Manager, Materials – Women’s Footwear & Handbags

The Materials Manager – Women’s Footwear & Handbags will manage the development of raw materials used in women’s footwear and handbags. This role partners cross functionally with design, product development, and overseas teams to develop and source seasonal materials that support product excellence and on-time delivery while meeting design intent, quality, cost, and testing requirements. The ideal candidate brings expertise in leather, textiles, and synthetics and has experience managing material development from concepts through pre-production.

CORE ACCOUNTABILITIES:

• Source and develop raw materials for women’s footwear and handbags that support Cole Haan’s brand positioning and product performance
• Partner with the design, materials and product development teams to establish seasonal color and materials direction and manage strike offs and development
• Drive material innovation by identifying emerging trends, technologies and sustainable alternatives.
• Collaborate with the design, materials, and product development teams to create and drive materials development calendar that aligns with the product creation calendar
• Liaise with product development and overseas materials teams to ensure cost targets are achieved
• Communicate with overseas materials team and vendor partners to obtain material specs and prices to build seasonal materials library for sales sample BOMs
• Create and organize seasonal swatches, materials specs and testing data, maintaining them throughout the product creation milestones, from concept through sales samples
• Attend local material fairs to spot new trends and source seasonal materials
• Problem solve potential high-risk materials as it pertains to price, usage and production quality prior to sales sampling
• Oversee material approvals, including lab dips and bulk submissions to ensure quality craftsmanship, and execution in line with Cole Haan's quality positioning