sites and communication methods. Our valid email addresses end in @dswinc.com, @designerbrands.com and @camutogroup.com. Two examples of non-legitimate email addresses are ones that end in @designerbrands.info or @designerbrands.work (do not respond to interview requests or other messages from these). If you are not certain about a communication or an information request, a good practice is to independently look-up a contact for the company (do not use the contact method listed in the request) to verify that you are contacting the right person and not being deceived. If you want to verify a Designer Brands’ related hiring request, please send a message to TalentAcquisition@hr.designerbrands.com. Please know we are working to do what we can to stop these scams.