Who we are:

White Stuff was established in 1985 through a simple idea. This idea grew and now we have shops and concessions in the UK and internationally, selling women’s and men’s clothing as well as beautiful accessories and homeware. Our original prints (all designed in house), intricate details and considered design touches reflect our personality and make us subtly distinctive.

Our people are at the heart of our brand, constantly moving and driving us forward. We’re sociable, talented and like-minded and we’re not hierarchical or political in how we do business. We encourage entrepreneurial ideas and accountability at all levels.

Who you are:

A strong creative yet commercial & inspirational Print lead who is an innovative creative leader that can find the right balance between creativity & commerciality with a sense of humour in the product handwriting. A lateral thinker, always taking the indirect & creative approach to come up with the unexpected. You will be an inspreational lead who is self-reliant in their role. Great interpersonal skills working across Womenswear, Menswear, Accessories, Childrenswear & Home in line with the Product Director & Head of Designs(HoD) vision for the brand DNA. You need to be able to orchestrate beautiful hand drawn & painted artworks with the desire to create innovative surface pattern. Primarily developed in house to ensure we create a unique yet consistent colour & print handwriting for White Stuff and be an artisan of all things embroidered & embellished, having experience of both creating artworks & understands how to execute & translate into production

Primary objective of the job:

You will drive the print handwriting in tandem with the product design team, identifying relevant print trends & new print techniques delivering innovation & drive growth to meet business KPI’s. Mentor & be a role model for the print team, working with the HoD to set the critical path & provide creative print direction for the wider team. Create balanced print designs that offer newness, choice & a cohesive handwriting throughout seasons so that White Stuff stands out from the crowd & is famous for colour, print & pattern, this is imperative to make the brand look & feel different & capture new customers in the UK & international markets.

What you’ll be doing

• Provide leadership & support to the print team, working with less experienced designers training & guiding them on print/pattern development
• Create on brand unique design packs from sketch stage to ready to brief spec packs sharing with senior management at sketch & swatch & sign offs
• Visit trade shows, undertake sourcing trips as needed pulling together reports to ensure wider teams are aware of emerging print trends & themes
• Identifying & presenting new print & pattern opportunities within the seasonal brief
• Working closely with external partners such as trend forecasters, fabric mills & print houses to collate all relevant information before feeding into the HoD prior to the design brief build
• Briefing the team/freelance designers to ensure consistent colour, print & pattern across all departments & rangebuild closely with all teams to ensure choice & consistency across the brand
• Deliver the relevant colour, print, fabric research in accordance with the critical path timelines to allow time for the HoD to co-ordinate all information & land a credible & joined up design brief
• Responsible for strike-off management of print, working in line with the product designers & buying team to ensure high quality & consistency, liaising & maintaining close relationships with key suppliers to achieve this

What you’ll need:

• Proven track record in print development is essential with a strong eye for colour balance & unique colour combinations
• Accomplished artist in painting & hand drawing to ensure an artisan aesthetic, able to innovate & push boundaries whilst working within the White Stuff DNA
• Fully CAD literate within Photoshop, Illustrator & PowerPoint
• Relevant technical knowledge, with extensive experience designing into print concepts & translating these into factory ready artworks/repeats/colour separation & colour ways
• Able to create factory ready print work sheets, liaising directly with factories to ensure commercial yet creative prints are actioned
• Excellent organisational skills, works to & set deadlines, ensuring direct reports also adhere to the critical path and delegates where necessary
• Strategical thinking and be to stand back from the day-to-day issues to see & act on the bigger picture
• Excellent team player who leads by example to wider team & division & be seen as a brand amabassador
• Very competent communication, influencing, negotiation skills, good working ethics & able to work with peers equally in managing up/down
• Identifies improvements in existing ways of working to achieve all KPI’s, communicates this clearly to the team
• Ensure direct reports are mentored, coached, developed & kept abreast of company strategies & understand how they relate to themselves
• Strong energized & engaging presentation skills showing a positive/pro-active approach whilst being a dynamic team leader
• Excellent at appraisals and able to deliver both positive and negative feedback

What we will offer you:

You will be entitled to an array of great benefits, some of which include:

• Hybrid working
• Quarterly/Annual bonus opportunity
• Up to 33 days holiday per annum
• 2 extra (paid!) days off per year to volunteer in the local community
• 50% discount
• Subsidised BUPA Dental Insurance
• Healthcare cash plan and Life Assurance
• Interest free season ticket loan
• Pension Contribution

We are committed to creating an environment where we can all be proud to work and be ourselves. Part of this commitment is being an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will be considered for employment without regard to race, colour, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, genetics, disability, and age.

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