Women's Senior Designer

ROLE SUMMARY The Prominent Surf Brand Womens Senior Apparel Designer is responsible for the creative development and execution of seasonal womens apparel collections. This role combines strong market awareness, trend research, and a deep understanding of the female consumer to create innovative, relevant, and commercially successful product. The Designer is highly engaged in the market, regularly shopping retail and competitive brands to identify emerging trends, new proportions, fabrication, styling, and consumer behavior. This role is responsible for translating these insights into new product concepts, with a strong emphasis on developing fresh body silhouettes, proportions, fits, and styling that evolve the brands womens offering. Working closely with Merchandising, Product Development, Technical Design, Production, and Graphics, the Designer takes concepts from initial inspiration through final product while maintaining a strong and differentiated creative point of view. KEY RESPONSIBILITIES AND JOB DUTIES 1. Market Shopping & Trend Research Market Shopping: Regularly shop key retail stores, specialty retailers, boutiques, department stores, and relevant competitive brands to identify emerging trends and product opportunities.Trend Identification: Stay ahead of current and emerging trends in womens fashion, surf, action sports, streetwear, lifestyle, and contemporary apparel.Competitive Analysis: Analyze competitor assortments, silhouettes, styling, fabrication, color, graphics, price points, and merchandising strategies.Consumer Observation: Develop a strong understanding of how women are dressing, styling, layering, and combining products across fashion, lifestyle, and active environments.Trend Translation: Distinguish meaningful consumer trends from short term fashion moments and translate relevant insights into commercially viable product.Inspiration: Build and maintain a strong network of visual, cultural, retail, and fashion references to continuously inform the design process. 2. Silhouette & Proportion Development New Silhouettes: Develop new and differentiated body silhouettes that bring freshness and innovation to the womens collection.Proportion: Explore changes in length, volume, shape, fit, layering, and proportion to create modern product that reflects how the consumer is wearing apparel today.Fit Direction: Establish the intended fit and silhouette for each product and communicate clear design direction to Technical Design and Product Development.Body Diversity: Design with an understanding of the female body and how different silhouettes, proportions, and construction techniques affect fit and appearance.Product Evolution: Challenge existing silhouettes and identify opportunities to update core products through new proportions, details, fabrication, and styling.Collection Architecture: Create a balanced assortment of core, elevated, trend-driven, and statement silhouettes that work together as a cohesive collection. 3. Seasonal Design & Concept Development Develop seasonal womens apparel collections that reflect the brands identity and the evolving needs of the target consumer.Create seasonal concepts, mood boards, color palettes, silhouette direction, and product stories.Translate market and trend insights into original apparel designs across assigned categories.Create sketches, CADs, colorways, and design presentations that clearly communicate creative direction.Develop product that creates a strong balance between commercial relevance and newness.Ensure seasonal collections have a clear point of view and meaningful differentiation from the competitive market. 4. Fabric, Color & Material Development Research and select fabrics, washes, trims, labels, hardware, and other materials appropriate to the product and seasonal direction.Develop seasonal color palettes informed by current market trends and the brands creative direction.Explore new fabrications, finishes, washes, textures, and construction techniques that support new silhouettes and product concepts.Partner with Product Development and vendors to develop and refine materials throughout the development process.Review lab dips, strike-offs, fabric submits, trims, and other development materials to ensure they meet design intent.Identify emerging materials and fabrication opportunities through market research and competitive shopping. 5. Product Development & Fit Develop accurate CADs and technical packages that clearly communicate design intent, construction, materials, color, and finishing details.Work closely with Product Development and Technical Design to translate new silhouettes and concepts into production-ready product.Participate in fit sessions and provide clear direction on proportion, fit, construction, and overall appearance.Review prototypes and samples and provide detailed comments and revisions.Evaluate how each garment fits and functions on the body and make adjustments to improve proportion, comfort, styling, and visual impact.Protect the original design intent throughout the development process while responding to technical and production requirements.Ensure final product reflects approved design direction and meets established quality standards. 6. Graphics & Brand Expression Collaborate with Graphic Design to develop and integrate graphics, prints, logos, embroidery, embellishments, and other artwork.Provide direction on placement, scale, color, and application of graphics within the overall collection.Ensure graphics and branding complement the silhouette, fabrication, and styling of each product.Identify opportunities to use graphics and surface treatments to create newness and differentiate the collection. 7. Cross-Functional Collaboration Partner with Merchandising to understand seasonal business objectives, category strategy, consumer needs, pricing, and assortment direction.Collaborate with Product Development and Technical Design to resolve fit, fabrication, construction, and development challenges.Work with Production and vendors to communicate design intent and ensure accurate execution.Participate in seasonal line reviews, fittings, design presentations, and product approval meetings.Clearly communicate creative concepts, market insights, and design rationale to cross-functional teams and management. 8. Commercial & Calendar Accountability Manage assigned design responsibilities within the seasonal product development calendar.Deliver concepts, CADs, tech packs, samples, and approvals according to established deadlines.Design with an understanding of target costs, retail pricing, margin, and commercial viability.Balance trend-driven product with core and commercial styles to create a productive overall assortment.Monitor competitive pricing and product offerings to ensure designs are relevant within the marketplace.Proactively identify product opportunities and communicate potential issues that may impact the seasonal calendar or collection. SKILLS AND QUALIFICATIONS 1. Education & Experience Bachelors degree in Fashion Design, Apparel Design, or related field preferred.3-5+ years of professional womens apparel design experience, preferably in surf, action sports, streetwear, lifestyle, contemporary, or sportswear.Strong portfolio demonstrating womens apparel design, silhouette development, trend interpretation, and seasonal collection development.Experience taking product from initial concept through final production. 2. Women's Design & Silhouette Expertise Strong understanding of womens fit, proportion, body shape, and garment construction.Demonstrated ability to develop new silhouettes and modernize existing product through proportion, fit, fabrication, and styling.Strong understanding of how women shop, dress, layer, and style apparel.Ability to identify emerging trends and translate them into relevant, brand right product.Strong eye for proportion, color, fabrication, styling, and detail. 3. Market & Trend Expertise Strong understanding of current womens fashion, surf, action sports, streetwear, and lifestyle markets.Demonstrated passion for shopping and observing the marketplace firsthand.Ability to identify emerging trends before they become broadly adopted.Strong competitive awareness and understanding of retail product, pricing, and merchandising.Ability to separate meaningful trends from short-term fashion cycles and apply them appropriately to the brand. 4. Technical Skills Advanced proficiency in Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop.Strong CAD and technical drawing skills.Ability to create detailed and accurate tech packs.Working knowledge of womens garment construction, fabrics, trims, washes, printing, embroidery, and finishing techniques.Experience with PLM or other product development systems preferred.Familiarity with domestic and overseas apparel production preferred. 5. Communication & Collaboration Strong written, verbal, and presentation skills.Ability to clearly communicate creative concepts, trend insights, and design direction.Strong collaborative skills with Merchandising, Product Development, Technical Design, Production, Graphics, and vendors.Ability to present and defend design concepts while remaining open to feedback.Ability to make informed creative decisions within commercial and technical constraints. 6. Organization & Execution Highly organized with the ability to manage multiple categories, styles, and deadlines.Strong attention to detail and follow-through throughout the design and development process.Ability to work independently while contributing effectively within a collaborative design team.Comfortable working in a fast-paced environment with changing priorities.Proactive approach to identifying opportunities and solving product challenges. 7. Industry Knowledge Strong passion for womens fashion, surf, action sports, and lifestyle culture.Deep understanding of the female consumer and evolving womens fashion trends.Strong awareness of the competitive retail landscape and emerging brands.Understanding of sustainable materials, innovative fabrication, and evolving apparel technologies is a plus.