Role Summary
The Sourcing Operations Director - Fabric & Vendor Allocation oversees all upstream raw‑material sourcing workflows, including mill/vendor allocation, fabric planning, price negotiation, greige commitments, and end‑to‑end ownership of fabric statuses from development through delivery. This role ensures accurate data flow, proactive costing, and strong cross‑functional alignment across Design, Costing, Production, Technical teams, and overseas offices.
Key Responsibilities
- Fabric & Vendor Allocation Ownership
- Lead fabric and factory allocation for all styles (ADM, development, and bulk)
- Distribute fabric requirements to mills based on costing inputs, capacity, lead time, quality performance, and strategy alignment
- Serve as primary liaison between CFT, overseas offices, and vendors to resolve issues related to fabric quality, LD/SO, yardage placement, or timing
- Provide weekly recap updates on fabric pipeline, risks, pricing changes, and allocation strategy for leadership visibility
- Provide direction on lab dips, strike‑offs, and color accuracy; align final approvals with the color team and Design
- Pricing, Costing & Negotiation
- Own and maintain the Fabric Matrix, ensuring all pricing, lead times, capabilities, and mill assignments are fully up to date
- Initiate and lead seasonal and in‑season fabric price negotiations with mills to lock competitive cost structures
- Leverage market knowledge and mill benchmarking to secure last‑penny savings prior to issuing greige commitments
- Examples include matching competitor pricing and obtaining reductions across solid, heather, fleece, trim, and novelty fabric categories
- Validate costing team inputs and cross‑check data accuracy before it flows into reports, allocations, or commitments
- Greige Ownership & Fabric Tracking
- Issue greige commitments and maintain full ownership of greige liability, status, delivery timelines, and mill follow‑ups
- Track greige and finished fabric production progress, proactively escalating risks and aligning with Production and Planning
- Manage mill communication to improve greige and finished fabric delivery performance, including daily/weekly follow‑ups
- For high‑urgency programs (e.g., SSY), lead end‑to‑end yardage tracking including nightly coordination with mills and delivery recaps for overseas teams
- Cross‑Functional Leadership
- Partner closely with Design, Costing, Technical Design, and Production to ensure fabric development meets cost, quality, and delivery needs
- Support Production Handoff processes by removing fabric‑related blockers early in the timeline
- Vendor Relationships & Performance Management
- Maintain strong long‑term partnerships with mills and vendors, driving improvement in capacity, delivery, innovation, and responsiveness
- Conduct vendor performance reviews tied to pricing consistency, greige performance, quality, compliance, and sampling agility
Qualifications
- 8-12+ years in apparel/fabric sourcing, raw material management, or mill/vendor relations
- Deep knowledge of knit & woven constructions, greige processes, dye/print techniques, and mill capabilities
- Strong negotiation experience with mills
- High proficiency in data validation, Excel, PLM, and fabric matrix maintenance
- Proven ability to manage high‑volume, multi‑brand fabric pipelines
- Strong cross‑functional communication skills (Design, Costing, Production, TD, Logistics, Overseas offices)
Salary: $140,000
