Senior Designer - Fashion

Sahara is seeking a Senior Womenswear Designer to join its Creative Team based in Primrose Hill, NW1. 

The Senior Designer will work closely with the Head of Design and Creative Director, alongside the part- time designers to create regular collections that will appeal to Sahara’s core and loyal customer, while also driving the collections forward to allow the brand to speak to a new, younger Sahara woman.   

The Senior Designer will be responsible for ensuring that collections are brought to market in a timely and profitable manner.   

Duties include: 

• Create seasonal mood boards with the Head of Design and Creative Director  
• Create new collections each season true to Sahara’s brand DNA 
• Develop colour palettes that work across entire delivery waves for each season 
• Produce hand drawn sketches to present to the Creative Director for range selection 
• Be considerate of current and previous product performance 
• Research existing trends within Sahara’s archive and develop new potential commercial styles for the collection 
• Identify new product areas to complement Sahara’s core collection   
• Regularly review, analyse and be mindful of what makes a Sahara best seller, likewise, understand why a product might be underperforming and apply the knowledge to the creation of new collections 
• Visit Sahara own brand stores each season to review the collections   
• Visit relevant fabric/trims tradeshows in the UK and overseas to source materials to include in upcoming collections 
• Create technical packs for selected designs with specification sheets 
• Attend fit meetings

The successful candidate will: 

• Be a lover of fabric, vibrant colour and print  
• Have experience designing for a similar brand 
• Possess exceptional technical knowledge 
• Be proficient in Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop 
• Be a clear communicator 
• Possess a keen eye for trends and industry standards – deep interest in global fashion 
• Possess knowledge/experience in fabric dying techniques such as garment dye 
• Possess knowledge of female body measurements 
• Possess adequate understanding of garment construction 
• Possess at minimum a basic understanding of pattern cutting  

Cad skills are preferable 

 Please apply with your CV and illustrations of your work or a link to your portfolio. 

 About Sahara: 

Sahara is a fiercely independent, family and founder-run business founded in the 1970s with 16 own brand stores and over 150 wholesale stockists in the UK and overseas. Sahara creates collections for the free-spirited, independent woman. The Senior Designer position is based at Sahara’s HQ which is nestled in the leafy village of Primrose Hill on the edge of Camden Town.  
 
Mission Statement: 

We are the women of Sahara. We are unconstrained. Our adventurous spirit leads us beyond the High Street to destinations lesser known. For clothes that mean more. That add to the story of our lives.  

 We are unique. Try and pin us down, it doesn’t work. Label us and it won’t stick. We believe that demographics divide, age is just a state of mind and body type is what each one of us sees in the mirror.  

We are leaders. Visionaries in our own right. Creative, passionate - and only ever underestimated once