Senior Garment Technologist

Your Journey

Our Values: Well + Fit = Happy. It's Personal. Rebellious Spirit. Bordering on Obsessive. Green Juice & Cocktails.

Sweaty Betty was born in Notting Hill, London in 1998 after our founder Tamara spotted a gap in the activewear market for women who wanted to look good and work out. Teaming up with her husband Simon, they embarked on a mission to create beautiful clothes for women who lead active lifestyles. We now have over 60 shops from London to San Francisco, filled with our signature bum-sculpting leggings, beautiful prints and studio to street pieces

This is an exciting new opportunity sitting within our Product team of 27 where you will work in our Garment Tech team, delivering on our “Beautiful Technical” ranging from swimwear, run, yoga, ski and fashion. Ensuring that every garment is performing to its best ability and looking fabulous. You will work with the Head of Design to inspire the team to achieve business goals through facilitating and implementing plans. You will take responsibility for upholding Sweaty Betty’s high standards of quality and championing best practise and improvements in this area. Reporting in to the Head of Design you will work closely with our Buying and Design teams. 

What You’ll Be Doing

Your journey will include:

Development

• Work with Head of design to manage the development process of new products from a technical perspective and manage the process of the garment tech team when creating measurement specifications at the beginning of each season to achieve the perfect fit and aesthetics on the initial proto samples within the given time frame.
• Partner, advise and support our Designers on fabric and technology innovations to place Sweaty Betty one step ahead of the competition without compromising on quality standards or margin.
• Attend meetings with Store Managers and Customer Care, taking their feedback on current season products into consideration when working on future seasons.

Process

• Work with the head of Design in achieving the highest fit standard for all Sweaty Betty’s clothing ranges and manage the fit process from proto stage through to sealing stage and production approvals. This includes ensuring the initial vision/idea of the product is maintained throughout the process
• Understand the importance of the critical path and manage the process with the Garment Tech team to seasonally identify potential risk to deliveries or quality standards across the entire product offer, and together with Garment Tech team take steps to minimise/eliminate the risks, keeping all deliveries on track.
• Manage the wearer trial process to ensure that all products perform at a very high level and are fully functional for the intended end use.  

Quality

• Together with Head of Design, set up and implement the long and short term strategy for the Garment Tech area including supply chain management, ethical code of practise, sustainability policy etc.
• Work with Head of Design to analyse and understand companywide returns rates, understanding the drivers & working to continuously improve across all channels to prevent the same issues in future seasons.
• Visit factories abroad and carry out factory audits to ensure all factories live up to Sweaty Betty’s Ethical Code of Practice and legal regulations.
• Manage the supplier base review process and together with the Garment Tech Team work with the suppliers to get them to a “self-approving” level. 
• With the support from the Buying team keep the testing standards in Sweaty Betty’s supplier manual up to date and in compliance with legal regulations, and communicate the testing standards to the factories.
• Manage the seasonal testing process to ensure all fabrics and trims have been tested according to Sweaty Betty’s required standards and live up to the set standards.  
• Ensure all care labelling adhere to the legal regulations in the countries Sweaty Betty trade in.
• Manage the QC process to prevent faulty goods from reaching the stores and carry out AQLs at the warehouse or factories if needed. With the support of the buying team negotiate and settle claims on QC issues with suppliers.
• Build and nurture strong relationships with suppliers and stores through frequent communication, visits and meetings.

Team management

• Inspire, lead and develop the Garment Tech team to deliver business objectives and personal growth goals.
• Support the Garment Tech team in the daily problem solving, workload prioritization and general team admin
• Manage the recruitment and booking of freelance in house fit models.

Other

• Undertake presentations of technical subjects to the rest of the business and suppliers as and when needed.
• Support the Directors and Heads of on new initiatives to continuously improve the quality, branding and fit of products.
• Maintain a thorough understanding of the competition through comp shopping and continuously work on evolving and improving the Sweaty Betty product.
• Gain a good understanding of the customer and her needs through stores visits, meetings with store managers, online reviews and brand ambassadors. 

Must Haves

• Established Garment Technologist
• 6+ years of experience across multi-product categories in women’s fashion
• Working in Fashion Retail
• Experience in people management
• Excellent Microsoft office skills, especially in Excel.

We are looking for someone who has a passion for fashion and takes pride in ensuring that every product will fit our customer perfectly. You understand that attention to detail is paramount and you can fit “by eye”. You understand that no two days are the same and you are not phased when prioritise and objectives change – it’s time to roll up your sleeves! You know that two heads are better than one and internal and external stakeholder relationships are key to success, especially with suppliers. You enjoy being part of a collaborative environment and you are able to articulate your vision and ideas in a proactive, structured approached and inspire others in both your working style and attitude. You love what Sweat Betty stands for and adopt the lifestyle the best you can and enjoying being in an environment that promotes fun, balance, and (of course) green juice and cocktails.

The Extras

• Generous clothing allowance
• 50% off SB all Sweaty Betty merchandise
• Free exercise classes in our on-site studio
• Sample sales
• Cycle to work scheme
• Company bonus scheme
• Flexi hour scheme, including 4pm Friday finish
• Generous Company Maternity, Paternity and Adoption Pay
• Childcare Support
• Discounts to the best Studio Classes
• Quarterly Support Office Parties
• 23 Days statutory holiday, with buy and sell holiday option