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. Visit Our People page to learn more about Tapestry’s commitment to equity, inclusion, and diversity.
Primary Purpose:
The Manager, Creative Studio is responsible for leading the facilitation of the design and development of Leather Goods across Kate Spade Outlet.
The Manager will work cross-functionally with Design, Merchandising, Product Development, Materials Development, Legal, Art, and Concept Studio on the end to end process.They play a critical role at every milestone, ensuring the design intent is executed to the highest standards. This role acts as a key ambassador for Design.
Key Responsibilities:
- Drives the design process, leads communication and shares the creative vision across all categories and cross-functional partners, upholding design integrity while ensuring key milestones are met.
- Acts as bridge between design and raw materials team, with keen knowledge of leathers, fabrics, and desired results.
- Partner closely with cross-functional partners to ensure milestone dates are in line with established design timelines. Act as a proxy for design in strategic timeline discussions.
- Communicates Leather Goods seasonal development information to cross-category design and merchandising partners to ensure alignment across departments.
- Manage the day-to-day responsibilities of team (2 direct reports plus freelancer management). Responsible to lead team to deliver against the milestones – on time and on budget.
- Works closely with the Outlet Creative Studio Assistant to create visual decks. Understands how to best visually communicate to multiple audiences.
- Manages CAD Designer, who is responsible for all CADs across development cycle.
- Keeps strong records and notes for the design team.
- Ensure designers are aware of upcoming meetings. Prepare tools resources and information needed to support the designers to meet deliverables.
- Partner closely with Outlet Design Director and entire Outlet Design team to help create efficiency and clarity on the design team.
- Anticipate challenges, roadblocks and potential delays and proactively provide recommendations and contingency plans. Provide solutions for process improvements and enhancements, reducing complexity and non-creative work where possible.
- Helps to drive creative atmosphere and workplace, creating an inspiring environment for all.
Requirements:
- Minimum 5+ years of expertise in design and development of Leather Goods and accessories
- Must have a global mindset and experience working with cross-functional partners
- Demonstrated success in managing design studio/processes
- Must be highly resourceful and savvy
- Strong and compelling communication style; ability to galvanize teams around a creative vision
- Highly collaborative working style
- Eye for color
- Extremely detail oriented
- Strong Record Keeper
- Illustrator proficiency is a plus
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 employeerelations@tapestry.com
Visit Kate Spade at www.katespade.com.
Work Structure – HYBRID
BASE PAY RANGE $85,000.00 TO $105,000.00 Annually
Click Here – U.S Corporate Compensation & Benefit
Req ID: 109709