Design Manager

About the Company

Jaded London is a multi-channel, high fashion apparel brand/retailer based in North London UK. Jaded London designs and develops its products in the UK, manufactures in the near & far east and then ships directly to its customers from Jadedldn.com ecommerce store and via wholesale to leading fashion platforms (ASOS etc).

In early 2020 the business faced serious headwinds; a global pandemic meant a number of their wholesale/retail customers had to close their stores alongside material uncertainty from large / unstable customers. This left Jaded London no alternative to pivot their attention to jandedldn.com and drive their target audience to there.

This move resulted in significant growth in revenue and profits as Jaded London were able to enjoy the benefits from a 1st party DTC strategy.

Since then Jaded London has grown annual revenue to £30m+ and has ambitious objectives to continue this growth to £100m over the next 3-5 years. The management team believe this objective is achievable through greater focus on its 1st party DTC sales, pro-active international roll-out alongside enhanced paid media and CRM activity to further amplify the great product / brand assets Jaded London has already created.

About the Role

Line Management including:

• Managing a growing team of 4 designers, plus freelancers
• Managing the work flow from Design -Technical design and Garment tech
• Working closely with our Merchandising Manager and Senior Buyer to manage the number of options per drop to ensure that the target number of styles are landing on site in time and we are hitting sales revenue.
• Undertaking performance reviews, and probation reviews for design team.

Manages the design process including:

• Manages & oversees the critical path for multiple collections.
• Managing priority of fit comments to be sent to factories based on delivery date/ deadlines for approvals.
• Holds daily catch up meetings with the team – splits out the workload & priorities
• Attend meetings with company stakeholders i.e management meeting feeds back to the team
• Directs the team in terms of print placement / garment construction & specs
• Develops the product for ranges across multi product areas keeping best sellers in mind.
• Sources fabrics and trims with factories.
• Manages and mentors the team, ensuring clear briefing on work and working with them to continually improve and produce the best output.
• Allocate members of the team ranges to work on
• Create sketch technical drawings and CADs.
• Work out print placements and set up tech packs for factories.
• Chase through new branding with factories.
• Brief external print designers & graphic design team with brief for product.
• Work with the head of marketing & garment tech to ensure samples are collated for internal meetings and photoshoots.
• Advise on spec amendments and correct blocks for junior members of the team to use with our Garment Tech and Technical Design teams.
• Meetings with the customer care team to give training on new product launching.
• Delegate to the team on launch admin – training on product description/input into ait table.
• Managing the systems used by the team Miro, air table, Adobe etc
• Onboarding/offboarding new starters and leavers – ensuring they are welcome in the team.

Manages the technical process, including:

• Set up the critical path with new ranges and decide on blocks and fabrics for each style.
• Maintain the critical path throughout the design process.
• Chase through samples with the factories on a daily basis.
• Allocate the factories per style working with the production team
• Attend fit sessions and give suggestions on how to get to the best possible garment
• Help send out fit comments where needed and meet deadlines.
• Review & update blank block workbooks regularly for design to work from.
• Keep abreast of customer feedback relating to fit and fabrication, etc.

General Office & Design Duties:

• Keep the design workspace organised and delegating jobs to the team to ensure all fabrics/ samples are organised.
• Review samples regularly to add to the Depop box.

We would love to respond to every application however due to the volume of applications we receive this isn't always possible. If you have not heard within 2 weeks of applying, please assume on this occasion that your application has not been shortlisted. We may retain your CV to contact you about future employment opportunities that are being managed by The Growth Foundation Talent.

The Growth Foundation Talent is deeply committed to building a diverse & inclusive workplace and welcomes applications from all sections of the community.