Material Developer - Functional outdoor fabrics
About this role
We are looking for a passionate and forward-thinking Material Developer to join our Material team that is part of our Purchase & Production team. This role requires hands-on experience creating engineered wovens and advanced knit constructions. The ideal candidate is someone who not only understands materials at the fabric level, but who can build them from the yarn up, working with innovative fibers, blends and structures to meet performance, sustainability, and cost targets.
In this role, you won't just work with fabrics, you'll help shape them from the ground up. You will be responsible for developing, testing and implementing advanced materials for our product lines. You will work cross functional within the company to develop, test, and implement new materials from concept to commercialization and you will also spend time together with the suppliers to craft solutions that push boundaries of performance and sustainability.
Alongside technical development, this position involves ownership of the administrative and PLM requirements connected to material creation, documentation, specifications and lifecycle management.
Responsibilities
- Fabric & Trim Development:
- Work cross‑functionally with product design and development teams to engineer advanced wovens, knits, and composite materials. Apply deep expertise in fiber chemistry, polymer performance, and textile finishing processes to deliver materials that achieve our targeted performance, aesthetic, and sustainability goals.
- Explore and integrate innovative and emerging fiber technologies into new material concepts.
- Provide regular updates and reports to the product development team and management.
- Ensure that our materials meet regulatory and safety standards.
- Ensure that all material product cards in the PLM system are up to date and accurate.
- Negotiate prices (incl. surcharges), lead times and minimum order quantities with suppliers.
- Quality Assurance & Testing:
- Develop and implement testing protocols to as