Footwear Merchandiser , Lifestyle

Who We Are

At Brooks, we believe movement is the key to feeling more alive. That’s why we’re driven to create gear and experiences that take people to the place that makes them feel more alive — whether it’s a headspace, a feeling, or a finish line. Everyone who works at Brooks is propelled by a company culture that sparks excitement, fuels collaboration, inspires creativity, and ignites innovation.

• Runner First
  :
  We act in the best interest of the runner
• Word is Bond
  :
  We do what we say we’ll do
• Champion Heart
  :
  We give our all in everything we do
• There is no “I” in Run
  :
  We stay generous with our humanity
• Keep Moving
  :
  We find ways to move every day, because joy is kinetic!

The Footwear Merchandising Manager I, Lifestyle is a key product person focused on Brooks footwear success which translates to revenue and margin. You work closely with demand planning, sales, brand marketing, color trend, insights, and development to create relevant consumer, channel and market assortments. Your main responsibility is to operate and define the footwear product for the best product line outcome delivering the right product at the right time at the right place and at the right price.

You are the “eyes and ears” of the competition as it pertains to the lifestyle market, streetwear, fashion, the consumer and the retailer. In this role you will conduct competitive analysis of Brooks footwear vs. our competition to provide feedback, insights and recommendations to further advance our products and processes.

This position requires 15% travel.

• Assess and deliver consumer readiness and relevant assortments each season to ensure market readiness and competitive advantage.
• Merchandise the footwear line to maximize regional business, customer, and consumer opportunities.
• Create effective and creative solutions for key lifestyle retailers to maximize Brooks business.
• Act as “eyes and ears” for lifestyle footwear (business, market, customer, channel, runner) and provide feedback to the footwear team.
• Assist in the competitive analysis of Brooks products vs. our competitors on fit/feel/color/trend/price/value.
• Present findings to product creation teams and recommend opportunities where we can focus efforts to improve products.
• Analyze brand performance, brand competitiveness, product trends and make recommendations based on your research and analysis.
• Validate seasonal regional article counts, price points, and color flow.
• Own seasonal data inputs including colorways, prices, and intro dates for Flex PLM, ensuring accuracy of information and updating changes throughout the season.
• Create and support product prelines with key accounts to obtain feedback on design, materials, color, and price.
• As product representative for the footwear line, provide consumer and market insights to the color team to support creating the right color choices during the creation process.
• Collaborate with the color teams to create the seasonal assortments.
• Analyze go-in margin vs Brooks targets to determine if we are above/below cost and communicate and report to stakeholders if margin doesn’t meet the target.
• Analyze, interpret and synthesize data to make the best possible decisions for Brooks business and revenue as it relates to merchandising the footwear line.
• Participate in meetings with sales to share product stories, features, benefits, and inform, influence and negotiate to gain buy-in on product decisions and the reasoning behind the decisions.
• Act as a resource for PR, Sales and Marketing for product presentations and videos.
• Manage designated seasonal projects to drive Brooks business/brand/products.
• Embraces and lives Brooks values!

• Bachelor’s degree in Marketing, Business or a related field required.
• Minimum 3 years’ prior experience in working with lifestyle product (wholesale or retail) and at least 1 year of working for a footwear brand in related field.
• Working knowledge of the footwear product merchandising process, retail environment, and consumer buying habits.
• Ability to identify and discern strong collaboration opportunities.
• A history and passion for understanding consumer trends in fashion…