Product Approval Associate

 Haddad is a privately held family business with 100 years’ experience in the children’s apparel & accessories industry. A leader in the children’s wear industry, Haddad Brands is the exclusive global licensee for the most iconic brands in the world, which include Nike, Jordan, Converse, Hurley, Levi’s, Polo, Abercrombie and Fitch, Lacoste, Tommy Hilfiger, Calvin Klein and Huggies. Supported by a team of professionals skilled in design, sourcing, production, sales, marketing & distribution of premium quality children’s wear, Haddad distributes globally to 100+ countries and maintains sales and sourcing offices in 22 cities globally, including New York, Paris, Hilversum, Shanghai, Egypt, Bangkok, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, London and Montreal.   

Overview: 

The Product Approval Associate will monitor and approve bulk fabric, art execution and trims according to Haddad Brands and licensors’ standards to drive product execution and on-time deliveries while providing support to the Product Approval Manager throughout the approval process for a category/brand.

Key Accountabilities:

• Support the Product Approval Manager and/or Product Approval Director throughout the entire approval process, including approving fabric qualities, wash, lab dips, artwork, accessories, trims and pre-production samples in a timely manner
• Partner with overseas vendors and offices to ensure timely delivery of all submissions and approvals
• Monitor deadlines and approval milestones in the tracking system for all submits and pre-production samples
• Organize and maintain seasonal boards, directive assortments and design catalogs by brand
• Create and present seasonal risk assessments to sourcing and design teams to avoid quality and execution issues
• Create risk hind-sight post season to further improve development process with factories
• Sort and distribute submits from overseas to Design teams daily and prioritize by delivery date
• Organize and send back QRS samples to Nike corporate with comments
• Hang and maintain pre-production sample rack
• Special projects as assigned

Required Skills/Abilities/Education:

• Bachelor’s Degree in Production Management, Fashion Merchandising or related field
• 1-2 years of experience in related field and/or strong internship experience
• Proficient in Microsoft Office
• Excellent organizational and communication skills with attention to detail
• Ability to multi-task and prioritize in a fast-paced environment

Consistent in-office presence is vital to the role as it is for all Haddad Brands team members, so that we all have a full appreciation, aesthetically and tactilely, of the qualities that define our brand partners’ products and set them apart from their competitors.