Textile & Apparel Production Artist w/a sense of Humor

Shinesty•Boulder, CO

4d•Hybrid

About The Position

Shinesty is seeking a detail-obsessed Textile & Apparel Production Artist to transform artwork files into precise, mill-ready production assets. This role serves as a critical link between creative design and manufacturing, involving the creation of seamless pattern repeats, color indexing, assignment of accurate color standards, and building clean production CADs. The position also includes managing the color-approval process by reviewing physical lab dips, print strike-offs, and knit swatches to ensure manufacturing output matches design intent.

Requirements

Must be based in (or willing to relocate to) the Denver, CO metro area and able to work in our Denver office 3 days per week.
Advanced, expert-level mastery of Adobe Illustrator and Adobe Photoshop (specifically swatch panel organization, color indexing, vector manipulation, and layered file setups).
Direct experience creating seamless repeating patterns, technical artwork setups, and mill-ready tech packs for apparel or textiles.
A trained, sharp eye for color evaluation, subtle tonal differences, and matching physical textiles to digital standards.
An obsessively technical mindset—you notice the single misaligned pixel or missing color code before anyone else does.
A collaborative, hungry team player who takes ownership of the artwork-to-approval process and pushes projects forward without waiting to be asked.
Must be able to flex in-office days when urgent shipments are inbound or vendor turnaround windows are tight — the standard 3 days/week in-office is a baseline, not a cap, and may increase during high package volume or time-sensitive approval cycles.

Nice To Haves

Experience working directly with overseas factories and mills (apparel, swim, or sock/hosiery experience is a major plus).
Knowledge of textile printing methods (sublimation, wet print, screen print) and knit construction capabilities.
Access to any AI platform that will make you better at your job.

Responsibilities

Create 100% seamless vertical and horizontal repeats for all-over prints, swim, and knitwear by cleaning up and tiling complex artwork.
Reduce artwork palettes to flat, indexed color counts (typically up to 10 colors) without losing design integrity, eliminating gradients or anti-aliasing.
Match and assign accurate Pantone colors and yarn color references from mill yarn cards based on product category.
Build clean, production-ready vector Illustrator PDFs on Shinesty templates, ensuring color swatches are correctly named/organized, labeled, and easily accessible for vendors.
Apply precise repeat measurements and correct Style/Header Numbers (SHN) to all artwork callouts.
Inspect incoming physical print strike-offs, fabric swatches, and lab dips against Pantone standards and original source files under standardized light sources.
Compare knit strike-offs against assigned yarn cards for color accuracy, scale, and pattern clarity.
Perform precision edits in Illustrator/Photoshop to correct line breaks, scale issues, mis-registrations, or color shifts identified during the approval process.
Partner with internal Product Developers to send clear, actionable vendor feedback and artwork corrections to overseas manufacturing partners.
Monitor incoming shipments from mills and factories, and be available to receive, log, and act on urgent strike-offs, lab dips, and swatch packages on short notice.
Respond quickly to vendor emails and messages to maintain the approval process and avoid production delays.