Location: Florida - Tampa

Employment Type: Salaried

Team: FB Corporate

Company Overview

Fanatics is building a leading global digital sports platform to ignite and harness the passions of fans and maximize the presence and reach for hundreds of partners globally. Optimizing these long-standing partnerships, a database of more than 80 million global consumers and a trusted, recognizable brand name, Fanatics is expanding beyond its position as a global leader for licensed sports merchandise to now becoming a next-gen digital sports platform, featuring an array of offerings for fans across the sports ecosystem.

The Fanatics family of companies currently includes Fanatics Commerce, a vertically-integrated licensed merchandise business that has changed the way fans purchase their favorite team apparel, jerseys, headwear and hardgoods through a tech-infused approach to making and quickly distributing fan gear in today’s 24/7 mobile-first economy; Candy Digital, a digital collectibles company that is partnering with prominent sports properties, including MLB and MLBPA, to build an official NFT ecosystem; Fanatics Collectibles, through Topps as a cornerstone of the business, building a new model for the collectibles and trading cards hobby with top leagues and players association partners; and Fanatics Betting & Gaming, a mobile betting, gaming and retail sportsbook platform. Fanatics’ partners include all major professional sports leagues (NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL, NASCAR, MLS, PGA) and hundreds of collegiate and professional teams, which include several of the biggest global soccer clubs.

As a market leader with more than 9,000 employees, and hundreds of partners, suppliers, and vendors worldwide, we take responsibility for driving toward more ethical and sustainable practices. We are committed to building an inclusive Fanatics community, reflecting and representing society at every level of the business, including our employees, vendors, partners and fans. Fanatics is also dedicated to making a positive impact in the communities where we all live, work, and play through strategic philanthropic initiatives.

At Fanatics, we’re a diverse, passionate group of employees aiming to ignite pride and passion in the fans we outfit, celebrate and support. We recognize that diversity helps drive and foster innovation, and through our IDEA program (inclusion, diversity, equality and advocacy) at Fanatics we provide employees with tools and resources to feel connected and engaged in who they are and what they do to support the ultimate fan experience.

The Materials Developer will be responsible for executing the end to end fabric research, development and commercialization, working with suppliers as well as with cross functional partners, to support new fabric and embellishment trends and techniques. This involves translating conceptual needs into marketable materials that meet target cost requirements and quality standards, including new decoration techniques, within seasonal calendar timelines.

Key Responsibilities

• Research seasonal materials trend and prepare boards and materials for trend presentations prior to seasonal Design Kick Off.
• Create fabric strategy meeting by gathering data on development /adoption ratio
• Maintain materials development tracker and keep the most updated information and communicate cross functionally and with suppliers/hubs on a daily basis.
• Prepare and publish seasonal development briefs/requests to all suppliers, inclusive of fabric pattern artwork and new components.
• Oversee fabric development according to design direction, paying special attention to quality standards, price and lead-time.
• Track seasonal development of fabrics, communicating development status to cross-functional teams, and reviewing initial costing to ensure target margin alignment.
• Ensure product integrity by managing all testing requirements, including fabric sample yardage requests and track status of all testing reports.
• Ensure the timely creation of fabric in PLM.
• Manage and maintain a core fabric library including physical submits and trim supplier catalogs.
• Build and maintain a Global Vendor matrix of key strategic fabric suppliers.
• Create and maintain KPI dashboarding metrics for seasonal fabric development.
• Responsible for proactively addressing any fabric development issue and ensuring through proper communication internally and externally that all are buy-ready.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s Degree in Textiles, Clothing Technology and/or Manufacturing or related field.
• 5+ years of experience in the fashion industry with a strong knowledge of fabric development as well as testing standards and methods.
• Strong background in fabric development process, dyeing and finishing techniques.
• Experience in knitted fabric construction, graphic art/print knowledge, raw materials, wash techniques and production would be a plus.
• Must be able to identify issues and analyze relevant data to determine the correct and appropriate course of action and generate solutions.
• Must be deadline driven and have a pro-active and creative approach to problem solving.
• Excellent organizational, communication, follow-up skills and attention to detail.
• Ability to juggle multiple deadlines and tasks in a fast-paced environment. Strong sense of urgency and intuitive sense of priorities and accuracy.
• Must be able to travel domestically and internationally, as required.
• Proficient in PLM, databases, Adobe illustrator, and MS Office applications.

Tryouts are open at Fanatics! Our team is passionate, talented, unified, and charged with creating the fan experience of tomorrow. The ball is in your court now.

Ensure your Fanatics job offer is legitimate and don’t fall victim to fraud. Fanatics never seeks payment from job applicants. Fanatics recruiters will only reach out to applicants from an @fanatics.com or @fanatics.co.uk email address. For added security, where possible, apply through our company website at www.fanaticsinc.com/careers

Fanatics is committed to responsible planning and purchasing (RPP) practices, working with its business partners across its global and multi-layered supply chain, to ensure that planning, sourcing, and purchasing decisions, along with other supporting processes, do not impede or conflict with the fulfillment of Fanatics’ fair labor practices.

NOTICE TO CALIFORNIA RESIDENTS/APPLICANTS : In connection with your application, we collect information that identifies, reasonably relates to or describes you (“Personal Information”). The categories of Personal Information that we collect include your name, government issued identification number(s), email address, mailing address, other contact information, emergency contact information, employment history, educational history, criminal record, and demographic information. _ _ We collect and use those categories of Personal Information about you for human resources and other business management purposes, including identifying and evaluating you as a candidate for potential or future employment or future contract positions, recordkeeping in relation to recruiting and hiring, conducting criminal background checks as permitted by law, conducting analytics, and ensuring compliance with applicable legal requirements and Company policies.