Free People Senior Designer - Dresses

Role Summary

Free People is seeking a Senior Designer to lead the development process of design project supporting the Free People Dresses category. The Senior Designer actively participates in designing seasonal collections, sewing/ mocking original ideas for key meetings, and supports the team to ensure that designs and resulting product are cohesive and appropriate for the Free People customer. 

The Free People Dress category touches a variety of fabrications and sensibilities.  This is a great opportunity if you are a seasoned designer who is passionate about fashion, trends and newness! This role is based at our World Headquarters in Philadelphia, PA.

Role Responsibilities

• The Senior Designer will lead the design creation, development, and execution of own brand product appropriate for Free People Dresses with a focus on sensibilities ranging from Femmes, Sexy, Effortlessa - Only at Free People styles. 
• Forecast fashion and cultural trends and understand how they relate to the Free People customer. As a Senior Designer Dresses, you will play a key role in collaborating, brainstorming, and presenting monthly trend direction for your category alongside the Design Director.
• Thrive in a fast-paced environment, constantly pushing new ideas, concepts as well as responding to business objectives with creative and innovative designs to move the category forward.
• Attend all fittings and support the Team through problem solving fit issues and communicating with cross functional and vendor partners.
• Support seasonal development calendar for both Retail & Wholesale deliveries.
• Creative Contribution to the design process including sketching new ideas with the help of procreate and Adobe programs (Illustrator, Photoshop), researching new trends and ideas as well as utilizing ai platforms to increase creative research (such as MidJourney, PromeAi)
• Manage development and execution of all design packages alongside Assistant Designer and participate in all follow-up communication related to each package in partnership with the Design Coordinator & Product Development team.
• Strong initiative and point of view on design research and staying up to date with industry trend direction, color direction, and fabric innovations that can relate to the Free People target customer.
• Execute original design ideas through sketches and draped & sewn mocks to communicate design’s vision in key meetings.
• The Senior Designer Dresses leads and develops 1-2 Assistant Designers.

#LI-JA1 #FreePeople #URBN

Role Qualifications

• Bachelor's Degree in Fashion Design with 8-10 years experience in Dresses Design or related category preferred.
• Creative & Trend Vision:
  • Creativity is a must! Having a strength in pushing new ideas, silhouettes, and design concepts
  • Demonstrate the vision to identify trends in their early stages and understand their impact to fashion, so we can be one step ahead for the aspirational customer. 
  • Expertise in taking aspirational ideas, focusing on the key details and make them work for a broader audience.
  • Ability to research and report on industry trend direction, color/print direction, and fabric innovations approximately 9-12 months ahead of season. 
  • Passionate about dresses and the Free People customer.
  • Excellent hand sketching and CAD skills in Procreate, Photoshop, Illustrator
  • Ai knowledge/experience not required would be a plus!
• Fabric/Sewing knowledge:
  • Strong understanding of Cut & Sew Knits (Jersey) & Woven fabrications and technical ability to apply that knowledge on to fits and designs
  • Ability to drape, mock and sew.
  • Any knitwear/sweater experience not required but would be a plus!
• Soft Skills:
  • Strong sense of organizational skills as well as passionate of fast speed environment
  • Excellent communication skills to communicate ideas and inspirations to others and to interact with Designers, Buyers and other Cross Functional partners. Collaboration across teams is key at Free People
  • Strong project management skills and ability to manage the whole design process for multiple projects at different production stages
  • Ability to respond to business objectives with creative, innovative, and cost-effective design solutions 
  • Some experience with managing 1-2 team members would be added value.
  • Proficient in Microsoft platforms (Excel, Powerpoint, Word) 
• Ability to work on-site 3-5 days per week at our Home Office (Navy Yard) in Philadelphia, PA. 

The Perks

URBN offers comprehensive Perks & Benefits to employees. Availability and eligibility to specific benefits may be subject to your location and employment status. Benefits include medical, dental, vision, PTO, generous employee discounts, retirement savings and much more! For additional information visit www.urbn.com/work-with-us/benefits

EEO Statement

URBN celebrates diversity and is committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees. We are proud to provide equal employment opportunities (EEO) to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to race, color, sex (including gender, pregnancy, sexual orientation, and gender identity or expression), religion, creed, age, physical or mental disability, national origin or ancestry, ethnicity, citizenship, service in the uniformed services, genetic information, or any other protected characteristic as established by law. We believe strongly in fostering a safe, fair and respectful work environment. To ensure compliance with our non-discrimination and anti-harassment policies, we offer anti-harassment training to managers and employees.