Headwear Materials Developer

**Company Overview**

Fanatics is building a leading global digital sports platform. The company ignites the passions of global sports fans and maximizes the presence and reach for hundreds of sports partners globally by offering innovative products and services across Fanatics Commerce, Fanatics Collectibles, and Fanatics Betting & Gaming, allowing sports fans to Buy, Collect and Bet. Through the Fanatics platform, sports fans can buy licensed fan gear, jerseys, lifestyle and streetwear products, headwear, and hardgoods; collect physical and digital trading cards, sports memorabilia, and other digital assets; and bet as the company builds its Sportsbook and iGaming platform. Fanatics has an established database of over 100 million global sports fans, a global partner network with over 900 sports properties, including major national and international professional sports leagues, teams, players associations, athletes, celebrities, colleges, and college conferences, and over 2,000 retail locations, including its Lids retail business stores.

As a market leader with more than 18,000 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.

The Headwear Materials Developer supports end to end research, development & commercialization for headwear materials. Encompassing both fabric and color they work cross functionally with USA Product Development team and Thailand Product Development team, while collaborating with fabric mills/ vendors, design, art, and merchandising teams to support seasonal and ongoing materials development strategy. This role facilitates fabric and color to deliver market right product with service & speed, meeting financial objectives.

**Responsibilities**:

- Support seasonal materials requests initiated by home office with suppliers.
- Ensure product integrity of all brands by initiating the testing of all materials, inclusive of QC and domestic decoration testing, to meet the needs of customers and business requirements.
- Partner with the product development teams in order to meet key objectives for the season and time & action calendar deadlines.
- Help prepare, send out and follow-up on seasonal development briefs/requests.
- Maintain an accurate headwear materials archive, data, submits and references, inclusive of tracking management.
- Support maintenance and communication of annual/seasonal materials metrics and status reports.
- Suggest process/development efficiency opportunity’s and help implement solutions through cross collaborative efforts.
- Seek out opportunities to maximize efficiency in headwear materials palettes.
- Ensure to align headwear to the global color strategy that supports the Fanatics business.
- Support sourcing and supply of headwear materials, scout and research new suppliers. Monitor and scorecard existing suppliers and their performance.
- Drive the transparency metrics of headwear materials and color and work with suppliers and teams to enhance and elevate headwear materials.

**Requirements**:

- Degree in têxtile/ product development or related field.
- 3+ years of experience in the apparel industry with a knowledge of fabric and color development, inclusive of graphic art/print knowledge, raw materials, wash techniques and production with a focus on headwear fabrics.
- Understanding of quality control.
- Ability to travel if needed.
- Excellent organizational, communication, follow-up and presentation skills with attention to detail.
- Ability to juggle multiple deadlines and tasks in a fast paced environment. Strong sense of urgency and intuitive sense of priorities & accuracy, with a creative approach to problem solving.
- Strong interpersonal skills, including ability to partner cross functionally and effectively with Design, Merchandising, Sourcing and overseas offices.
- Experience in PLM and MS Office a must.
- 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._

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.