Designer, Soft Accessories

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.
The successful individual will leverage their proficiency in Design to:

• Be the key interface with the licensee design teams to carryout seasonal design and brand direction
• Uphold design integrity and brand standards throughout the entire development process
• Research seasonal trends and keep up-to-date on market competition
• Support Design Director in creating seasonal trend inspiration presentations
• Responsible for department project management (timeline adherence, ensuring all licensees and product meet key milestones and final calendar dates)
• Manage preparation for design meetings; conduct follow-up
• Collaborate closely with the Art Department; provide Art Department with seasonal artwork needs and oversee to final pass-off to the licensees or factory
• Partner with licensees and merchandising teams throughout the design cycle
• Initiate cross-collaboration with in-house design teams (Handbags, RTW, Jewelry, Shoes, Home) to collect and share design assets and seasonal direction (designs, swatches, hardware) with licensees.
• Manage communication of internal design priorities and changes throughout season (at sketch review, proto review and market sample review) to direct team and the licensees.
• Initiate project requests and oversee to final approval (with art department, hardware, editorial, legal teams)
• Maintain seasonal boards and design libraries, by category.

The accomplished individual will possess:

• 5+ years Fashion industry experience
• Experience in Accessory and RTW experience preferred
• Experience in high fashion, including market trends, design, and luxe raw materials
• Diverse set of experience across design categories, as well as strong construction knowledge
• Ability to work in fast-paced environment
• Strong organizational skills and deadline management
• Highly proficient skill within Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop
• an equivalent combination of education and experience will be considered

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-DL1 #LI-HYBRID
BASE PAY RANGE $76,000.00 TO $95,000.00 Annually *Tapestry will comply with minimum wage requirements and any other applicable pay laws based on city, county, and state regulations.
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 .