Director, Merchandising - Women's

Who We Are

At Rhone, we cultivate a work culture that is empowering and rooted in our core values. We are gritty, approaching challenges with resilience and determination. We are responsible, holding ourselves accountable to each other and the work we do. We strive for excellence, pushing boundaries to deliver our best every day. We remain authentic, embracing honesty, humility, and individuality. And above all, we are team centered, knowing that true success comes from collaboration and shared purpose.

About The Role

Are you ready to move Forever Forward and build something groundbreaking? Rhone is seeking our first-ever Director, Merchandising - Women's to lead the assortment strategy, line planning, and commercial performance of our rapidly scaling Women's business.

This is a unique opportunity to embrace Courage Over Comfort and make a massive impact on a high-growth activewear brand. Blending sharp business acumen with an athletic mindset, you will shape the future of the Rhone Women’s assortment and drive sustainable growth. You will have a seat in the room where the biggest decisions are made, and we expect you to bring a strong, innovative point of view. As the foundational leader in this category, your career development will scale in tandem with the business, offering unparalleled opportunities to shape an entire division from the ground up.

What You'll Do

Your daily responsibilities are anchored in our GREAT principles, ensuring operational rigor meets our collective mission:

• Gritty  : Tenaciously build a comprehensive merchandising strategy across all Women’s product categories. You will identify and capitalize on market white space, executing against financial KPIs while protecting the long-term Brand expression.

• Responsible : Own the Go-To-Market (GTM) calendar and long-term Category and Franchise Roadmaps. You will be the ultimate voice of the women's customer—deeply understanding how she lives and what she values to curate assortments that feel tailor-made for her.

• Excellence  : Drive SKU rationalization and ongoing productivity, balancing topline revenue goals with margin and inventory profitability. You will lead weekly business reporting and quarterly hindsight reviews to inform proactive grow/maintain/decline strategies.

• Authentic : Take true ownership of your impact by partnering closely with the Planning team on buy depth and Open-to-Buy (OTB) maintenance. We trust you to make the tough, accountable calls on what stays and what gets cut, and to recommend agile chase opportunities as sales trends actualize.

• Team Centered : Channel a Compete to Complete mindset by partnering seamlessly with Design, Ecom, Retail, and Wholesale. You will ensure the product shows up flawlessly in each channel—optimizing presentation and launch cadence—while maintaining a unified, Brand-first mentality.

Your Impact: First 30/60/90 Days

• First 30 Days : Immerse yourself in the Rhone brand, deeply understand our female customer profile, and build foundational, cross-functional relationships rooted in an authentic community with Design, Production, and Planning.

• First 60 Days: Take full ownership of the current GTM calendar, evaluate the existing product architecture, and identify immediate SKU productivity and chase/cut opportunities with an eye for innovation and agility.

• First 90 Days: Present your comprehensive long-term merchandising strategy and franchise roadmap to senior leadership, establishing clear growth targets and market positioning for the upcoming seasons.

What You'll Bring

• 8+ years of merchandising experience with a strong focus on Women's apparel, ideally within the activewear, athletic wear, or performance lifestyle sectors.
• A confident leader and team builder with a history of developing emerging talent and fostering Strength in Numbers through a commitment to team success and cross-functional unity.
• Highly adaptable and resilient; you possess a comfort with ambiguity that allows you to thrive in a fast-paced, evolving retail environment.
• Strategic mindset capable of managing complexity across product lines, seasonal cycles, and omni-channel environments (Direct-to-Consumer, Retail, Wholesale).
• Familiarity with industry-standard merchandising tools, ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) systems, PLM (Product Lifecycle Management) software, and advanced Excel modeling.
• Excellent communication skills with a proven track record of translating data-driven insights into actionable recommendations.

What You’ll Get

• Competitive compensation

• Health, dental, vision, and ancillary benefits

• 401(k) with company incentive savings plan

• 10 company holidays annually

• Discretionary time off policy

• Career growth and advancement opportunities

• Clothing discount plus semi-annual gift card allotment

Other Details

Job Type: Full Time

Location: Hybrid - 3 days in Stamford, CT

Our Commitment

Rhone Apparel, Inc is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, gender identity, age, national origin, disability, veteran status, or any other protected characteristic under applicable law. We are committed to recruiting, hiring, training and promoting qualified people of all backgrounds, and make all employment decisions without regard to any protected status.

LI-AD1

Core Skills & Search Keywords: Women's Merchandising, Assortment Strategy, Go-To-Market (GTM), Activewear Apparel, Performance Lifestyle, Open-to-Buy (OTB), SKU Rationalization, Omni-Channel Retail, Cross-Functional Leadership, Product Line Management (PLM), Trend Analysis, Inventory Profitability.