Technical Designer

Position: Technical Designer

Location: Apex, NC (On-site)

Department: Design

Reports to: Director of Apparel

About Mary Square

Mary Square is a women-owned lifestyle and apparel brand inspiring women to live their yes. We offer meaningful gifts, statement jewelry, and apparel designed to uplift and connect. With bold original artwork and a passion for quality, we proudly serve over 4,000 boutiques across the U.S. As we continue to grow, we’re seeking a talented and detail-oriented Technical Designer to join our creative team and help bring our seasonal collections to life.

Position Overview

The Technical Apparel Designer is crucial when it comes to knowing the fit and construction details of a design. Your primary duties will be to collaborate with the design team, production team and our vendor partners to ensure the finished product meets the company’s quality standards. During that process, you will execute fit and construction from initial concept through production, produce technical specification packets, determine measurements of new designs, and produce the information necessary for sampling and manufacturing apparel.

Key Responsibilities

●      Support the apparel design team as the fit expert by establishing fit and measuring standards for all styles of all brands across the company.

●      Refine the spec’ing, fitting and grading process.

●      Establish grading rules for each brand and applicable segmentation.

●      Determine measurements of new designs for base-size sample requests.

●      Responsible for conducting fit meetings with models and designers for development protos within the category, inclusive of construction, fit, and decoration placement (where applicable) in alignment with the tech pack.

●      Once style/fit samples are approved, grade the specs for the desired sizes.

●      Oversee fit sampling and work with factories to resolve any fit challenges.

●      Design "how to measure" pages of the tech pack.

●      Transfer the fit notes to the factory and answer their questions in revising a sample.

●      Assist in design and development by flat sketching and tech packing.

●      Support the calendar adherence by prioritizing the flow of technical product details to meet calendar timelines & supporting cross functional decision making.

●      Partner with design, attending presentations and meetings, providing feedback on technical feasibility, brainstorming ideas, and solutions to ensure the design vision is translated into product meeting size, fit & product standards, inclusive of but not limited to any segmentation strategy by sales channel or key account.

●      When necessary, make adjustments to patterns and samples for fit sessions.

●      Ensure measurements and garment construction are accurate, complete, and production ready in accordance with the seasonal calendar timelines. Recommended solutions if needed maintaining deadlines and bulk production acceptable product decisions.

●      Maintain seasonal body and style metrics and standards to ensure consistency.

●      Providing technical support as it relates to quality control standards and specifications.

●      Collaborating with sourcing to meet production timeline.

●      Ensure the final tech pack and approved samples are available in preparation for pre-production and production protocols.

●      Manage and mentor direct reports to ensure a collaborative team and on time deadlines.

Qualifications

·      Bachelors (BFA, BS, or BSCS) with specialization in apparel technical design.

·       Minimum of 8 years of relevant work experience.

·      Completed courses in pattern making, advanced sewing/construction, tailoring and draping.

·      Experienced in pattern making, sewing, grading, tech packing, flat sketching and fitting.

·      Strong understanding of Adobe Illustrator and digital pattern design.

·      Experience with 3D technical design preferred.

·      Proficient knowledge of Microsoft Excel for spec’ing and grading purposes.

·      Experienced in the apparel design process and knowledgeable of bulk production process.

·      Detail-oriented, organized, proactive, self-starter, team player and ability to effectively mentor and manage direct reports as the team scales.