Fabric Mills jobs

Northern Hiring is recruiting a Senior Garment Technologist with strong denim expertise for a fashion business where denim is a core part of the range. This is a home-based role with travel to London.

You will own the technical side of the denim range from first sample to bulk production. You'll work closely with design, buying and an international supplier base to make sure every garment fits right, washes right and performs to standard.

Key responsibilities

• Lead fit sessions (live and virtual) for denim and woven bottoms, jackets and shirts, and issue clear fit comments to suppliers
• Create and manage technical packs, size specs, grading rules and tolerances
• Approve fabrics, washes, trims and finishes, including shrinkage, twist and stretch/recovery testing
• Manage wash development and wash standards, working with laundries to hit agreed looks consistently
• Run the critical path for technical sign-offs from proto through to pre-production and gold seal
• Review lab test reports and resolve failures against retailer and brand quality standards
• Investigate quality issues and customer returns, then agree corrective actions with suppliers
• Build strong relationships with overseas factories, mills and laundries
• Support sustainability goals such as lower-impact washes, recycled fibres and chemical compliance (e.g. ZDHC/MRSL)
• Mentor junior and assistant garment technologists

What you'll need

• 5+ years' experience as a Garment Technologist, including at least 1 year at senior level
• Strong, hands-on denim experience: fits, construction, fabric behaviour and wash processes
• Confident running fittings and giving clear, practical fit and construction comments
• Good knowledge of denim fabrics (rigid, stretch, comfort stretch) and how shrinkage and wash affect fit
• Experience working with overseas suppliers, laundries and mills
• Sound understanding of garment testing, quality standards and retailer technical requirements
• Comfortable with PLM systems (e.g. Centric, Backbone, WFX) and Excel
• Organised and able to manage several ranges and deadlines at once
• Clear communicator who can push back on suppliers when quality is at risk
• A degree or qualification in garment technology, textiles or similar, or equivalent experience

Nice to have

• Experience in menswear, womenswear and kidswear denim
• Knowledge of laser, ozone and other low-impact finishing methods
• Pattern cutting knowledge or experience with Gerber/Lectra
• Experience with 3D sampling tools
• A background supplying UK high-street or online retailers

Pay: £55,000.00-£70,000.00 per year

Work Location: Remote