Director, Design, Leathergoods

Since its launch in 1993 with a collection of six essential handbags, Kate Spade New York has always been colorful, bold, and optimistic. Today, it is a global lifestyle brand that designs extraordinary things for the everyday, delivering seasonal collections of handbags, ready-to-wear, jewelry, footwear, home décor, and more. Known for its rich heritage and unique brand DNA, Kate Spade New York offers a distinctive point of view and celebrates communities of women around the globe who live their perfectly imperfect lifestyles.
Kate Spade New York is part of the Tapestry portfolio - a global house of brands committed to stretching what's possible.
A member of the Tapestry family, we are part of a global house of brands that has unwavering optimism and is committed to being innovative and wholly inclusive. Visit Our People page to learn more about Tapestry's commitment to equity, inclusion, and diversity.
The successful individual will leverage their proficiency in design to...

• Manage the design process from concept through production for Mainline handbags and small leathergoods

• Lead the design team through the design process, providing clear direction and feedback for concepts, designs, layers, techniques, color and print placement, in close partnership with the VP of Leathergoods Design

• Actively participate in the conceptual development of product lines including communicating and selling ideas/concepts, including recommendations for seasonal themes, new concepts, etc.

• Present concepts and designs in detail and holistically during cross functional milestone meetings in a manner that conveys design's vision as well as merchandising requirements and demonstrates an understanding of the interdependencies of all product decisions

• Partner closely with Merchandising on ensuring designs achieve line architecture needs

• Research trends to apply to target consumer needs and translate to design process

• Ensure that product is of high quality, cohesively designed and consistent with market trends, as well as business strategy

• Work with designers, technical design team and product development team to ensure design packages are complete and accurate

• Partner with the product development team to drive innovation through silhouettes, construction and techniques.

• Provide direction to hardware design team partners on hardware elments for handbags and small leathergoods

• Partner with concept, print and color team members to ensure cohesive use of concepts, seasonal prints and colors

• Execute corrections as needed; work with merchandising and product development to find appropriate solutions for costing or construction issues

The accomplished individual will possess...

• Bachelor's Degree or equivalent work experience

• 10+ years design experience

• Experience designing handbags in high end designer market supported by proven portfolio to be considered for role

• Strong computer knowledge, including adobe illustrator

• Strong leadership and communication skills

• Strong ability to hand sketch

• Strong design and conceptual skills

• Strong sense of trends, style and color

• Shape building skills required

• SLG experience a plus

• Thorough knowledge of raw materials, as well as, construction techniques
• Understanding of merchandising as it relates to sales and store environment

Our Competencies for All Employees

• Courage: Doesn't hold back anything that needs to be said; provides current, direct, complete, and "actionable" positive and corrective feedback to others; lets people know where they stand; faces up to people problems on any person or situation (not including direct reports) quickly and directly; is not afraid to take negative action when necessary.
• Creativity: Comes up with a lot of new and unique ideas; easily makes connections among previously unrelated notions; tends to be seen as original and value-added in brainstorming settings.
• Customer Focus: Is dedicated to meeting the expectations and requirements of internal and external customers; gets first-hand customer information and uses it for improvements in products and services; acts with customers in mind; establishes and maintains effective relationships with customers and gains their trust and respect.
• Dealing with Ambiguity: Can effectively cope with change; can shift gears comfortably; can decide and act without having the total picture; isn't upset when things are up in the air; doesn't have to finish things before moving on; can comfortably handle risk and uncertainty.
• Drive for Results: Can be counted on to exceed goals successfully; is constantly and consistently one of the top performers; very bottom-line oriented; steadfastly pushes self and others for results.
• Interpersonal Savvy: Relates well to all kinds of people, up, down, and sideways, inside and outside the organization; builds appropriate rapport; builds constructive and effective relationships; uses diplomacy and tact; can diffuse even high-tension situations comfortably.
• Learning on the Fly: Learns quickly when facing new problems; a relentless and versatile learner; open to change; analyzes both successes and failures for clues to improvement; experiments and will try anything to find solutions; enjoys the challenge of unfamiliar tasks; quickly grasps the essence and the underlying structure of anything.

Our Competencies for All People Managers

• Strategic Agility: Sees ahead clearly; can anticipate future consequences and trends accurately; has broad knowledge and perspective; is future oriented; can articulately paint credible pictures and visions of possibilities and likelihoods; can create competitive and breakthrough strategies and plans.
• Developing Direct Reports and Others: Provides challenging and stretching tasks and assignments; holds frequent development discussions; is aware of each person's career goals; constructs compelling development plans and executes them; pushes people to accept developmental moves; will take on those who need help and further development; cooperates with the developmental system in the organization; is a people builder.
• Building Effective Teams: Blends people into teams when needed; creates strong morale and spirit in their team; shares wins and successes; fosters open dialogue; lets people finish and be responsible for their work; defines success in terms of the whole team; creates a feeling of belonging in the team.

Kate Spade is an equal opportunity and affirmative action employer and we pride ourselves on hiring and developing the best people. All employment decisions (including recruitment, hiring, promotion, compensation, transfer, training, discipline and termination) are based on the applicant's or employee's qualifications as they relate to the requirements of the position under the consideration. These decisions are made without regard to age, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, genetic characteristics, race, color, creed, religion, ethnicity, national origin, alienage, citizenship, disability, marital status, military status, pregnancy, or any other legally-recognized protected basis prohibited by applicable law.
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)
Tapestry, Inc. will provide applicants and employees with reasonable accommodation for disabilities or religious beliefs. If you require reasonable accommodation to complete the application process, please contact Tapestry People Services at 1-855-566-9264 or [email protected]
Visit Kate Spade at www.katespade.com .
Work Setup: HYBRID #LI-DC
BASE PAY RANGE $170,000.00 TO $225,000.00 Annually
Here are some of the benefits that we offer: Medical insurance, Dental insurance, Vision insurance, 401 (K), Paid Paternity and Maternity leave, Commuter Benefits, Disability insurance and Tuition assistance. Please click here for a complete list of U.S Corporate Compensation & Benefits .