Design Director

Designer
What could be more exciting than putting your mark on some of the world’s most famous and well‑loved fashion brands? As a designer for Centric Brands, you’ll use your skills and creativity to create designs based on style plans, sales needs and emerging trends. You will also ensure that your work can be transformed into a finished product in a timely manner and at an appropriate price point. This means working not only with our technical design and production teams, but also building collaborative relationships with outside vendors and other external stakeholders. The challenges are exciting and the possibilities endless – as you contribute your skills in a vibrant, customer‑ and people‑centric culture that celebrates you as a valuable member of the team.

Specific Responsibilities
The Design Director for Socks drives the seasonal design development process, from concept to delivery, by supervising a team of designers to create original, trend‑appropriate design concepts that meet market needs and drive sales, managing the timely execution of each stage in the process, and coordinating across categories to ensure consistent quality and look. This individual will work with performance brands like Merrell, Spyder, CAT and Twisted X.

Roles & Responsibilities
Strategy & Innovation

Shop and perform research to isolate key, relevant trends for each category or brand, where appropriate; review and provide perspective on competitive analysis; oversee product development and concept boards, mock‑ups, color‑ups and inspirational photos for presentations

Oversee development of initial seasonal design concepts in context of larger assortment and cost structure; collaborate with sales to devise style plans and design according to trends; ensure timely execution of product development calendar; coordinate among design teams to ensure brand cohesiveness, where appropriate, across categories

Design and develop collections that will be presented to key retail partners

Operations & Results

Lead team in troubleshooting, including identifying and resolving quality and technical issues

Supervise creation of Illustrator sketches; approve specification sheets and line sheets; review product development logs, line sheets and boards for consistency; approve raw materials and trims

Approve lab dips and ensure consistency with color standards and licensor directives, where appropriate; approve prints and graphics where appropriate

Work with our robust Design Ops team to ensure the workflow is running smoothly

Customers & Relationships

Direct interoffice communication and follow‑up with internal and external customers and contacts, including suppliers and vendors; partner with production and tech; manage interoffice communication and relationships with vendors and internal customers

Leadership & Teams

Contribute positively to team dynamic and manage up where necessary

Attract, develop and retain talent

Monitor and evaluate performance of individuals and team

Our Best Fit Candidate Would Have

Superior organizational skills and excellent communication skills; team oriented

Ability to multi‑task and meet deadlines; highly detail oriented, meticulous and creative

Creativity, technical capability and sensibility for merchandising; strong ability to sketch in Illustrator

Extensive knowledge of licensed accessories with a focus on knit execution… we are the hosiery division the knowledge of silhouettes, color ways, fabrication and trim; familiarity with circular knitting along with novelty trim application

Bachelor’s Degree in Fashion Design or Graphic Design

8–10 years experience in apparel design; preferably in socks

Highly proficient in Microsoft Office, Adobe products, and Mac computers

Sock experience is preferred

Benefits
In return, we provide an industry‑competitive salary, along with a comprehensive benefits plan (medical, dental, vision) that includes a matching 401(k), Summer Fridays, generous PTO, merchandise discounts, excellent career development opportunities, and a work environment that reflects our industry leadership. Our social impact program, Centric Cares, focuses on volunteerism to make a difference in communities we live and work in and our D&I committee is shaping the future of diversity, equity and inclusion at Centric Brands through workshops, resources and inspiring conversation.

Salary Range: $130,000 - $140,000

Equal Opportunity Employer
Centric Brands is an Equal Opportunity Employer

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