Cara Cara is looking for a creative and energetic Director of Production to join their growing team. The Director of Production will work with Cara Cara’s Co-Founders on the development, costing, production and packaging of Cara Cara’s women’s ready-to-wear collections, coordinating with the Design team, factories and Management on the execution and delivery of our products.

Responsibilities

• Seasonal Calendar management

• • Coordinate with Design and Factories to ensure that all development and production milestone dates are met
  • Pivotal dates:  photoshoots, seasonal markets, production delivery windows

• Liaise with Creative Director/Owners for overall seasonal aesthetic direction of the Brand 

• • Review initial Sketches and Inspirational materials 
  • Attend Seasonal Fabric/ Trim shows, Set up mill appointment for Fabric selections 

• Manage all fit sessions

• • Manage technical designer as well as tech design assistant to ensure that workflow is being managed 
  • Focus on working towards optimal fits and construction
  • Follow up with Marking and Grading for domestic production 
  • Review grading for oversea production 

• Sourcing and development coordination

• • Sourcing, vetting and working with factories, patternmakers, marking/grading services, production consultants and any additional services needed for product development, production and packaging
  • Manage and coordinate with factories on textiles, trimmings, embroidery, pleating, etc., for future collections 
  • Responsible for development chart of styles/materials per season for production to coordinate sending with factories. Maintaining and making sure it’s up to date.
  • Negotiate all services for best industry rates and timely delivery of services/goods

• Pre-production Process coordination

• • Coordinate with Design team, factories and production consultants on creation of initial patterns, muslins and samples
  • Ensure that all samples are 100% market-ready and on time
  • Manage print file hand off and monitor progress of print development after initial handoff, ensuring qualities are communicated to Production partners and factories as needed
  • Document and communicate accurate records of fit corrections, updating all records including BOMS once buy is placed and design changes are made in the fitting; communicate with Production partners once that is done, as needed

• Costing management

• • Set-up and maintenance of Development cost charts 
  • Ensure that costing is accurate and up to date for market, aligning to IMU standards 
  • Achieve best costing/factory placement by style
  • Review production invoices for cost accuracy and manage chargebacks with factories and consultants

• Production Lifecycle management

• • At end of Market, reach out to Sales teams for most current JOOR sales reports, as needed 
  • Placement of raw materials and bulk production with factories, as needed
  • Daily/Weekly monitoring of all current production, this will be either in person or via email depending on factory location 
  • Set up and maintenance of Seasonal Size Chart for new styles
  • Set up and maintenance of Composition and HTS codes chart for all styles
  • QC and Inspection of all Production and credit management for damaged goods
  • Manage ticketing issues, poly bag and hangtag issues and following up with factory for chargebacks

• Special Projects 

• • Handle all aspects of the development and execution of one-off samples needed for marketing purposes 
  • Managing of items (apparel, soft goods etc.) needed for any kind of in store or promotional events

• RLM Design and Production Module management

• • Coordinate the activation RLM PDM System and RLM Raw Materials System (training provided)
  • Entry of tech pack specs into RLM and coordinating with Tech Design to ensure specs are accurate, up to date, and accessible to factories
  • Entering of costing information, both estimates pre-market and final landed costing post-delivery 
  • Entry of raw materials orders in RLM, as needed
  • Entering and updating Contractor and factories info, as needed 

• Operations and Logistics 

• • Communicate with Logistics Manager UPC Labels, ensure that they are sent in timely manner, and make sure they are accurate 
  • Garment packing –update Cara Cara’s packing manual to reflect any new manner of garment packing. At the beginning of the season, it will be Cara Cara’s responsibility to advise of this based on Individual store routing manuals  
  • Work with Overton Logistics on movement of all freight, Raw Materials and Full Production

Skills

• At least 10 years of experience in production management
• Strong organization and time management skills and a proactive approach to timeline management
• Experience leading technical designers and jr production
• Strong communication and collaboration skills
• Strong cost negotiating skills and knowledge of raw materials costs standards 
• Computer and tech savvy, data driven
• Flexible working style with ability to work on overseas factory hours
• Must be able to create an overseas tech pack for Production and tech teams
• Proficiency in Photoshop and Illustrator a plus – including being able to CAD prints to bodies for line sheets
• Able to work in a fast paced and team-based environment