Production Manager

PICANTE is founded by Jude Taylor and Saam Zonoozi. Born from the love of food, friendship and travel, the fashion and lifestyle brand PICANTE has gone on to become a cult London-based label featured in publications including Vogue, HYPEBEAST, HighSnobiety, Complex and GQ.

Alongside their mainline collections, the brand is on a mission to connect people through the ritual of food by collaborating with iconic restaurants and putting a luxury spin on merchandise.

PICANTE is currently recruiting for an industry leading production manager to work directly with the founders and design team to create the product.

THE ROLE:

We're seeking a dynamic Production Manager to oversee all aspects of clothing production, managing the critical path, ensuring timely deliveries, while maintaining the high quality output. You will be ensuring there's seamless collaboration between the design team and the factories. This role will drive production efficiency, manage budgets and uphold quality standards, while supporting both direct-to-consumer and wholesale operations, truly owning the production process and critical path from end-to-end.

MAIN RESPONSIBILITIES:

Production Planning

• Responsible for overseeing all clothing production for the business and managing the critical path to ensure on-time deliveries for both DTC and wholesale stock.
• Work closely with the technical and design teams, arranging regular meetings to ensure the critical path runs smoothly and any changes or adjustments are implemented. Oversee the sample process and follow up on approvals needed to move samples to the next stage of production. Ensure the sample feedback process is streamlined and feedback is provided on time.
• Manage and organise the production of trimmings and packaging to ensure production facilities receive accessories in a timely manner. Oversee and maintain the barcoding and SKU system for factories.

Budget Management

• Prepare seasonal budgets and work within them to meet end-of-year targets. Liaise with factories to ensure costs and budgets are adhered to and negotiate prices where necessary.

Leadership and Stakeholder Management

• Develop and optimise the production process across the business, ensuring all relevant stakeholders are onboarded. Keep critical path and production trackers up to date and suggest improvements to create a smoother production process.
• Support the e-commerce and marketing teams to ensure they have the right product at the right time for content creation and campaigns.
• Build the future of production at PICANTE. We're in a unique growth stage so want your support to help us grow the production team as the business scales.

Supplier Relationships

• Responsible for fostering a positive working environment within the team and promoting a solutions-focused company culture.
• Collaborate closely with production partners to uphold quality standards, following packaging guidelines, upholding the quality control and building strong relationships with them.
• Proactively research and identify new factories in categories we plan to explore.

Operations

• Oversee negotiations with shipping brokers to ensure successful delivery and check-in of stock at the fulfilment centre. Ensure all relevant information is provided to the fulfilment centre ahead of delivery, and there is no missing stock.

Reporting

• Provide regular updates to senior management on production status, challenges and achievements.

ESSENTIAL SKILLS:

• Proven experience as a Production Manager in a similar role within the fashion industry.
• Strong understanding of garment production processes, materials and quality standards.
• Excellent organisational and leadership skills.
• Proficient in production management software and tools.
• Strong problem-solving abilities and attention to detail.
• Excellent problem-solving and negotiation skills.
• Committed to achieving excellent quality.
• Hands-on, positive team player with the ability to act quickly in a fast-paced environment.
• Flexible to work through expansion and change adhering to processes.
• Proactive and entrepreneurial, self-starter mentality.
• Degree in Fashion would be great
• Proficient in Excel
• Enjoy collaborating and working as part of a small, dynamic team. You will be hands on as well as strategic.

THE CANDIDATE:

The ideal candidate will be a highly organised and proactive leader with strong experience in fashion production. They should excel in managing critical paths, have a keen eye for detail and be adept at coordinating with cross-functional teams. A background in budget management, factory negotiations, and quality control is essential, along with the ability to foster a positive and solution-oriented team culture. Flexibility, problem-solving, and a passion for driving efficient production processes are key to success in this role.

THE BITS YOU WANT TO KNOW:

• Salary in line with experience.
• 5 days a week (office based in Vauxhall, London) / 1 day WFH.
• Great team.
• Free clothes.

PICANTE is an Equal Opportunities Employer and as such, treats all applications equally and recruits purely on the basis of skills and experience.