Director Product Management, Apparel & Accessories , Originals (LTD)

Purpose & Overall Relevance for the Organization:

Recognize sport, lifestyle, consumer, & cultural insights – especially those uniquely relevant to women & diverse communities

Heavily influence overall Originals L.A. Apparel & Accessories product category direction and drive its implementation across product development, creation, & life cycle franchise management

Evolve strategies to tactical plans for effective consumer and cultural adoption

Steer a cross-functional product creation team to deliver the category vision, capitalizing on white-space opportunities

Lead and develop the Apparel & Accessories category team and cross-functional colleagues

Support the Footwear category team across head-to-toe collections and range plans across women’s and unisex lifestyle collections

 

Key Responsibilities:

• Manage a team and develop their functional and social skills using available resources to create a top performing Originals L.A. Apparel & Accessories team
• Set and manage strategic Apparel & Accessories category direction; ensure cross-functional alignment across key KPIs, i.e. margin, sell-thru, ideal range size, net sales, market share, etc.
• Identify new business opportunities to drive innovation and / or commerciality across key consumer segments and retail channels
• Develop an "Win As One" within the team to ensure smooth cooperation with cross-functional departments across Design, Development, Merchandising, Sales, & Brand Communications
• Have full understanding of the product creation process to drive it forward
• Be a role model for all team members by co-developing and sharing strategic direction and the product creation process best practices
• Show leadership through living the brand values while fostering an empathetic and strong performance culture
• Challenge the cross-functional team to ensure creation of industry leading products and optimized operational models
• Analyse and report category business performance to ensure achievement of category KPIs
• Positively represent the category both internally and externally  
• Work with the CtC (Concept to Consumer), Brand Marketing, Culture Marketing, and Sports Marketing teams throughout the season to define strategic product marketing & franchise direction and Talent involvement when needed
• Be a competent partner for category and ranging discussions with markets, sales leads, and retailers
• Define projects to optimize category performance and steer to conclusion
• Build an understanding of product information systems and interdependent internal functions to align on timelines and creation milestones

 

Authorities:

• Personnel managed – yes              Budget managed – no                            

 

Key Relationships:

• Steer a strong relationship and ensure constant dialogue/feedback with
  • Apparel & Accessories category across all functions, including alignment with other categories and creation centers, when applicable
  • Cross-functional team (Design, Development, CtC, Materials, Costing, Planning)
  • Markets and relevant key retailers
  • Originals Apparel and Footwear global leads

 

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:

• Manage a team to create industry leading products
• Inspire, coach and lead; set framework for performance and growth
• In-depth knowledge of respective product category
• Advanced analytical skills, be solution driven and result oriented, strong business orientation
• Ability to thrive in a fast paced environment
• Strong communication skills
• Lateral thinking and challenge status quo
• Profound consumer, market, and retail knowledge…especially unique needs and interests of female & diverse consumers
• Step up to conflicts and work towards a diplomatic solution
• Execute change management
• Cooperate effect