Senior Product Developer – Fabric Sourcing & Development

ASAP - Ongoing

North West London

£55000 - £65000

Permanent

Love fabric? Make it your speciality.

Our client is a respected design house that creates bespoke and ready-to-wear uniforms for luxury hotels, resorts, restaurants and hospitality brands around the world. As the business grows internationally, they’re looking for a Senior Product Developer to take ownership of fabric.

This is a specialist textile role with real influence. Reporting to the Head of Design, you’ll shape the fabric offer, lead each development from brief to approval and become the go-to fabric expert across Design, Product, Sampling and Production.

What you’ll be doing

Sourcing and developing fabrics from creative and technical briefs, balancing look, handle, performance, cost and delivery

Working with mills and suppliers on colour, composition, weight and finish, and running lab dips, strike-offs and sampling through to sign-off

Finding new mills, textile innovations and sustainable materials that could strengthen the range

Setting testing and performance standards, reviewing test reports and resolving issues such as shrinkage, pilling, abrasion and colourfastness

Negotiating pricing, minimums and lead times, and providing accurate costings for garment costing and client proposals

Handing approved fabrics over to the bulk buying team with clear specifications so repeat orders are consistent

Finding ways to improve value, reduce waste and make better use of existing stock

Mentoring a Junior Product Developer and helping build the fabric library and sourcing processes

What you’ll bring

Significant fabric sourcing and development experience, ideally from apparel, uniforms or a related textile business

Strong technical knowledge of fibres, fabrics, finishes, testing and how fabric performs in a finished garment

Established mill relationships, or the confidence to build them

A proven record of negotiating price, MOQs and lead times

A commercial understanding of how material choices affect cost, quality and production

The ability to turn creative briefs into practical, well-specified fabric solutions

Excellent organisation and attention to detail across multiple developments

Clear, confident communication with creative, technical and production teams

Experience with uniform fabrics, ready-to-wear or sustainable textile sourcing would be a real advantage.

Why apply?
You’ll have the chance to bring deep textile expertise to a growing international business and put your mark on its fabric offer, in a role where your knowledge directly shapes the product.

Interested? Send your CV to Create in confidence, or get in touch for an informal conversation about the role.