Design Assistant & Production Coordinator – Knitwear

IMPORTANT - Please email a brief 250 - 300 word cover letter and CV to *******@miafratino.com Applications will not be considered without a cover letter sent via email. Please explain in the first paragraph of your cover letter how you meet the key attributes of the successful applicant. Use the subject title ‘Design Assistant & Production Coordinator.’

You MUST have a drivers licence and access to your own car.

The Role / who we are looking for:

We are on the hunt for a passionate Design Assistant & Production Coordinator (knitwear) to join our team.

The role bridges between Production Coordination & Assistant Design - it would suit an entry level design candidate with industry experience in garment production coordination, fittings, QC processes and production coordination. Experience creating and interpreting tech packs is vital as well as excellent clear communication skills. A very strong systematically head is essentials – with agility to solve problems and work at a dynamic pace. We are a fast-moving operation. Experience working with knitwear would be highly desirable but not essential. 

Experience with fast paced CAD drawings + commercial range development would be valuable. 

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If you are the type of person who is serious about building a career in the fashion industry, this role will provide a platform with plenty of scope to learn new skills on the job within this fast-paced team. 

This is not a 'pigeon-hole' job. The successful applicant will be exposed to many different logistics, manufacturing and design challenges. We will work with you to hone the skills needed to grow and broaden your talents. 

We are a very small team so experience within a small business environment is preferable. Due to the nature of our rapidly growing business, the position has plenty of room to grow quickly for the right hungry applicant.

The role is based in Melbourne (either 4 or 5 days) working from our spacious Brighton design headquarters & showroom. You will report directly to our Mia Fratino Senior Designer.

What you will be doing:

Daily tasks will involve managing production and sampling timelines (approving prototype designs directly with our factories) + more hands on tasks with plenty of room to stretch your creative legs - CAD sketches, creating tech packs, measuring, QC processed, sourcing of products and input into the design of new collections. 

You will be responsible to take ownership over the salesman sample logistics pipeline – managing spec handover from the Senior Designer, through to delivery of samples to our network of 15 local and international selling agents. 

You will have day-to-day contact with our Sydney office as well as our own knitwear manufacturing factory in Sri Lanka and other off-shore factories; presenting the opportunity to develop diverse skills within our rapidly growing company. Travel to these factories may be required. Due to the nature of the role working with offshore factories, flexible hours will be required during peak development periods. We are very fair and flexible with office hours.

Meeting production and sampling deadlines will be a critical function of the role. 

About us:

Mia Fratino, is a leading luxury sustainable cashmere label with markets in Australia, NZ, UK and Europe. We are one of the few vertically integrated cashmere knitting companies, manufacturing in-house, from first designs to finished garments. We are fully certified in ethical and sustainable manufacturing (GOTS, SMETA, The Good Cashmere Standard, OEKO-TEX).  

Working for Mia Fratino is a chance to learn every aspect of the sustainable fashion industry. We are expanding globally and look forward to welcoming a new team member to grow with us. 

How we work

We obsess about our customers and have high expectations for each other to get things done. We work in a small team and all pull together. There is no such thing as "that's not my job".  Our agents and end customers have high expectations of the quality we delivery and we don’t like to let them down. We invest in developing skills to help everyone do their job smarter and more effectively.

Daily responsibilities / Key objectives:

• To take ownership over the salesman sample logistics pipeline – from spec handover through to delivery to our network of 15 local and international selling agents
• Manage handover of specs from head designer to allocated factories 
• Manage ‘Time & Action’ deadlines associated with each factory and collection – currently 6 collections per year
• You will play a key role in the approval process of prototype samples – working closely with the Senior Designer  
• Sourcing of product – from new knitwear garments to trims and accessories (always putting our ethical & sustainability credentials first)
• Yarn ordering for sample collections  
• Assistance with production spec creation – under guidance of the Senior designer  
• Overseeing & tracking manufacturing sample invoicing 
• Production QC inspection and prototype sample measurement 
• Ensure any bottlenecks in production and sample process are identified and processes introduced to improve  
• Make sure that in the end “we deliver on time what our agents need to sell.”
• You own a pair of runners because you will not be sitting all day!

Key Attributes - The things we will be looking for in the right person:

• Highly driven and fastidious attention to detail 
• A mover and shaker – someone who moves at a fast past and understands the importance of commercial deadlines and repercussions if not met
• Guru-level proficiency in Excel and the ability to utilise these skills effectively for logistic planning and spec creation 
• Disciplined and militant approach to logistics timelines 
• Super organisational skills and ability to self-manage daily priorities and bigger projects 
• Strong analytical thought processes to solve complex logistic challenges  
• A matter-of-factness in meeting targets and working to tight deadlines
• A calmness in being able to quickly adapt priorities and plans when new situations arise – working with offshore suppliers is never straight forward 
• Systems to manage ‘following up’ of tasks – so that Time and Action schedules are maintained
• Fast learner 
• Strong comprehension skills and ability to quickly interpret spec guidelines handed by head designer 
• A ‘problem solving’ view of the world – when you don’t know something, you learn how to do it 
• You are a proactive and forward thinker – to be a step ahead with ideas on how to improve systems
• Flexible and agile to navigate moving priorities 
• A "Can Do" attitude

Benefits and perks

• Fabulous staff and family discounts
• Possibility of travel 
• Spacious Brighton design headquarters & showroom (located above Son’s of Mary café in the desirable Martin St shops, Brighton)
• Dynamic growing work team 
• Office dog!