Designer - Soft Accessories in Havant

Contract: Permanent, Full Time (35 hours)

Working Arrangements: Hybrid Working (3 days per week office based)

Salary: From £38,000

About us

Who are we?

For over 30 years, we’ve travelled, we’ve laughed, we’ve grown. We believe life is for living and more fun with those we love. We are Made for Life.

Our mission statement:

Crafting clothes for life’s everyday adventures. Today, tomorrow and always.

Our Product formula:

Considered style. Trusted Quality. B Corp certified.

We are proud to have featured in the Sunday Times top 10 Best Places to Work 2026.

Equality and inclusion isn’t an aspiration but the standard. We promote and drive equality within our workforce to ignite an inclusive foundation for us all to build from and truly connect with our customers, colleagues, and communities alike. You play a key part in creating an environment free from prejudice, racism, sexism, harassment, bullying and any other form of marginalisation in our workplaces.

Role Summary

To lead the creative and commercial direction of the Soft Accessories category, translating customer insight, trend intelligence and business strategy into distinctive and commercially successful ranges. The Designer is accountable for category product vision, seasonal range architecture and the development of junior team members, whilst partnering closely with Buying, Merchandising and Quality teams to deliver category growth.

The role has primary design responsibility for Soft Accessories, including cold weather accessories, scarves and hair accessories, leading category innovation through materials, yarns, knit and weave constructions, print techniques and supplier partnerships. In addition, the role provides trend direction, colour direction and aesthetic leadership for the jewellery category, partnering closely with Buying to ensure a cohesive and commercially relevant customer offer.

Role Responsibilities

1. Category Strategy & Direction

• Own the creative vision and product direction for the Soft Accessories category.
• Define seasonal category strategies aligned to customer needs and business objectives.
• Create balanced range architectures that deliver choice, newness and growth.
• Identify category opportunities through customer, market and trading analysis.
• Lead seasonal planning and range review processes.
• Define seasonal colour, material, print and trend direction across Soft Accessories.
• Provide trend and aesthetic direction for the jewellery category, ensuring alignment with the broader accessories proposition.

2. Product & Range Ownership

• Lead development of the category range from concept to final sign-off.
• Ensure product handwriting remains consistent and aligned to FatFace brand DNA.
• Drive innovation in product, colour, materials and construction.
• Lead the design and development of soft accessories including cold weather accessories, woven scarves, printed scarves and hair accessories.
• Create and communicate trend, colour and design direction for jewellery,.
• Review range performance and identify opportunities to optimise future assortments.
• Ensure all product reflects customer expectations for style, quality and value.
• Drive category differentiation through innovative use of yarns, fibres, knit structures, weave developments, print techniques and finishing details.

3. Commercial Accountability

• Use trading performance and customer feedback to shape future seasonal decisions.
• Partner with Buying and Merchandising to identify category growth opportunities.
• Support the delivery of category sales, margin and full-price sell-through objectives.
• Make commercially balanced design decisions that support business performance.
• Collaborate with Buying to identify opportunities within jewellery, ensuring trends, newness and customer demand are translated into a commercially relevant offer.
• Use customer, market and trading insights to influence category decisions and future growth opportunities.
• Build strategic supplier partnerships that drive innovation and category development.
• Develop strong partnerships with specialist mills, yarn suppliers and manufacturers to identify new opportunities and future innovations.
• Challenge and influence suppliers to improve product quality, speed and value.
• Lead supplier visits and development opportunities.
• Continuously seek out innovation in yarns, fibres, knit constructions, weaving techniques, print applications, embellishments and sustainable material developments.
• Identify and implement best practice across the supplier base.
• Drive exclusive developments that enhance the uniqueness and competitiveness of the Soft Accessories category.
• Champion innovation that improves customer experience, product performance and category growth.
• Coach, mentor and develop junior member the design team.
• Provide clear feedback and support career development.
• Act as a role model within the design team.
• Contribute to recruitment, onboarding and talent development where required.
• Build capability across the wider design function.
• Encourage creativity, product expertise and innovation across the team.
• To abide by all FatFace policies and procedures
• Align self to companies social and environmental mission and champion any actions that you can directly impact at all times’

6. Influence & Presentation

• Lead category presentations and gain buy-in from senior stakeholders.
• Present recommendations supported by customer, trend and commercial insight.
• Influence cross-functional decisions through strong product knowledge and strategic thinking.
• Champion category opportunities and investment requirements.
• Present future trend, innovation and material opportunities to inspire stakeholders and drive category growth.

Skills and Experience

· Degree or equivalent in Fashion, Textile Design, Knitwear Design or a related design subject.

·Experience at Designer level within Soft Accessories.

·Proven experience designing cold weather accessories, knitted accessories, scarves and hair accessories.

·Strong understanding of knitwear construction, yarns, fibres, gauges and finishes.

·Experience developing woven and printed scarves.

·Experience working directly with suppliers, mills and factories to develop innovative products and materials.

·Demonstrated ability to identify and introduce new yarns, materials, techniques and product opportunities.

·Travelled to India, China and/or Europe to undertake design development with suppliers.

·Ability to communicate with external partners and Senior Management.

·Ability to organise and prioritise workload.

·Creative, with a passion for product, innovation and detail.

·A team player who can support across categories where required.

· Strong knowledge of knitwear construction, yarns, fibres and accessory manufacturing techniques.

·Understanding of weaving techniques, print development and fabric finishing processes.

·Knowledge of sustainable materials and innovation opportunities within accessories.

·Good knowledge of Adobe Creative Suite (Photoshop, InDesign and Illustrator), Procreate & AI deisgn programs

·Ability to draw products clearly and accurately.

·Understanding of colour stories, print direction and range architecture.

·Ability to translate concepts from idea to final product.

·Good knowledge of factory processes.

·Creative and able to convey the vision of the FatFace brand.

·Comprehensive understanding of customer profile, product range and competitors.

·Demonstrates knowledge of trends within the marketplace.

·Articulates current and future trends for the category.

·Identifies innovation opportunities through materials, yarns, supplier capability and manufacturing techniques

Key Contacts and Relationships

Internal

• Product team
• Creative & Marketing team
• VM
• People Team

External

Accountable for Resources

• Represents the brand image and handwriting – impacting on a wide area of customer facing brand collateral and seasonal communications.
• The visual proposition of these assets can strongly affect sales, plus both brand integrity and customer brand loyalty.
• Design Assistant
• Critical Illness Income protection/ Death in service (for salaried colleagues)
• Pension scheme – with net deduction and salary sacrifice options
• Dental insurance (colleague funded)

Discounts & Perks

• 60% off FatFace products
• 25% discount at Next stores (across full price products)
• Discounted gym membership
• Cycle to Work scheme (for salaried colleagues)EV vehicle scheme (for salaried colleagues)
• Perkbox – our online platform offering:
• Day-one access
• Exclusive brand discounts
• Home workouts and more
• Specsavers eye care scheme
• Eye tests and contributions to glasses
• Free period products
• EAP support 24/7 via UNUM, Retail Trust, and Fashion & Textiles Support

Learning & Development

• Day-one access
• 1,000s of learning resources
• Sabbatical leave (in line with service)
• Enhanced family-friendly policies – including enhanced maternity leave
• Flexible Working Opportunities – flexible working requests can be made from day one of employment and are considered on an individual basis.
• Refer a Friend scheme

We are committed to building a diverse and inclusive team. If you’re excited about this role but your experience doesn’t align perfectly, we encourage you to apply — you might be just the right fit.

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