Head Designer / Merchandiser

SUMMARY:

The senior designer is responsible for merchandising and designing fashion apparel for boys and girls newborn, infant & toddler Sportswear and sleepwear.  The senior designer will be responsible for seeing each project through from the beginning of the design process, including selection of fabrics, and trend right bodies, to style creation, line adoption to pre-production approval.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Identify trends and create designs for branded, licensed and private label lines that are trend right, appropriate for boys and girls newborn, infant & toddler Sportswear and Size 4-20 sleepwear. to be sold at mass merchants and specialty stores.
• Work closely with the sales team and other designers to conceptualize full garment designs and build seasonal product lines.
• Prepare materials for design overview meetings, fabric meetings, and meetings where you will review with the sales team and sourcing team, the seasonal trends, styles and artwork. 
• Work with sourcing team to ensure your fabrics and body types are within the means for each line.
• Prepare fully detailed production packages including all garment details, trim, labeling and artwork.
• Ensure all designs are uploaded onto company database and the main server.
• Review and approve fabric, lab dip, artwork, garment and trim submissions and communicate your comments directly to the factories.
• Work with the technical design team in evaluating garment construction and styling.
• Manage schedules to assure all approvals are completed to leave enough lead time for garment production. 

Qualifications

 KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS & ABILITIES REQUIRED:

• Bachelor’s degree in art/design preferred. 
• Minimum of 5-year of experience in children’s apparel in the same market.
• Ability to execute a broad range of designs that are appropriate for boys and girls newborn, infant & toddler Sportswear and sleepwear. within the price requirements for each line and customer.
• Knowledge of typography, illustration graphics and print, for childrenswear trends (i.e. Latest toys/ movies/ shows). 
• Strong technical knowledge of garment construction, fabrics, printing and washing techniques.
• Proficiency in Illustrator, Photoshop and InDesign required, experience with QuickTime, Flash, Acrobat, Excel, FileMaker Pro a plus.
• Be organized and have the ability to attend to details and manage multiple priorities in a fast-paced, deadline driven environment.
• Ability to manage and prioritize seasonal projects. 
• Ability to take direction yet maintain intuition.
• Ability to stay current on top of new print and digital design trends.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills.
• Excellent team player.

Competitive Benefits

Please submit your resume as a Microsoft Word document