The Product Development Manager leads seasonal product development needs by collaborating with a cross-functional team, including Production, Design, Sales, and Overseas offices, to develop and execute assigned product lines, with a primary focus on children’s apparel development and secondary on trim and packaging.

• Collaborate with Design, Production, and Technical Design to ensure all deadlines are met while communicating status updates to all other departments. Establish an efficient and transparent process to maintain a consistent flow of approvals.
• Participate in style-by-style milestone meetings with cross-functional teams to understand customer and brand visions, facilitating the creation of tech packs and initiating design operations.
• Work directly with overseas vendors to review and approve product development submissions, including proto-samples, lab dips, strike-offs, sales samples, and pre-production samples, ensuring brand quality and integrity are maintained.
• Evaluate lab dips with a strong understanding of color science to ensure color accuracy across products.
• Utilize extensive knowledge of woven and knit fabrics, direct/fabric print techniques, and garment construction across multiple categories.
• Evaluate initial tech packs through PLM while simultaneously creating comment logs and reviewing samples to ensure all details are executable by the factories.
• Schedule proto review meetings with the Design team to ensure garment constructions, design details, and art placement from tech pack align with the designer’s vision.
• Collaborate with Design, Production, and Sales teams to ensure development stays on schedule per the design calendar, continually monitoring deadlines and communicating status to all departments.
• Lead department head review meetings on product and development, establishing direction and priorities while driving accountability across the team.
• Drive fabrication and technique development, identifying opportunities for innovation and efficiency across product lines; partner cross-departmentally to develop new print technique options and treatments.
• Identify and resolve errors and inconsistencies within raw arts, ensuring final production pack approvals guarantee arts will execute correctly in print.
• Ensure color consistency within sets and collections; evaluate and approve factory output including strike-offs, lab dips, and trims, maintaining extensive follow-up on outstanding components.
• Understand and review trims, labels, and packaging, including but not limited to woven labels, satin labels, damask labels, buttons, elastic labels, metal trims (such as snaps and shanks), and stickers.
• Provide detailed feedback to suppliers to ensure consistency and quality across products while adhering to packaging and labeling requirements.
• Catalog and maintain standard libraries of fabrics, prints, trims, packaging, and labels for future reference, ensuring easy access for the team.
• Participate in cross-functional meetings to align packaging and trim strategies with overall product development initiatives.

• Comprehensive understanding of the entire Product Development cycle, including fabric technology, color science, art applications, and garment construction.
• Working knowledge of garment construction techniques, including sewing methods and seam classifications.
• Strong understanding of materials such as woven labels, paper finishes and weights, elastics, metal trims, and various button qualities.
• Excellent organizational and communication skills are required to collaborate with cross-functional teams.
• Understanding of Child Safety Guidelines.
• Ability to multi-task and meet deadlines with a high level of detail orientation and accuracy.
• Proficient in FlexPLM, Microsoft Office; knowledge of Adobe Illustrator is a plus.
• Superior organizational and communication skills; team-oriented.
• Adaptable and flexible
• Bachelor’s degree, preferably in Product Development.
• In-depth knowledge of fabrication construction, including limitations and printing restrictions; superior skills in artwork setup, sizing, and placement across direct and fabric print techniques.
• 5+ years of product development or relevant experience

In return, we provide an industry-competitive salary, along with a comprehensive benefits plan (medical, dental, vision) that includes a matching 401(k), Summer Fridays, generous PTO, merchandise discounts, excellent career development opportunities, and a work environment that reflects our industry leadership. Our social impact program, Centric Cares, focuses on volunteerism to make a difference in communities we live and work in and our D&I committee is shaping the future of diversity, equity and inclusion at Centric Brands though workshops, resources and inspiring conversation.

Salary Range: $90,000 - $100,000

At Centric Brands, we believe our people are our greatest asset, and we seek to structure competitive compensation offers to ensure that we are able to attract and retain the best talent. Our job postings include an annual base salary range at the time of employment. The stated base salary range represents our good faith estimate as to what candidates are likely to expect, and we tailor our offers within the range based on several factors, including the selected candidate's educational and professional experience, industry knowledge, location, technical and communication skills, and other factors that may prove relevant during the selection process. Base salary is a part of a total compensation package, which, depending on the position, may also include commission earnings, annual bonus and other Centric Brands sponsored benefit programs.

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