Footwear Designer

WHO WE ARE:
Headquartered in Southern California, Skechers—the Comfort Technology Company®—has spent over 30 years helping men, women, and kids everywhere look and feel good. Comfort innovation is at the core of everything we do, driving the development of stylish, high-quality products at a great value. From our diverse footwear collections to our expanding range of apparel and accessories, Skechers is a complete lifestyle brand.
ABOUT THE ROLE:
The Footwear Designer will integrate their thorough understanding of fashion trends, market conditions, consumer expectations, technologies and the manufacturing process with their design excellence to develop the next generations of Skechers footwear products under the direction and leadership of the Sr. Director of Design and Special Projects. They will influence the respective footwear categories using cultural events knowledge and experience relating to how the current and upcoming fashion trends might impact the consumers' buying decisions, covering a vast demographic and multi-cultural area. In addition, they'll use their knowledge in respect to design, development and market relevance to collaborate with marketing and sales personnel on projects to maximize effectiveness and sale-ability.

WHAT YOU'LL DO:

• Under the direction of the Sr. Director of Design and Special Projects, design and develop innovative and cost-efficient brand and market relevant footwear which includes concepting, story-telling, and technical development.
• Work with Design Management, Development and Marketing personnel to collaborate on Design projects to maximize effectiveness and build product to target cost.
• Thorough understanding of ever-changing fashion trends and directions conducted through international and domestic travel, shopping the markets, Tradeshows, and researching the competition.
• Create accurate, detailed, high-quality renderings and CADS quickly and efficiently.
• Build and present seasonal product strategies and trend boards.
• Understands how to create accurate tech packs for outsole and upper designs.
• Understands how to draw cross sections and read blueprints accurately.
• Constant interaction with Merchandisers on all aspects of product line plans, briefs, color palette, pricing, themes, graphics, and strategies.
• Work with developers in US and Asia on line schedules, adhere to the product calendar, ensuring development projects are on track.
• Working with developers / materials team to coordinate and develop new materials, constructions, processes and procedures.
• Responsible for getting prototypes and samples executed to reflect the concept and design you created.
• Knowledge and understanding of competitors top sellers, technologies, styling, colors, strategies and pricing.
• Innovation through fashion forward new designs and technologies
• Protect and enhance SKECHERS “DNA”.
• Domestic and international travel as needed.
• Special projects as assigned.
• Other duties as assigned.

WHAT YOU'LL BRING:

• Ability to collaborate with other Designers, Colorists, Technicians, and Merchandisers.
• Ability to sketch shoes accurately, quickly, proportionately & provide detailed specifications.
• Must understand the footwear production process at the factory level.
• Must have expert skills in Adobe Creative Suite (Illustrator and Photoshop).
• Must have great communication/presentation skills and work well with others.
• Must have a passion for Performance and lifestyle footwear design.
• Knowledge of shoe construction and materials.
• Must be versatile and be able to switch gears project to project.

REQUIREMENTS:

To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily.  The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required.

• Bachelor’s Degree in one of the following: Industrial Design, Footwear Design, Fashion Design or Graphic Design.
• Should have a minimum of 2 years of progressive, shoe designing experience and knowledge of shoe constructions and materials.

The pay range for this position is $95,000-$120,000/yr USD.

About Skechers

Skechers, a global Fortune 500® brand develops and markets a diverse range of lifestyle and performance footwear, apparel, and accessories. Developing comfort technologies is the foundation of all we do – delivering stylish, innovative, and quality products. Serving over 180 countries and territories, Skechers connects customers to products through department and specialty stores, e-commerce and digital stores, and through our more than 5,200 company-and third-party-owned retail locations. Headquartered in Southern California, with offices and distribution centers around the globe, Skechers has spent over 30 years helping people of all ages look and feel good.

Equal Employment Opportunity
Skechers is committed to providing a safe, inclusive, and respectful work environment. Skechers provides equal employment opportunities for all employees and applicants for employment without regard race, color, religion, gender, gender identification and expression, national origin, marital status, age, disability, genetic information, military status, sexual orientation, or any other protected characteristic established by local, state or federal law.

Reasonable Accommodation
Applicants for employment who require a reasonable accommodation to apply for a job should request appropriate accommodation by emailing [email protected].
To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each job responsibility satisfactorily.  The skills, abilities and physical demands described are representative of those duties that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodation may be made to enable individuals with disabilities, who are otherwise qualified for the job position, to perform the essential functions.