Fashion Buying Merchandising jobs

Fashion Buyer & Product Developer – Part Time

We are building an exciting new athleisure brand and are looking for an experienced Fashion Buyer & Product Developer to help us develop and launch our first collection.

This is a part-time role, working 2–3 days per week from our Norwich base, with flexibility around working days and hours.

It could be particularly well suited to an experienced fashion professional looking for a role that fits around family or other commitments, but who still wants an interesting, hands-on position with real responsibility and the opportunity to shape a new brand.

The Role

We need someone with a great eye for fashion product who can help us decide what our first collection should look like and then work with manufacturers to make it happen.

You'll help determine which products make the range, the fabrics we use, garment weights and finishes, colourways, fit and styling details, managing the sampling and development process until we have a collection we're confident taking to market.

This is not a traditional fashion design role, and we're not looking for someone to design every garment from scratch. We're looking for someone who understands product: what looks right, what feels right and what customers want.

You'll have considerable input into our first collection and will work closely with our manufacturing partners to turn the overall brand vision into a commercially strong, cohesive range.

What You'll Be Doing

• Help define and build our initial athleisure and lifestyle ranges.
• Research competitors, emerging trends and customer preferences to identify commercially strong product opportunities.
• Help determine the right range architecture – which products we launch, how they work together and where the key commercial opportunities are.
• Work directly with manufacturing partners to develop products from initial concepts through to production.
• Select and refine fabrics, fabric weights, finishes, trims and garment details.
• Develop colour palettes and colourways across the collection.
• Manage the sampling process and critically review samples for fit, fabric, quality, styling, functionality and commercial appeal.
• Provide clear feedback to manufacturers and manage product revisions through subsequent samples.
• Help establish sizing and fit standards across the range.
• Review pricing, MOQs and lead times and support negotiations with the supplier.
• Keep product development, samples and key decisions moving against agreed launch timelines.
• Work with the wider team to ensure the finished collection is ready for launch

About You

This role requires real, hands-on product development experience. You should have worked in a buying, product development or merchandising role with direct exposure to garment manufacturers, and be comfortable with the technical side of product: fabrics, construction, fit, and spec. You'll need:

• Several years' experience in fashion buying, product development or merchandising, with direct exposure to working with garment manufacturers
• Hands-on experience working with factories or suppliers to develop garments from initial concept through to bulk production
• Strong working knowledge of fabrics, garment construction, fit and quality standards
• Experience writing technical feedback on samples — construction issues, fit corrections, fabric faults — not just style opinions
• A strong understanding of athleisure, activewear, sportswear and contemporary lifestyle fashion
• Confidence negotiating pricing, MOQs, lead times and specs directly with suppliers
• Strong organisational skills, comfortable managing multiple products and sample iterations simultaneously

If your experience has been mainly retail or store-based, rather than working directly with suppliers on product development, this probably isn't the right role for you.

Please apply with your CV and covering letter.

Ability to commute/relocate:

• Norwich, Norfolk: reliably commute or plan to relocate before starting work (preferred)

Work Location: In person