Design Lead
FAM BrandsAbout the role
Founded in 2000, FAM Brands designs, manufactures, and sells men’s and women’s sportswear and active wear apparel to major retailers, big box stores, and specialty boutiques across the country and throughout the world. Our portfolio of proprietary brands features Marika, Wildfox, Three Dots, and Balance Collection, while a partial list of licensing partners includes Orvis, Jessica Simpson, Eddie Bauer, and Woolrich.
With the capacity to produce over 75 million units per year, our mission continues to be making top-quality apparel accessible to everyone at an impressive value and an irresistible price.
That's the FAM Brands difference.
SUMMARY
FAM Brands is seeking a strategic and hands-on Design Lead to support driving our Academy account including sportswear, women’s, and men’s sportswear. This role will oversee and mentor Design Managers and Sr. Designers ensuring cohesive vision, brand alignment, and executional excellence across all offerings.
WHAT YOU'LL DO
- Lead, mentor, and develop Design Managers and Senior Designers across Sportswear, Women’s and Men’s categories
- Foster a high-performance, collaborative and accountable design culture
- Provide clear direction, feedback and career development opportunities for design teams
- Champion creativity while ensuring alignment with business goals and timelines
- Define and drive the overall design vision and calendars across all categories
- Ensure consistency in brand identity, seasonal storytelling and product aesthetics
- Review and approve design concepts, ensuring alignment with brand strategy and customer expectations
- Elevate product design through trend-right innovation and competitive benchmarking
- Partner with Merchandising, Product Development and Production teams to build compelling assortments
- Translate business objectives into actionable design strategies
- Ensure designs meet margin targets, cost constraints and production feasibility
- Oversee seasonal calendars, ensuring timely delivery of all design milestones
- Work closely with merchandising to align on assortment plans and category strategies
- Partner with sourcing and development teams to ensure material and construction innovation
- Collaborate with marketing and branding teams on campaigns, lookbooks and product storytelling
- Act as a key voice in leadership meetings, representing design priorities and insights
- Maintain deep knowledge of market trends, consumer behavior and competitive landscape
- Drive innovation through research, travel and trend forecasting
- Identify new opportunities for growth and category expansion
ABOUT YOU
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10+ years of experience in apparel design, with 3–5+ years in a leadership role
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Proven success managing and developing multiple design teams and/or managers
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Strong background in sportswear, activewear, or performance apparel preferred
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Deep understanding of the full product lifecycle from concept through production
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Demonstrated ability to balance creative vision with commercial and margin goals
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Strategic thinker with the ability to translate business objectives into design direction
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Strong leadership presence with excellent communication and influencing skills
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Highly organized with strong project management capabilities in fast-paced environments
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Collaborative mindset with cross-functional partnership experience
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Strong trend awareness and ability to drive innovation
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Ability to operate with speed, agility and attention to detail
LOCATION
This is a full-time, onsite position based at our current corporate office in Bell, CA 5553-B Bandini Blvd, Bell, CA 90201. In Q3, our corporate headquarters will relocate to 9242 Beverly Blvd, Beverl
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