Director, Raw Materials

The Veronica Beard Fabric team manages both fabric development and bulk production, working on VB RTW Collection, VB CORE, VB Jeans, and VB Swim. We are looking for a dynamic candidate who has strong textile experience, has great communication skills, and is excited to help grow the Fabric team. The ideal candidate has the ability to maintain a strong bridge across Design, Product Development, Technical and Production teams.

This role is based in our NY office and reports to the Senior Director of Raw Materials.

• Strategize souring with Sr. Director for both nominated and factory sourced materials across wovens, cut & sew, and leather to align with design vision and financial goals.
• Lead fabric R&D and color execution, ensuring excellence from concept to bulk production
• Foster cross functional collaboration to translate creative concepts into scalable, commercially viable solutions and mentor cross-functional teams on material construction, technology, quality, and costing.
• Work closely with Design team on fabric selection process and partner with global sourcing to ensure alignment of fabric and material choices with consumer and brand needs.
• Manage all overseas full package programs and push vendors for newness in raw materials
• Spearhead sustainability opportunities at the onset of the season while working within price matrix
• Manage and strengthen strategic mill and raw materials supplier partnerships, driving accountability and continuous improvement.
• Oversee raw material quality and assurance programs aligned with VB standards.
• Manage the maintenance of generic fabric library as well as seasonal fabric research
• Place sample POs and coordinate sample shipments to both domestic and overseas factories
• Attend weekly meetings with Product Development team on all development groups and manage fabric mill dates to meet milestone calendar dates
• Partner with Print Designer each season to identify basecloth and repeat limitations of each print base in development stage and maintain calendar deadlines
• Maintain financial tracking for spending per season and reduce budget where possible.
• Attend PD WIP meetings with up-to-date status for all materials.
• Confirm system accuracy and documentation across platforms.
• Keep recorders of unused sample yardage inventories and allocations.
• Manage bulk projections, negotiations and final order placements with mill partners and ensure target delivery dates
• Manage risk mitigation for materials through country and supplier diversification.
• Contribute to creating seasonal GTM calendar and manage seasonal calendar deadlines for materials.
• Manage materials costing and minimums to hit FOB and IMU targets.
• Lead and negotiate material lead times to support speedy delivery to market.
• Partner with the production team to manage capacity planning and material staging.
• Partner with the Design team on material innovation ideas and roadmap and partner with the material suppliers on new material techniques and innovation.
• Manage and approve material development and production tests to meet our material test standards.
• Support production and quality teams on any material issues during production.
• Manage PLM System and data integrity for materials, manage fabric/yard detail sheet, create material codes and maintain PLM material library.
• Establish, report and analyze material KPI’s.
• Lead, manage, develop and coach the materials team.
• Attend fabric shows and independent agent fairs seasonally
• Build a culture of collaboration, innovation, accountability, and continuous improvement.

• 12+ years of raw materials and textiles sourcing and development experience with 3+ years of management experience
• Bachelor’s degree in apparel, textiles, materials manufacturing, design or related field; preferred
• Deep understanding of textile construction and ability to cost engineer
• Strong knowledge of all aspects of material sourcing, development and production
• Proactive, extremely organized and detail oriented
• Ability to multitask and strong problem-solving skills
• Exceptional follow-up skills
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills
• Proficient in PLM, Excel, Outlook
• Self-motivated, collaborative,…