Senior Graphic T-shirt and Headwear Designer

The Cromer Company | Miami, FL (On-Site) | Full-Time

The Cromer Company has been creating branded apparel since 1913. From our Miami headquarters, we design, decorate, and distribute t-shirts, headwear, swimwear, and promotional products for resort, souvenir, and corporate clients across the US, Canada, and the Caribbean. Our in-house creative team is one of our biggest competitive advantages — and because we also decorate in-house via screen printing, embroidery, and heat press, our best artists are the ones who can carry a design all the way from concept to press.

We are looking for a Senior Apparel Artist who specializes in graphic design for t-shirts and headwear — and who is equally at home creating a new t-shirt concept and separating it for press. Both sides of the work are part of this job: you'll design original artwork for tees and headwear, and you'll also carry that artwork through pre-press — separating files for screen printing, preparing art for embroidery, and giving final production approval on artwork before it hits the floor.

This is a senior position on our art team. You'll work directly with our Creative Director, assisting with art approval and creative direction, and serving as a resource and example for the rest of the art department.

If you've spent your career wanting to own a design from first concept to finished garment, this is your job.

Creative:

• Design original, trend-forward artwork for t-shirts, headwear, and related apparel across resort, souvenir, and corporate lines
• Develop coordinated collections and seasonal refreshes of best-selling designs
• Create custom illustrations, typography, and hand-lettered graphics
• Design catalog layouts, sales sheets, and collection presentations
• Clean up, recreate, and elevate customer-supplied artwork

Senior-Level:

• Partner with the Creative Director on art approval, quality standards, and the creative direction of our t-shirt and headwear lines
• Provide art direction, feedback, and guidance to other artists on the team
• Serve as a senior reviewer for artwork moving into production

Technical / Production:

• Produce color separations for screen printing — spot color, simulated process, underbases, halftones, and trapping
• Prepare and optimize artwork for embroidery, ensuring designs translate cleanly to thread on flats and caps
• Review and approve artwork for production across screen print, embroidery, and heat press, catching printability and stitch issues before they become costly errors
• Deliver production-ready files with correct specifications, callouts, and organization
• Collaborate daily with sales, the creative team, and production supervisors in a fast-paced, deadline-driven environment

• 5–10 years of professional experience in apparel design AND print production — both sides, not just one
• Demonstrated specialization in graphic design for t-shirts and headwear — this is not a general graphic design role
• A portfolio showing strong original t-shirt and headwear design work
• Senior-level presence: sound judgment on art approval, and the ability to give clear, constructive direction to other artists
• Hands-on separation experience — you separate your own art and know how it will behave on press
• Solid understanding of the screen printing process (inks, underbases, mesh, print order) and embroidery production (what stitches well, detail limits, file needs)
• Expert proficiency in Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator; InDesign a plus
• Experience with catalog and multi-page layout design
• Exceptional attention to detail with strong quality-control instincts
• Team-oriented professional who manages multiple priorities under tight deadlines and communicates clearly across departments

• Embroidery digitizing experience (Wilcom, Pulse, Hatch)
• Separation software experience (Separation Studio or similar)
• Headwear decoration knowledge (flat and 3D embroidery, patches, heat transfer)
• Experience in resort, souvenir, beach, or licensed apparel markets
• Familiarity with DTF, sublimation, or other decoration methods

• Competitive salary based on experience
• Health benefits
• Two weeks of paid vacation
• A collaborative in-house creative team at a company with over a century of history
• The full journey — your concept, your separations, printed in our own building and sold across the country

A portfolio is required. Submit your resume along with a portfolio (PDF or link) that shows both sides of your skill set: original t-shirt and headwear designs you created AND examples of production work — separated files, printed results, or embroidery-ready art you prepared. Applications without a portfolio will not be considered.