Senior Design Director, Women's Apparel

Why J.McLaughlin?

J.McLaughlin was founded in 1977 by brothers Kevin and Jay McLaughlin with a mission to create an American Sportswear brand that offered two key components: classic clothing with current relevance and a retail environment that has a neighborhood feel. The J.McLaughlin brand has always been more about style than fashion: straightforward, unpretentious, and devoid of the superfluous. Our clothing is rooted in the tradition of sport, work, and play. With over 180 retail locations, each store is entirely unique, attentively designed to reflect the town's color, character, and architecture. This attention to detail extends to exemplary customer service and local philanthropic engagement.

Our “Culture of Kindness” creates an environment with respect, politeness, consideration, and empathy that creates a family like atmosphere and focuses on giving back to the community. The company has an entrepreneurial spirit which fosters great experience and career opportunities, complemented with our great incentive benefits programs.

Overview

J.McLaughlin is a specialty American Sportswear and Accessories brand headquartered in New York. J.McLaughlin has the reputation for being “local and loyal”, building meaningful relationships within the each community and providing customers with highly personalized service. We are a growing company with a focus on our culture of kindness, cultivating an exceptional atmosphere in which to work and shop.

The Senior Design Director for Womenswear Apparel leads the creative and strategic vision of the women's apparel collection reporting to the Chief Creative Officer. This role oversees the end-to-end design process ensuring the brand’s identity is reflected in every piece. Working collaboratively with cross-functional teams including merchandising, product development, technical design and creative marketing, this role ensures the delivery of commercially successful collections that best represent the brand vision and storytelling. The ideal candidate must be an authority in all women’s apparel categories, have an exceptional taste level and sense of the J.McLaughlin brand and customer, a passion for excellence and a dynamic and collaborative member of a cross-functional team.

This role is primarily based in our Greenpoint, Brooklyn head office.

About the role

Essential functions:

• Creative Leadership:
  • Set the seasonal creative direction and design strategy in alignment with brand vision and market trends for womenswear.
  • Lead the design lifecycle across multiple categories to fulfill merchandising and business goals..
• Product Development:
  • Partner with technical design, product development and production throughout all phases of the process to ensure quality, fit, and cost-efficiency.
  • Review prototypes and samples, providing timely approvals and comments.
• Market Awareness:
  • Conduct trend, color, fabric, and silhouette research through market analysis, runway reviews, and trade shows.
  • Maintain competitive awareness and consumer insights to inform design decisions.
• Cross-Functional Collaboration:
  • Work closely with merchandising and planning to align on line plans, pricing architecture, and SKU counts and ensure product design strategy meets the needs of the business.
  • Support marketing and PR efforts by providing creative input and direction for campaign shoots and brand storytelling.
• Team Management:
  • Manage and mentor a team of designers.
  • Facilitate professional growth and a high-performance, collaborative team culture.
  • Provide clear feedback and actionable guidance through all phases of design.

What we are looking for

Skills & Requirements:

• Bachelor's degree in Fashion Design or a related field preferred
• 10+ years of progressive experience in womens product design, with at least 5 years in a leadership role.
• Strong portfolio showcasing womenswear collections and commercial success.
• Excellent understanding of the design process from concept through production.
• Exceptional knowledge of fashion, design, and lifestyle trends and ability to discern appropriate application.
• Strong presentation and communication skills.
• Ability to build seasonal concepts and provide the team with both short and long-term vision
• Proficient ability to apply and perform industrial design skills, including drawing/sketching, ideation, color theory, use of textiles, spacing and scale, visual presentation, development and layout that is supported by a portfolio of non-computer-based creative design.
• Ability to think strategically about product relevance, product positioning, timing, and collections
• Deep knowledge of fabrications, garment construction, and technical design.
• Proven leadership, team-building, and organizational skills.
• Proficiency in Adobe Creative Suite (Illustrator, Photoshop), CLO 3D or other CAD tools.
• Ability to thrive in a fast-paced, deadline-driven environment.
• Ability to travel as needed.

Physical Requirements:

• Prolonged periods of sitting at a desk and working on a computer.
• Must be able to lift 15 pounds at times.
• Must be able to access and navigate each department at the organization's facilities.

Equal Opportunity

J.McLaughlin is an Equal Opportunity Employer and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, protected veteran status, disability or any other legally protected status..