Job Description
Footwear & Accessories Product Developer- UK/ Remote
Maximise your chances of a successful application to this job by ensuring your CV and skills are a good match.
Who we are
We are a luxury golf shoe and lifestyle accessories company, designed in Britain and handmade in Italy & Portugal. Our collections have been featured in Wall Street Journal, GQ, Esquire and we have a loyal customer following across the United States, Europe & Asia.
The team is small but the brand is growing at an exciting pace and we’re looking for a great and motivated individual to jump on board to upward manage our Creative Director, and bring to market golf and also lifestyle shoe collections, and an accessories collection.
You will be joining a small team, hugely enthusiastic about the products and the potential. This is an excellent opportunity for the right candidate to work with an exciting young company with big ambitions & huge growth potential.
What it’s like to be a part of our team
We are a small company so there’s no corporate nonsense or old-fashioned micro-management. Instead, we are looking for someone who likes the freedom of working independently, takes initiative, and brings with them lots of ideas. This is a Full time role, you may work remotely but will need to travel to meet the wider team, every 3 months.
JOB PURPOSE:
· To support the Creative Director and Product Designer to help bring to market the annual footwear &
accessories collections with the help of a freelance Designer.
· Have a keen technical eye on how sneaker type footwear is designed / developed, & the ability to interpret
technical design packs and implement direct sourcing, from initial trend research through to confirmed samples
and on to production samples.
DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:
· To work closely with the CD and the designer, and all international suppliers.
· Working as key liaison for product development, material development, sample tracking & fitting.
· Responsible for getting prototypes and samples executed to reflect the concept and design in mind, in quality,
construction, materials, fit and style.
· Research new technologies, components and manufacturing techniques suitable for footwear manufacturing
· Have a keen interest in sustainability within the footwear industry
· To take responsibility for samples, liaising with the suppliers to create prototypes and samples at workable prices
and within specific deadlines for all footwear and accessories.
· Planning, detailing, specifying all designs/commissioning and tracking the development prototypes/ultimately
approval salesmen samples
· Attend product meetings from first prototype to shipment samples.
· Liaise daily with factories and agent in Portugal
· To upward manage a busy Creative Director who works part-time
· Regularly communicate updates effectively within the company.
· Be an active part of ongoing brand identity development and evolution
· Control of courier costs for samples within company policy and procedure
· Work with Shoe technologist and CD to document sample fitting and correction on design and constructions.
· To undertake any other reasonable duties identified by the Creative Director- travel to Portugal & Italy may be
part of this.
REQUIRED SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE
The ideal candidate will have:
· 6 to 8 years experience as a fully fledged Footwear developer, WITHIN A SUPPLY AND MANUFACTURE
environment, where product is made from scratch.
· Proficient in Illustrator & Photoshop
· Degree level qualification in a related design field
· Have experience internationally
· High level of technical understanding in footwear
· Very familiar with constructions, materials, manufacturing processes, commercialisation and offshore sourcing
· Has a keen interest in past and future trends, including evolving footwear technologies.
· Excellent work ethic with the ability to work to tight deadlines and upward manage busy Creative Director
· Excellent organisational skills, planning and communication.
· Ability to see a product from design to delivery, following it through the different stages of the critical path with
the CD and Designer
· Not afraid to get their hands duty as small business requires many different tasks, at RA we all muck in!