Free People Temporary Color Designer

Free People • Philadelphia, PA

262d

About The Position

Free People is seeking a Temporary Color Designer to join our Color Department and provide support during a maternity leave (approx. 4 months, starting July 2025). In this role, you'll collaborate closely with the Color & Textile Design Director to support palette development, category scheduling, color assorting, and lab dip approvals—while managing communication across Design, Buying, and Vendors to ensure color intent is executed flawlessly. If you're organized, color-obsessed, and ready to jump in, we'd love to hear from you! This is an in-person role based at our Philadelphia home office (5 days/week). Financial assistance is available for candidates relocating short-term from outside the area.

Requirements

• Design, Fashion or Color Design Experience strongly preferred.
• Passionate for colors as well as knowledgeable about colors, nuances and technicalities.
• Strong understanding of the Free People aesthetic and customer.
• Experience in Photoshop and Adobe InDesign.
• Illustrator, NedGraphics, and Tradestone experience welcomed.
• Knowledge of BOM processes is a plus (Tradestone/PLM systems).

Nice To Haves

• Collaborative mentality with strong cross-department communication skills.
• Ability to work independently and manage multiple tasks efficiently.
• Detail-oriented with the ability to follow complex processes.
• Positive, proactive and strong team collaboration skills.

Responsibilities

• Assist in the development of seasonal palette direction, physical and digital palette creation and color matching needs.
• Support with additional research into seasonal/monthly color whilst keeping focus on brand appropriateness and true FP aesthetic that ties back Concept team directives.
• Collaborate with Director on building monthly color direction and support with references to solids and category context from a seasonal transition and trend perspective.
• Pull physical swatch standards that represent chosen solids.
• Pantone match colors and pull physical Pantone chips to represent color match.
• Ensure all color palettes (physical and digital) are created and reviewed on time, ensuring that they match approved concepts.
• Stay up to date on color trends and provide insights on research that support the brand's identity through collaborative discussions.
• Manage all preparedness for by category color meetings (in-person and digital) including all color cards being created and master palettes accessible for viewing.
• Lead color meetings discussions to assess balance of color within style assort and across entire category assortment by protecting monthly color integrity, trend messages and category perspectives.
• Partner with Design and Buying teams to propose, refine, and finalize color selections for seasonal collections and ensure color choices are align with seasonal trend direction and FP aesthetics.
• Identify, speak to and manage color complexity across all classes and adjusting based of trends and business/sales.
• Develop and experiment with new colorways, ensuring they meet both quality standards and market demand.
• Closely collaborate with Color DC to complete all tasks and ensure efficiencies in entire approval process and general communication with cross-functional partners.
• Comment on lab dips within a 24 hr period that are received.
• Review, approve and provide feedback on all Lab-dips for all retail collection categories ensuring they meet established quality standards.
• Handle all email correspondence for the retail categories for the brand.
• Work closely with the production team to troubleshoot any color-related issues in production runs.
• Document and communicate any color-related issues to cross-functional teams to ensure swift resolution.
• Provide guidance and support to junior colorists and team members, offering feedback and promoting skill development.
• Troubleshoot and resolve any color-related issues that arise during the production or sampling stages.
• Coordinate with cross-functional teams to prioritize tasks and manage workflows efficiently.
• Support with maintenance and tidiness of color space, tools and archive.

Benefits

• Medical
• Dental
• Vision
• PTO
• Generous employee discounts
• Retirement savings
• Financial assistance for relocation

What This Job Offers

• Career Level: Entry Level
• Industry: Food Manufacturing
• Education Level: Bachelor's degree