Assistant/Junior Womenswear Designer

Assistant or Junior Womenswear Designer

Kingston-on-Thames

Full-Time

Crew Clothing Company was founded in Salcombe in 1993. Today Crew is a great British brand, and our success lies in our authentic passion for producing great looking, well made clothes. We now have more than 70 stores and a thriving website, and the business continues to grow.

Our people are at the heart of our company. With a passion for exceptional service, and a love for our product, our team is dedicated to offering the best customer experience – nothing is too much trouble.

Purpose of the role:

We are looking for an Assistant or Junior Womenswear Designer to come and join the team and be responsible for updating all VRPs and CAD's for the design team, as well as designing across our Leisurewear, Sleep, Swim and Casual Jersey categories.

Responsibilities:

Trend & Market Research

• Maintain awareness of seasonal trends through market shopping, trend research and stay current with competition. Gain knowledge of multi-market product ranges.
• Create presentation material for trend, colour and must-have product in your categories.
• Shop trend in retail markets seeking new merchandise ideas, as needed.
• Create presentation boards

Colour and Fabric Research & Development

• Develop and update seasonal coloured range boards, maintaining awareness of market colour direction and internal brand colour stories.
• Research market -identifying specific fabrics, yarns, jersey for the season, work with sourcing team and suppliers to source each fabric to meet the specific pricing needs of knitwear and jersey.
• Select each style's fabric, trims, materials and colours that fit into the mood board direction and create style plans.
• Work with team to develop standards to maintain and grow the internal material library.

Product Development & Development Packages

• Design for womenswear specified categories within the design department.
• Prepare range and presentation boards for range reviews and buyer/product meetings. Create presentation materials for product range sign -off meetings. Work with the design team to keep up to date.
• Be prepared with proto samples, store bought samples, fabric swatches, sketches and tears during Development Meetings
• Create flat technical sketches and packs for design development packages
• Create design development Package with components
• Manage and maintain all information through to final approval.
• Manage Seasonal range sheets .
• Maintain records of range sheets ensure they are updated and correct for product range selection.

• Suggest colour direction for garments to properly balance the product and seasonal collections.

• Review and approve proto samples with technical team.

Team Collaboration

• Work with technical team to ensure tech packages are accurate and complete; review with DD & HOD and provide specific feedback and collaborative direction when necessary.
• Adhere to the seasonal critical path and action calendars. Work collaboratively with internal and external supplier, teams, buyers and technical dept.
• e Updating all VRP's and cads for the design team and own departments. elevate calendar issues and provide resolution in order to maintain calendar dates.

• Approve fabric samples, lab dips and other development materials sent from factories. Work collaboratively with internal material management teams to provide feedback and clear and concise direction in order to execute approvals properly.

• Communicate on a daily basis with overseas offices.

Key Skills & Experience:

Essential –

• Bachelors in Fashion Design, Textile Design or Fine Arts.
• Experience within a junior designer role within the Fashion industry.
• Excellent illustrator skills, proficiency in PC operation, Excel, Adobe Photoshop software
• Ability to impact and influence design team to gain buy-in for product that will influence the Crew customer. Ideally, experience of working in a global matrix environment.
• Knowledge of how product is sourced, developed and marketed
• Exceptional communication and presentation skills and ability to understand how to adapt presentation for relevant audiences.
• Ability to understand brand strategies and to work in a collaborative environment.
• Strong design and conceptual skills
• Strong colour sense / print sense
• Ability to quickly understand the target customer
• Ability to quickly analyse data/situations and draw relevant conclusions to have positive effects on business in a complex environment

• Detail-oriented with excellent time management and organizational skills

• Ability to multi-task, problem solve, and think outside the box in a fast-paced environment

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