Director, Design

Tailored Brands•New York, NY

1d•$176,404 - $293,904•Onsite

About The Position

The Director, Knits & Sweaters / Designer, Bottoms, Denim & Outerwear provides strategic leadership for the knits and sweaters business while serving as the hands-on designer for casual bottoms, denim, and outerwear. This role owns the seasonal creative direction, product development, and final execution of knits and sweaters — including category strategy, assortment direction, fabrication, color, silhouette, quality, and team leadership. In parallel, the role designs bottoms, denim, and outerwear, translating trend, customer, and brand insights into commercially relevant product concepts through final sample approval. The position partners closely with merchandising, planning, sourcing, technical design, production, vendors, and senior leadership to deliver cohesive, on-brand, high-quality sportswear collections that meet business, margin, timing, and customer needs. The role will also work hands-on with AI-powered design tools throughout the creative process — including generative ideation, trend and color forecasting, digital prototyping, and virtual sampling — to speed up concept development and support stronger design decisions across categories.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree in fashion design, product development, merchandising, textiles, or a related field preferred.
Significant experience in apparel design or product development, with demonstrated expertise in knits and sweaters and strong design experience in bottoms, denim, outerwear, or related categories.
Strong understanding of apparel construction, fabrications, fit, quality, costing, and production processes.
Experience leading a category while managing hands-on design responsibilities across multiple product areas; proven ability to manage multiple deadlines, priorities, and stakeholders simultaneously.
Strong communication, presentation, organization, problem-solving, and decision-making skills.
Ability to travel for vendor meetings, market research, product reviews, and development activities as required.
Ability to sit and work at a computer keyboard for extended periods, and to stoop, kneel, bend, and reach daily.
Able to lift and move up to 25 pounds occasionally; must utilize visual acuity, speech/hearing, and hand-eye coordination to operate a computer and office equipment.

Nice To Haves

Please note that you do not need to qualify for all requirements to be considered. We encourage you to apply if you can meet most of the requirements and are comfortable opening a dialog to be considered.

Responsibilities

Establish seasonal strategy and creative direction across knits, sweaters, casual bottoms, denim, and outerwear in alignment with brand strategy, customer needs, business priorities, and financial objectives.
Lead the knits and sweaters category while maintaining hands-on design ownership of bottoms, denim, and outerwear — defining category architecture, key items, color direction, yarns, gauges, washes, trims, and finishing details.
Design and develop seasonal products from concept through final sample approval, including silhouettes, fits, proportions, construction, and styling; lead balanced assortments across core, seasonal, and fashion-focused products.
Set and uphold standards for fit, handfeel, fabrication, quality, and construction; review and approve concepts, sketches, yarns, colors, lab dips, strike-offs, prototypes, and samples.
Create and present design concepts that support cohesive seasonal product stories and a complete sportswear assortment.
Partner with merchandising and planning to balance creative direction with assortment needs, pricing, margin, volume, and customer expectations.
Lead vendor and cross-functional reviews, resolving issues related to design, fit, feasibility, costing, quality, and delivery; provide clear, actionable sample comments.
Use market information, customer feedback, product performance, and post-season learnings to inform future category direction.
Lead seasonal roadmapping, concept development, line reviews, quality reviews, pass-off meetings, and final approvals, with clear milestones and sign-off requirements.
Manage multiple categories and timelines while prioritizing knits and sweaters; track open decisions, critical path items, and risks, escalating early when quality, cost, timing, or execution may be affected.
Align product direction with merchandising and planning on assortment, pricing, volume, margin, and performance.
Collaborate with sourcing, production, and vendors on feasibility, costing, lead times, and quality; work with technical design/quality teams to resolve fit, construction, and performance issues.
Communicate design direction and decisions clearly; represent assigned categories in cross-functional meetings and build accountable partner relationships.
Provide direction, prioritization, and category leadership for knits and sweaters; set clear expectations for deliverables, deadlines, and decision-making.
Coach and develop team members through regular product reviews and hands-on guidance; give timely, behavior-based feedback and promote collaboration and accountability.
Balance creative ambition with cost, margin, quality, and delivery constraints; maintain accurate product and approval documentation.
Support long-range category planning, vendor and assortment reviews; use performance data and post-season learnings to improve future decisions.
Lead knits and sweaters with a clear creative and commercial point of view while maintaining strong hands-on design ownership of bottoms, denim, and outerwear.
Make timely, clearly communicated decisions; hold teams and partners accountable to deliverables, deadlines, and quality standards.
Address risks and unresolved decisions early and create alignment across categories for a cohesive sportswear assortment.
Model preparation, sound judgment, collaboration, and high standards of product execution.