Director, PD Apparel

Gildan is leading the way in apparel manufacturing, with a strong portfolio of brands, including Gildan®, American Apparel®, Comfort Colors®, GOLDTOE®, and Peds®. We’ve spent the last four decades perfecting the art of respectful apparel making, and the last 20 years implementing sustainable initiatives throughout our business.

Founded in Canada, we now operate out of roughly 30 locations worldwide across 12 countries and sell our products in 60+ markets globally with $3 billion in sales. Together with more than 45,000 employees, we are united in our vision of Making Apparel Better®. Discover the full scale of Gildan and prepare to be surprised at gildancorp.com.

Responsible for overseeing and leading all aspects of the apparel product innovation process for all apparel products manufactured internally or sourced. This includes leading the product managers, design team, sewing engineering and facilitating adequate communication throughout the product life cycle with all BU’s, manufacturing, and development teams. Establishing management systems, operational strategies, and a team structure to attain customer quality and cost expectations, drive speed to market, enhance flexibility, capabilities, and foster a process improvement and innovation culture.

• Department: Production Innovation
• Who the role reports into: VP, Product Innovation

The role 

• Develop and establish a culture that strives to achieve excellence, a sense of belonging/purpose and foster innovation in all aspects of product development & innovation. Establish, monitor & analyze systematically, operation’s effectiveness to ensure objectives and KPI’s are achieved, and prompt corrective and preventive actions are implemented. 
• Direct the product design and development activities for all Business units based on defined priority order, from patterns and markers design, prototyping, quick costing, fit testing approval, trims, and accessories development and PDM setups. Establish KPI’s to measure product performance according to customers’ requirements, assuring cost effective processes and speed to market.
• Lead the Manufacturing assessments for all new developments to assure requirements are aligned with manufacturing capabilities, manage communication between manufacturing and merchandizing teams to align expectations with capabilities.
• Lead, establish and provide guidelines for succession planning, cross-training and formal training programs. To support, strengthen, and grow functional technical team knowledge, flexibility, and business continuity for all key positions.
• Manage product launch & introduction into manufacturing units, ensuring lead-times are aligned to support business unit’s commercialization opportunities, facilitate adequate communication throughout product life cycle with all BU’s, manufacturing and development teams. 
• Manage sewing engineering department for all regions, time studies, develop, evaluate options, and implement technical solutions for optimization of existing and new processes, according to the business dynamics offering continuous flexibility with low manufacturing costs. 
• Develop R&D for automation of equipment and processes for design development, cutting, sewing, and packaging to increase efficiency, ensure quality while controlling the waste of fabric, trims, or raw materials. Create business cases and support documentation for equipment investment proposing innovative solutions to generate savings.

The requirements 

• Industrial Engineering or related degrees (preferably)
• At least 5 years of experience in Leadership Roles in Manufacturing/Quality/ Engineering / Product development positions.

• Join a publicly traded company dual-listed on NYSE and TSX with great potential
• Be part of a workplace where meaningful connections and teamwork are celebrated
• From local to international, be ready to work alongside a diverse group of colleagues
• Benefit from mentorship and continuous development opportunities
• Take advantage of our attractive benefits packages

We want to get to know you better! Please include your transferrable skills and unique experience in your application to help us learn more about you.

We thank all applicants for their interest, however, only those selected for interviews will be contacted.

We recognize the importance of diversity, equity, and inclusion to create a meaningful, collaborative work environment. As an inclusive employer, we value and embrace all the traits that make you uniquely you and seek to provide everyone with an equal chance to succeed. Because equity and inclusion matter at Gildan.

#FindYourFit at Gildan and tailor the future of your own career.