Materials Specialist - Country Road Group
Job No.: 996967
Location: Melbourne - CBD & Inner
Job type: Full-Time
Country Road Group (CRG) is embarking on transformation to position itself for growth, leveraging our scale, capabilities and culture as a House of Brands. We are investing in new and existing capabilities and have a number of exciting opportunities available.
The Materials Specialist supports the Head of Raw Materials in developing and executing the mill network strategy. This role manages the Group’s approved library of materials, ensuring these fabrics are available for all brands and meet quality, sustainability, and ethical sourcing standards, while driving re-use between seasons and across brands.
Beyond maintaining existing materials, the role drives fabric innovation by ensuring the introduction of new options that meet evolving design requirements, while balancing the need for fabric re-use between seasons and across brands to achieve scale cost benefits. Working closely with design, technical, and production teams, the Materials Specialist is responsible for providing fabric options that meet the aesthetic, functional, and cost needs, supporting the brands' creative visions and commercial goals while balancing the imperative for standardisation of fabrics between seasons and across brands.
Key Accountabilities
Fabric Sourcing and Library Maintenance
Support fabric sourcing to meet aesthetic, functional, and cost needs. Manage the PLM fabric library, promoting reusable, innovative materials for cost efficiency. Use data to track fabric performance and identify top-performing options.
Supplier Management, Cost and Negotiation
Manage relationships with key mills and fabric suppliers, negotiating favourable pricing and lead times by leveraging the Group’s scale along. Collaborate with Strategic Sourcing and Sustainability teams, to ensure supplier standards meet the Group’s requirements, align with the network strategy and supplier/vendor matrix.
Fabric Innovation
Drive fabric innovation to meet evolving design needs while balancing standardisation and re-use. Collaborate with design teams to align materials with creative and commercial goals.
Strategic Focus
Support the Head of Raw Materials in executing strategy. Lead mill and fibre strategies, including inflation analysis and hedging. Drive cost savings through fabric rationalisation, re-use, and trend-based innovation recommendations.
Key Capabilities
Experience in sourcing and managing fabrics within the fashion or apparel industry.
Strong track record in supplier management, cost negotiation, and fabric development.
Experience with sustainability and ethical sourcing practices in textile procurement.
Deep knowledge of fabric construction and performance characteristics.
Strong negotiation skills with the ability to manage supplier relationships and optimise costs.
Proficiency in fabric inventory management systems and PLM tools.
Excellent organisational skills with the ability to manage multiple brands and projects simultaneously.
Why work for CRG?
The Country Road Group is one of Australasia’s largest Lifestyle Brand Houses comprising of iconic brands such as Country Road, POLITIX, Trenery, Witchery and MIMCO. Here are some of the great things we offer:
Generous employee discounts across our House of Brands
Seasonal clothing allowance
An additional day of leave for your birthday
An Industry leading Parental Leave Program
Flexible working arrangements to support work/life balance
Annual learning calendar to support the ongoing development of our team
Support community partnerships across our Corporate Social Responsibility Program
We are committed to operating ethically, sustainably, and responsibly.
About CRG
Country Road Group is Australia's largest Lifestyle Brand Houses comprising of iconic brands including Country Road, POLITIX, Trenery, Witchery and MIMCO. Our Values include being Customer Obsessed, Collaborative, Inspirational, Responsible and Dedicated to Quality. We are looking for highly motivated and passionate individuals to be part of the Group’s evolution and support each brand to realise their full potential.
Country Road Group is an equal opportunity employer committed to providing a working environment that embraces and values diversity and inclusion. If you have any support or access requirements, we encourage you to advise us at time of application to assist you through the recruitment process .
Country Road Group is an equal opportunity employer committed to providing a working environment that embraces and values diversity and inclusion. If you have any support or access requirements, we encourage you to advise us at time of application to assist you through the recruitment process. Country Road Group prefers to manage all sourcing directly, please submit your applications to this role if you are interested. Please note introductions via agency will not be accepted. Closing date: 28 Feb 2025
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