What are the responsibilities and job description for the Freelance Creative Apparel Designer position at Unrivaled Teamwear?
About Unrivaled Teamwear
Unrivaled Teamwear serves as the parent company of Champion Teamwear, Gear for Sports, and Knights Apparel, each an industry leader in the sports and team apparel space.
Our family of brands know what goes into great decorated garments, using top-quality fabrics and offering creative decoration options. Each brand offers customers a premier selection and exceptional service for all their sportswear needs, from t-shirts and caps to fleece, performance wear, and outerwear.
Summary
As a Creative Freelance Designer for Golf, you will use your advanced design skills to create Market Right Product for multiple product categories. You will work with Brand/Merchandising leadership and partner teams to ensure design feasibility to meet price points and merchandising needs in accordance with the Timing & Action Calendar deadlines. You will have established experience creating Golf Apparel. You will need to be able to communicate and present Design Proposals/Concepts that encapsulate all aspects of design - color, fabric, silhouette, trim, fit, construction, & marketing. You will need to be able to liaison with key partner teams in Technical Design, Brand, Sourcing, QA, Country Managers and Graphics. This opportunity involves maintaining deep understanding of the golf market. Must be able to act as a seamless extension with aligned Brand HQ (ie: UA, Champion, etc…)
At a full Designer level, the expectation is that the individual has obtained significant experience, exposure, and mastery of daily workload. Responsibilities begin at concept, carry through to material/trim sourcing and approval, claim validation, and into creating accurate production BOMs.
Job Responsibilities
Conceptual Design Skills:
- Proven ability to apply & perform design skills such as drawing/sketching, color concepts, use of fabric & trim, as well as visual presentation & layout
- Ability to analyze trends; break them into mega, niche or landscape categories and develop a compelling Ideation distilling the trends to partner teams
- Ability to track and design into fit/ratio/proportion changes in market and interpret them thru the lens of our niche market. Further ability to present these trends in customer facing visits and sales meetings
- Ability to find, research, and create innovative fabrics and trims
- Able to identify potential problems and proactively address before committing to the Line
- Ability to identify key colors and/or develop colors into interesting, market-right color palettes in fabric, trim, print/patterns. Further ability to execute into well merchandised lines
- Able to develop clear, illustrated flats of garments that can be used to decide line worthiness & technical execution
- Able to understand Brand's requirements (via Line List) and meld concepts with the Ideation & Fabric/Trim development. Further ability to present ideas persuasively, passionately and technically to partner teams
- Able to understand and communicate construction concepts well enough to translate, with technical design, into measurement specs and technical drawings
- Able to work on the aesthetic execution of fit with Technical Design in the build process
Business Acumen:
- Demonstrated acumen and considered an internal expert for assigned product/brand
- Ability to create market appropriate product designs at key price points
- Adherence to the Timing & Action Calendars
BOM Builds:
- Distill sketch/color ups and materials into an organized BOM
- Provide info for placement of fabrics and trims
- Designate specialty issues like sweater Knit Construction or Performance Construction
- Understand functionality of coding
- Responsible for overall completeness of information
Weekly Meetings:
- Responsible to bring up issues & potential solutions at the weekly Brand Management meetings
- Responsible to contribute to the agenda
- Responsible to bring relevant samples, material, etc. to these meetings as needed
Team Contribution:
- Ability to work independently and cooperatively in a diverse group
- Ability to identify & resolve opportunities within the organization for improvement
- Able to be self-sufficient as much as possible
May Also Include:
- Manage Label / Hangtag / Sub-Label, Packaging, Trims, etc.…; Perform mass updates in PDM
- May need to initiate development
- Enable art sends to vendors as well as advise partner teams regarding project
- Receive and comment on submits / log and file as necessary
Minimum Qualifications
- 4-year degree in Fashion/Apparel or Related degree plus a min of 4 years’ experience or 2-year degree plus a minimum of 5 years’ experience
- Must be proficient in Microsoft Office, Adobe Illustrator and Creative Suite programs
- Tech Packs (PDL/PLM) knowledge/working experience required
- 3D experience preferred (Browzwear a plus)
- Familiarity using AI
- Proficiency in garment sketch development and construction.
- Working knowledge of pattern making, understanding fit / balance of garments, grading and garment constructions. Ability to communicate aesthetic fit direction.
- Strong written and verbal communication to all partner teams; including meeting presentations. Able to upload relevant info to supervisor(s).
- Experience developing and executing Golf Apparel
This job description is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of all activities, duties or responsibilities that are required of the associate. Other duties will be assigned as needed.
EOE/AA: Minorities/Females/Veterans/Disabled
Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.
We maintain a drug-free workplace and perform pre-employment substance abuse testing as well as participate in E-Verify.
