Associate Designer, Licensing

About the Role

This Associate Designer role will support work tied to the Brand Heat & Licensing Team, a cross-functional and agile team focused on driving aspiration and energy through product, storytelling, collaboration, licensing, consumer insights, and culturally relevant brand moments. This role requires a strong sense of trend awareness, urgency, creativity, confidence and the ability to support special projects that move outside of traditional seasonal process timelines. This role typically reports into a Design Director and is based in our Buckhead office in our hybrid/in-office work environment (4 days/week in-office).

Key Responsibilities

• 50% Design Process & Communication
• Support fast-turn concept development for Brand Heat initiatives, including collaborations, licensing capsules, trend-driven storytelling, and culturally relevant product opportunities.
• Prepare polished concept decks, presentation materials, and product boards that clearly communicate creative direction to leadership and cross-functional partners.
• Partner closely with design, merchandising, product development, marketing, brand leadership, and license partners to align on deliverables, provide design feedback, and move work forward.
• Create original prints, patterns, and graphic artwork for collections, and apply them to product sketches and CADs.
• Manage day-to-day execution of special projects, including line sheets, Miro updates, silhouette tracking, color palettes, and ongoing communication with internal teams.
• Support product execution through pre-production art review, fittings, sketch updates, and design detail edits that impact final commercialization.
• 30% Product Line Development
• Support development of special capsule collections and collaboration concepts that may sit outside of core seasonal line architecture.
• Adapt existing silhouettes or create newness for collaboration, licensing, and trend-right product opportunities while maintaining accuracy across style details, graphics, trims, materials, and presentation assets.
• Sketch technical drawings in Illustrator, apply prints and graphics to working line sheets, update the silo matrix, and independently design portions of a program with supervisor mentorship.
• 20% Creative Concept
• Research consumer trends, popular culture, competitive collaborations, influencers, artists, and licensing opportunities to inform Brand Heat ideation.
• Translate consumer insights and trend research into brand-right collaboration ideas, creative concepts, and storytelling across silhouette, trim, color, print, and graphic direction.
• Contribute to inspiration boards, collaboration decks, sample requests, and presentation-ready creative materials for internal and external reviews.

Requirements & Tech Stack

• Proficient in Adobe Illustrator, Miro, and Microsoft Office.
• Must have a portfolio.
• Experience with graphic design and print and pattern creation.
• Strong visual presentation skills with the ability to help create compelling decks, boards, and concept materials.
• Confidence in leading meetings, presenting concepts and design work, and delivering clear, constructive design feedback to cross-functional partners.
• Strong interest in collaborations, licensing, trend research, brand storytelling, and culturally relevant product creation.
• Ability to work independently with limited day-to-day direction while managing multiple priorities.
• Strong problem-solving skills with the ability to work through challenges proactively before escalating for support.

Preferred Skills and Experience

• Has basic knowledge of garment construction, silhouettes, colorways, sewing techniques, fabrication, and trim.
• Working knowledge of Product Lifecycle Management tool preferred.
• Ability to shift between long-term seasonal work and quick-turn opportunity projects.
• Comfort working in an agile, highly collaborative, and fast-evolving environment.
• Understanding of print scale, repeat, placement, and how graphic and print execution impact final product.
• Comfort giving thoughtful design feedback that helps move work forward and improve execution.