Fashion Design Director

About Us – Stitch Fusion

Stitch Fusion is a New York City–based apparel design and manufacturing company specializing in women's and girls' fashion, including activewear, athleisure, sportswear, dresses, outerwear, swimwear, and lifestyle apparel.

We partner with national, licensed, and private-label brands to develop trend-driven, high-quality, and commercially successful collections for major US retailers.

With an in-house NYC design team and a global manufacturing network, we offer end-to-end capabilities from creative design and product development to sourcing, production, and distribution.

At Stitch Fusion, we foster a collaborative, creative, and fast-paced environment where fresh ideas and innovation are encouraged. As we continue to expand our collections and retail partnerships, we are looking for talented leaders who combine creative vision with strong commercial understanding.

Position Overview

We are seeking an experienced, creative, and commercially driven Fashion Design Director to lead our women's apparel design team and oversee the development of innovative, trend-driven, and commercially successful collections.

The ideal candidate will have extensive experience across women's activewear, athleisure, sportswear, dresses, outerwear, and lifestyle apparel, along with a proven track record of managing design teams and developing collections for major US retailers.

A strong understanding of the US off-price and mass-market retail landscape is particularly important. Experience developing products for retailers such as TJX, Ross, Burlington, and similar national accounts is highly valued.

This role requires more than strong creative vision. The successful candidate must understand how to translate fashion trends, retail buyer expectations, competitive price points, and target margins into commercially viable collections.

We are looking for a hands-on leader who can balance creativity with business performance, inspire the design team, respond quickly to market opportunities, and consistently develop products that retailers want to buy.

Key Responsibilities

Design Leadership & Team Management

• Lead, mentor, and manage the design team across multiple women's apparel categories.
• Establish a clear creative vision while ensuring design direction supports the company's commercial objectives.
• Provide constructive feedback, technical guidance, and creative direction throughout the development process.
• Inspire the team to develop fresh, innovative, and commercially relevant designs.
• Establish design priorities, manage development calendars, and ensure seasonal deadlines are met.
• Foster a collaborative, creative, and results-driven working environment.
• Support the professional development of team members and continuously improve design standards.
• Present seasonal creative direction, product strategies, and collection concepts to senior management.

Creative Direction & Collection Development

• Lead seasonal collection development across women's activewear, athleisure, sportswear, dresses, outerwear, and lifestyle apparel.
• Research and identify emerging trends in silhouettes, fabrics, colors, prints, and garment details.
• Develop seasonal concepts, mood boards, color palettes, trend presentations, and cohesive collection direction.
• Introduce innovative design concepts, new fabrics, silhouettes, and construction techniques.
• Develop well-balanced seasonal assortments that combine trend relevance, commercial appeal, and competitive pricing.
• Remain hands-on throughout the design process, including CAD development, design revisions, sample reviews, and fittings.
• Review and approve CADs, fabric selections, colorways, trims, and development samples.
• Identify new product opportunities and help expand existing apparel categories.

Commercial Design & Retail Strategy

A core responsibility of this position is to ensure that strong creative design translates into commercially successful products for the US retail market.

• Develop commercially competitive collections tailored to major US retailers, particularly off-price and mass-market channels such as TJX, Ross, and Burlington.
• Understand the product expectations, customer demographics, retail price architecture, and purchasing strategies of different retail accounts.
• Work closely with the sales team to translate retail buyer feedback, market demand, and specific customer requests into actionable design direction.
• Develop collections within established target costs, retail price points, and margin requirements without compromising overall design appeal or product quality.
• Balance creativity, fabric selection, garment construction, and production costs to achieve strong commercial value.
• Collaborate with costing, sourcing, and production teams to evaluate product feasibility and identify cost-effective design solutions.
• Analyze competitors, bestselling styles, retail trends, and market gaps to identify profitable product opportunities.
• Create customer-specific assortments and presentations that respond directly to buyer expectations and business opportunities.
• React quickly to changing market trends, seasonal demand, and buyer requests while maintaining design consistency and quality.
• Partner with the sales team in preparing collections and design presentations for key retail buyer meetings.
• Use customer feedback, sales performance, and market insights to continuously improve product development and future collections.
• Ensure that the design process supports both creative innovation and the company's sales, profitability, and growth objectives.

Product Development & Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Collaborate with merchandising, sales, sourcing, technical design, costing, and production teams to develop market-ready collections.
• Oversee the design process from initial concept through sample development and final design approval.
• Ensure designs align with target customers, retail price points, quality standards, and production capabilities.
• Evaluate garment fit, construction, fabric quality, and overall design execution.
• Partner with global vendors, fabric mills, and factories throughout the product development process.
• Resolve design, development, and production challenges efficiently.
• Maintain high standards of design execution while meeting cost and delivery requirements.

Qualifications

• Minimum 5-10 years of experience in women's apparel design.
• At least 3–5 years of experience leading and managing a design team.
• Strong experience across multiple women's apparel categories, including activewear, athleisure, sportswear, dresses, outerwear, and lifestyle collections.
• Proven ability to develop original, trend-driven, and commercially successful seasonal collections.
• Strong commercial understanding of the US apparel retail market, including retail pricing, target costing, margins, and customer-specific product development.
• Experience designing for major US off-price retailers, including TJX, Ross, Burlington, or similar accounts, is highly preferred.
• Experience working with private-label apparel manufacturers and mass-market retail customers is highly valued.
• Demonstrated ability to balance creative direction with customer expectations, competitive pricing, and business profitability.
• Strong hands-on design skills, including CAD development, fabric selection, sample review, and garment fitting.
• In-depth knowledge of fabrics, garment construction, fit, prints, trims, and production processes.
• Experience in seasonal line planning and developing cohesive, commercially balanced product assortments.
• Advanced proficiency in Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop.
• Experience collaborating with global vendors, mills, factories, and cross-functional teams.
• Strong trend forecasting, creative presentation, and merchandising skills.
• Excellent leadership, communication, and team management abilities.
• Highly organized, adaptable, and capable of managing multiple priorities in a fast-paced environment.
• Confident presenting creative concepts and seasonal design direction to executive leadership and retail buyers.
• Bachelor's degree in Fashion Design or a related field preferred, or equivalent professional experience.

Portfolio Requirements

Candidates must submit a portfolio demonstrating:

• Seasonal collection development across multiple women's apparel categories.
• Original design concepts, sketches, and CAD presentations.
• Trend forecasting, mood boards, color direction, and creative presentations.
• Experience designing dresses, outerwear, activewear, and lifestyle collections.
• Commercially produced apparel collections developed for US retail customers.
• Ability to translate creative concepts into commercially viable products at competitive price points.
• Experience developing cohesive collections from initial concept to finished product.

Portfolios demonstrating successful private-label or off-price retail collections are strongly encouraged.

Work Schedule & Benefits

• Hybrid Work Schedule: Monday–Thursday in-office; Fridays work from home.
• Early Fridays: Workday ends at 4:00 PM.
• Summer Fridays: Enjoy an early finish at 2:00 PM during the summer season.
• Paid Holidays & PTO: Company-observed paid holidays and paid time off.
• Health Insurance: TBD (To Be Determined).
• 401(k) Retirement Plan: TBD (To Be Determined).

Compensation

$120,000–$130,000 annually , depending on experience and qualifications.

This job description is a summary of the typical functions of the position, not necessarily an exhaustive or comprehensive list of all possible position responsibilities, tasks, and duties. The company reserves the right to assign or reassign duties and responsibilities to this job at any time. This job does not constitute a written or implied contract of employment; employment remains “at-will”.