Fashion Designer

Purpose of the role

We are looking for a Fashion Designer to shape Tekla's clothing line. Our core is textiles. Everything we make begins with the material: how it is woven, how it holds colour, how it wears over years rather than seasons. The clothing line is how that work extends into a wider product universe, and we are growing it carefully. A garment enters the range when the design earns its place, not to fill a gap.

Reporting to the Head of Product, you will work within the product team, under the direction and vision of our Creative Director and founder. This is a role for an ambitious designer who arrives with ideas of their own, and who wants to carry a garment the whole way, from first sketch to the finished piece.

Key responsibilities of the role include, but are not limited to:

Design and collection development

• Design two collections each year, fall-winter and spring-summer, covering both womenswear and menswear, from research and concept through to approved samples.
• Own the research and direction for each season, and hold that direction through the whole collection rather than only the opening idea.
• Develop silhouette, proportion, colour, and material so that the clothing reflects the distinctive Tekla aesthetic.
• Work with the textile team on fabric development, using our own cloth wherever it serves the garment and sourcing outside it where that is the better answer.
• Produce design boards, drawings, and technical work that give the product and production teams something unambiguous to build from.
• Design footwear alongside the clothing, sharing references and direction so that the two read as one collection.

Direction

• Research materials, references, and market context, and come back with a considered position rather than a mood board.
• Help define what the clothing line stands for as it grows and keep it coherent with the wider brand.
• Bring proposals that stretch us, and the judgment to know which of them are ready.
• Prepare technical drawings and tech packs, and lead fit sessions through to approved samples.

Across the team

• Partner with merchandising on range architecture, pricing, and commercial balance.
• Work with sourcing and production on lead times, minimums, and feasibility, without quietly conceding the design intent.
• Contribute to styling, campaign direction, and launch material alongside the creative team.

We’d love to hear from you if you are/have:

• Experience designing clothing collections that have reached production, with a portfolio showing the full path from concept to finished garment.
• A true creative sensibility, and a feel for quality: you can tell a very good product from an acceptable one, and say what makes the difference.
• A clear position on silhouette, proportion, colour, and material, and the ability to say why a decision is the right one.
• Real fluency with fabric: how it drapes, behaves, wears, and what it costs to work with.
• Confidence with technical drawing and tech packs, and ease in a fit session.
• The ambition to build rather than maintain, together with the patience that building actually takes.
• Comfort working closely with commercial and production colleagues, and openness to their constraints.
• Fluent English, written and spoken.
• An appreciation and understanding for the Tekla brand and product.