Job description
Job Description
Denim Fabric Engineer
Kontoor Brands, Inc. (NYSE: KTB) is a global lifestyle apparel company with a portfolio of some of the world’s most iconic consumer brands: Wrangler® and Lee®. We design, manufacture and distribute superior high-quality products that look good, fit right, and are crafted with sensitivity to our planet to give people around the world the freedom and confidence to express themselves.
With a presence in more than 60 countries and a heritage spanning a combined 200 years, our global community of more than 14,000 employees fosters a culture of integrity, collaboration, performance and entrepreneurial spirit. We are looking for inclusive, humble, creative and forward-looking employees with a passion for creating innovative apparel products, accessories, and solutions that are both meaningful and purposeful for consumers and employees.
Denim Fabric Engineer: Become the Newest Member of Kontoor Brands
Provide technical design for Denim fabric development and counter-sourcing. Ensure construction, aesthetic, and value engineering is optimized for selected fabric. Additional responsibilities include supporting the Design and Procurement departments to maximize flexibility, increasing speed to market, and optimizing cost while improving quality. Utilize textile construction and manufacturing knowledge and partner with Design, Innovation, Sustainable, and Procurement to create fabrics that meet Kontoor Brand requirements.
Develop yarn-forward fabrics that meet or exceed predetermined gross margin targets engineered for end products. Communicate product details to key strategic mill suppliers/partners. Manage mill process, development of fabrications, timeline, and internal QC testing/approval.
Create fabric construction sheets capable of immediate prototyping at mill vendors. Streamline fabric development lead-time and sample process resulting in improving efficiency and profitability.
Key Responsibilities:
- In-depth knowledge of denim: yarn manufacturing, indigo dyeing, weaving, and finishing. Ability to analyze, evaluate, align and platform current textile offering to optimize cost, quality and adoption rate. Help to identify key strategic mill partners, mill development capabilities, and maximize sample process.
- Support the development and delivery of the global textile strategy and fabric construction sheets that enable mill bidding. The goal is to reduce cost and decrease lead time while creating flexibility.
- Collaborate, listen, interpret and create. Work with the creative leadership team (Design, Innovation, Procurement, and Sustainability) on seasonal trends and concepts. Design/Develop textiles that meet design aesthetic and end product parameters.
- Knowledge of market trends, textile equipment, chemical developments, and mill production techniques.
- Support creating a consistent brand approach that heightens relevance and brand equity opportunities.
- Technical Fabric Design
- Provide technical support for textile mills as needed to ensure Kontoor Brands fabric is developed within correct cost parameters and aesthetics
- Evaluate cause and effect to provide and communicate realistic solutions when fabric performance problems arise
- Support the data request for global fabric database entry. Leverage data to significantly improve fabric price points reaching best-in-class pricing for each category
- Provide training and education for Kontoor Team to improve general understanding of fabric construction, color science, dyestuff properties, and supplier issues
Skills for Success:
- Detailed technical knowledge of textile manufacturing, yarn manufacturing, dyeing, finishing, and color science.
- Good understanding of interactions between yarn, dyeing, weaving, and finishing parameters to ensure the right fabric quality.
- Excellent knowledge of looms and loom setups, especially Rapier and Air Jet looms as well as all processes related to weaving fabric.
- Good understanding of fabric finishing processes. Proficient in the interaction of woven fabrics and finishing process to get the right optimized and quality fabric.
- Keen sense of fabric aesthetic
- Ability to have effective and collaborative relationships with external suppliers and internal customers for a long-term benefit to Kontoor
- Excellent problem-solving skills. Prior experience in statistical software for quality improvement, problem-solving, and optimization would be preferable.
- Ability to think and act globally, strategically and tactically
- Able to work both independently and in a team environment
- Proficiency with personal computer and MS Office applications
- Strong ability to lead and build strong partnerships
- Effective communication and organization skills
- Strong multi-tasking capabilities
Experience/Education:
- 10+ years of textile manufacturing focused Yarn, Dyeing, Weaving, and Finishing experience
- Denim Mill operations experience preferred
- Five years of senior textile plant production or product development experience
- International textile manufacturing experience
- Previous project management and staff managerial responsibility BA/BS/MS in Textile Engineering, Textile Chemistry, Chemical Engineering, Material Engineering, etc.
Special Physical and/or Mental Requirements: Work-from-home, travel requires up to 50%
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