Assistant Designer, SLGs

Since its launch in 1993 with a collection of six essential handbags, Kate Spade New York has always been colorful, bold, and optimistic. Today, it is a global lifestyle brand that designs extraordinary things for the everyday, delivering seasonal collections of handbags, ready-to-wear, jewelry, footwear, home décor, and more. Known for its rich heritage and unique brand DNA, Kate Spade New York offers a distinctive point of view and celebrates communities of women around the globe who live their perfectly imperfect lifestyles. 

Kate Spade New York is part of the Tapestry portfolio – a global house of brands committed to stretching what’s possible.

A member of the Tapestry family, we are part of a global house of brands that has unwavering optimism and is committed to being innovative and wholly inclusive. Visit Our People page to learn more about Tapestry's commitment to equity, inclusion, and diversity.

Job Title: Assistant Designer, SLGs (mainline) 

Primary Purpose: As the Assistant Designer, SLGs (Mainline), you will support the creative development of the Small Leather Goods (SLGs) category, working closely with the design team from initial concept through to final product execution. This role plays a key part in ensuring the seasonal vision is translated into compelling product, while also maintaining organization and momentum across the design and development process. 

The successful individual will leverage their proficiency in design to... 

• Participate in seasonal trend, market, and material research to support the overarching design concept. 

• Assist in the design and sketching of new SLG and key fob styles, contributing to the creative development of the line. 

• Create and maintain detailed CADs and technical specification packages to accurately communicate design intent, construction details, and material usage to our factories and PD partners. 

• Support the preparation of design presentations, mood boards, and visual tools for key milestone meetings. 

• Organize and maintain design samples, panels, trials, and reference libraries in a clean, efficient, and systematic manner. 

• Collaborate with cross-functional partners in Merchandising, PD, Hardware Design, Tech Design, and Print Design teams to support the design process from concept through to final production. 

The accomplished individual will possess... 

• 1+ years of experience in leather goods or accessory design, or equivalent internship experience. 

• Proficiency in Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, and Microsoft Excel. 

• Strong fashion and color sense 

• Hand sketching ability 

• Highly organized with the ability to prioritize multiple projects and meet tight deadlines. 

• Flexible, self-motivated, and eager to learn. 

• Collaborative team player with a proactive mindset and communication skills. 

• Detail-oriented and committed to accuracy in all aspects of the design process. 

• Comfortable in a fast-paced, creative environment with evolving priorities. 

Our Competencies for All Employees

• Courage: Doesn’t hold back anything that needs to be said; provides current, direct, complete, and “actionable” positive and corrective feedback to others; lets people know where they stand; faces up to people problems on any person or situation (not including direct reports) quickly and directly; is not afraid to take negative action when necessary.
• Creativity: Comes up with a lot of new and unique ideas; easily makes connections among previously unrelated notions; tends to be seen as original and value-added in brainstorming settings.
• Customer Focus: Is dedicated to meeting the expectations and requirements of internal and external customers; gets first-hand customer information and uses it for improvements in products and services; acts with customers in mind; establishes and maintains effective relationships with customers and gains their trust and respect.
• Dealing with Ambiguity: Can effectively cope with change; can shift gears comfortably; can decide and act without having the total picture; isn’t upset when things are up in the air; doesn’t have to finish things before moving on; can comfortably handle risk and uncertainty.
• Drive for Results: Can be counted on to exceed goals successfully; is constantly and consistently one of the top performers; very bottom-line oriented; steadfastly pushes self and others for results.
• Interpersonal Savvy: Relates well to all kinds of people, up, down, and sideways, inside and outside the organization; builds appropriate rapport; builds constructive and effective relationships; uses diplomacy and tact; can diffuse even high-tension situations comfortably.
• Learning on the Fly: Learns quickly when facing new problems; a relentless and versatile learner; open to change; analyzes both successes and failures for clues to improvement; experiments and will try anything to find solutions; enjoys the challenge of unfamiliar tasks; quickly grasps the essence and the underlying structure of anything.

Our Competencies for All People Managers

• Strategic Agility: Sees ahead clearly; can anticipate future consequences and trends accurately; has broad knowledge and perspective; is future oriented; can articulately paint credible pictures and visions of possibilities and likelihoods; can create competitive and breakthrough strategies and plans.
• Developing Direct Reports and Others: Provides challenging and stretching tasks and assignments; holds frequent development discussions; is aware of each person's career goals; constructs compelling development plans and executes them; pushes people to accept developmental moves; will take on those who need help and further development; cooperates with the developmental system in the organization; is a people builder.
• Building Effective Teams: Blends people into teams when needed; creates strong morale and spirit in their team; shares wins and successes; fosters open dialogue; lets people finish and be responsible for their work; defines success in terms of the whole team; creates a feeling of belonging in the team.

Kate Spade is an equal opportunity and affirmative action employer and we pride ourselves on hiring and developing the best people. All employment decisions (including recruitment, hiring, promotion, compensation, transfer, training, discipline and termination) are based on the applicant's or employee's qualifications as they relate to the requirements of the position under the consideration. These decisions are made without regard to age, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, genetic characteristics, race, color, creed, religion, ethnicity, national origin, alienage, citizenship, disability, marital status, military status, pregnancy, or any other legally-recognized protected basis prohibited by applicable law.

Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)

Tapestry, Inc. will provide applicants and employees with reasonable accommodation for disabilities or religious beliefs. If you require reasonable accommodation to complete the application process, please contact Tapestry People Services at 1-855-566-9264 or employeerelations@tapestry.com #LI-HYBRID #LI-SG1

Visit Kate Spade at www.katespade.com.                                                                                                                                   

Work Setup: Hybrid 

BASE PAY RANGE $29.50 TO $32.50 Hourly                                                                     

Here are some of the benefits that we offer: Medical insurance, Dental insurance, Vision insurance, 401 (K), Paid Paternity and Maternity leave, Commuter Benefits, Disability insurance and Tuition assistance. Please click here for a complete list of U.S Corporate Compensation & Benefits.