Vice President Raw Materials

Your Journey

For over 20 years, Sweaty Betty has ‘empowered women through fitness and beyond’. Our vision is to inspire a global community of women who get together and sweat together. Founded by Tamara Hill-Norton, in 1998 in London’s Notting Hill, Sweaty Betty has global distribution in key markets UK and US and is poised for explosive international growth in the next two years. With 50 stores in the UK, 4 in Hong Kong and a rapidly growing wholesale footprint including 99 Nordstrom locations across the US & Canada, there has never been a more exciting time to join our team.

In this new role at Sweaty Betty, you will be responsible for leading the raw material strategy. You will drive an end to end raw material team responsible for identifying commercially viable fabric and trim that meet the aesthetic, cost, sustainable, lead time and quality standards of Sweaty Betty. Collaborating with your cross-functional peers on strategies and innovation, you will play a key role in growing the business.

Your SB Journey:

• Lead the Raw Material strategy, in partnership with Design, Product Development, Production leads
• Provide required leadership and mentoring for the raw material team
• Manage the Raw Material team of experts in the field of fabric, trims, wash, colour, print and graphic
• Establish and maintain collaborative relationships across design, merchandising, garment tech, product development and production partners
• Partner with Design to ensure viable raw materials, colour, prints and techniques are developed within the design aesthetic for each season's concept
• Interpret concept ideas and offer solutions
• Collaborate on new brand concepts, working with cross functional and global teams to bring these concepts inclusive of colour, print and materials through to commercialization
• Manage the Sweaty Betty Colour Library, responsible for the colour standardization and palette development
• Offer technical expertise to Product Team of raw material innovation, production techniques and viability, including knitting/weaving, dyeing/finishing/printing, moulding, fabric/garment wash and other processing and embellishment techniques
• Partner with Design and PDP to optimize raw material lifecycles and ensure we engineer and negotiate the best cost whilst achieving the aesthetic and quality standards
• Remain connected with key global suppliers, Trade shows and vendors in identifying new, innovative, sustainable, cutting edge raw material ideas to advance the product and brand
• Partner with PDP and GT Teams for risk assessment to ensure raw material compatibility, garment care, the product is fit for purpose and compliant to regulatory standards
• Be a positive, supportive partner, consistently demonstrating our shared values and high standards

Must Haves

• A technical education in Textile Science to degree level or equivalent
• 15+ years proven leadership experience in a senior raw material capacity with practical experience in sourcing, fabric and colour development, including weft knit, woven fabrics as well as garment finishing techniques
• Experience developing materials for performance is a must
• Successfully worked across design and production organizations, developing and delivering Raw Material initiatives
• Proven track record in global sourcing and development of raw materials to achieve business goals
• Skilled communicator with the ability to influence leadership in decision making
• Proven management and leadership skills including strong negotiation skills
• Ability to identify, develop and retain top talent
• Flexible and creative problem solver

The Extras

• Generous clothing allowance
• 50% off all Sweaty Betty merchandise
• 25 days holiday, with buy and sell holiday option
• Sample sales
• Company bonus scheme
• Cycle to work scheme
• Monthly Office Meeting
• Generous Company Maternity, Paternity and Adoption Pay and Childcare support
• Discounts at the best Studio Classes
• SB Flexible Working: we currently work flexibly between the office and home. Our focus remains keeping everyone safe and we will continue to review this in line with government guidance

Our D&I Commitment

Our mission is to empower all women.  This means doing more and working harder to make the long-lasting changes necessary to become an inclusive, diverse and actively anti-racist company. We care about our people, our community, our world.  And we want to stand up for what we believe in. 

We want to give our people a platform to use their voice. And actively listen and learn from what they have to say.  This involves focusing on learning, development and progression across the business.  Training our leaders, managers and teams about their rights under our equality, diversity and inclusion policy. And being clear on the responsibilities we hold to each other and our community. It also means being committed to equal employment opportunities. Ensuring we consider ALL applicants for jobs. And work harder to make our job advertising more inclusive. 

Ultimately, we’re working to create a culture and team that represents our customers, our community and our mission of empowerment. We want to celebrate our diversity and the power it gives our team and our business. 

We know we’re on a journey. And far from perfect. But we want to be a part of the solution to the problem. It might not be comfortable or straightforward. But if we weren’t up for doing the hard work and breaking the mould, we wouldn’t be Sweaty Betty.  We are committed to working across our business and with our Internal Diversity & Inclusion Squad to be champions, allies and inclusive, always. Because when we say All, we mean it.