Production Manager — Materials & Factory Operations

Production Manager — Materials & Factory Operations
Role summary:
This role owns the execution layer of product development: materials, samples, specifications, and the communication loop with factories across China, Vietnam, and Indonesia. Development volume is high, and the priority is removing the drift that comes with it — materials that vary batch to batch, sample revisions that do not reflect what was requested, and issues that surface late. The role brings structure: clear material standards, disciplined sample review, traceable change tracking, and factory communication that closes the loop every time.
Key responsibilities:
Development workflow
•Lead product-development workflows from material sourcing through sampling to production readiness, against a published development calendar.
•Own critical-path management: know which styles are at risk, why, and what decision unblocks them.
•Maintain accurate tech packs, specifications, construction details, and measurement charts as the single reference for factories.
•Own the production calendar at factory and mill level: set milestones, own critical-path decisions, and coordinate handover into production so nothing is renegotiated after sign-off. (The Production Coordinator communicates and populates the calendar; this role follows the decisions.)
Materials
•Assess new and existing materials for consistency, quality, performance, and suitability for the intended construction and use.
•Build a material onboarding process: specification capture, supplier information, testing requirements, approval criteria, and lead times.
•Maintain a material library with approved standards, colour and hand-feel references, and batch history so variance can be detected rather than debated.
•Manage the full material and component testing program: conduct or coordinate fabric inspection at mill level before goods ship to factory, checking width, weight, GSM, shrinkage, colour against approved lab dips, hand-feel, and surface quality — any fail triggers a hold before fabric leaves the mill. Coordinate trim and component testing with explicit pass/fail criteria: elastics (stretch, recovery, durability), zippers, hooks, hardware, labels, and clasps. Own garment performance testing: stretch and recovery, wash fastness, colorfastness, pilling, seam strength, and care label accuracy, tested at pre-production and periodically through bulk. Coordinate greige-stage review with mills before dyeing so raw material faults are caught before processing. Track all test results against approved standards and maintain a test log by season and supplier.
•Flag material-level risk — supply, consistency, cost, or compliance — before it reaches production.
•Own the compliance handoff: coordinate RSL and restricted substances testing with the compliance contractor before bulk production, confirm test sign-off is received and documented, and hold bulk release until clearance is confirmed.
Factory communication
•Manage day-to-day communication and follow-up with factories across China, Vietnam, and Indonesia, working across time zones and language differences.
•Write comments and revision requests that are unambiguous, visual where useful, and traceable.
•Hold factories to agreed sample dates and specification accuracy, escalating patterns rather than one-off misses.
•Build a structured feedback loop so recurring factory issues are addressed at the root. This role owns specification and development-driven factory issues; manufacturing execution failures and quality system issues are escalated to the QA Lead.
Sample review and change control
•Own sample review decisions and sign-off: approvals, issue resolution, and direction to factories on revisions. (The Production Coordinator owns sample status tracking and log maintenance.)
•Track every development change and verify that each sample revision reflects the requested update; no change is closed without verification.
•Maintain version control on specs and comments so history is reconstructable.
•Create the systems others follow: templates, review checklists, naming conventions, and status definitions.
How success is measured:
•Sample approval rate at first and second submission, and fewer rounds per style.
•Development calendar adherence and on-time production readiness.
•Accuracy rate of revisions against requested changes.
•Material consistency and reduction in batch-to-batch variance issues.
•Quality of documentation — specs are trusted by factories and internal teams.
•Reduction in late-stage surprises entering production.
Profile:
Required
•5–8+ years in intimates, apparel, soft goods, consumer product, or materials development, including ownership of a development calendar.
•Exceptional attention to detail across samples, materials, specifications, measurements, and quality.
•Proven experience managing overseas factory communication directly, ideally in Asia.
•Able to bring structure to a high-volume, fast-changing development process.
•Fluent in reading and commenting on tech packs and specifications.
Preferred
•Direct experience with factories in China, Vietnam, and Indonesia and mills in Europe.
•Materials or textile technology background, or familiarity with performance testing standards.
•PLM system experience.
•Experience implementing a new process, not only operating an existing one.
Tools and systems:
PLM (WFX / Centric / Backbone or similar), advanced Excel and Sheets, Adobe Illustrator for spec markup, project tools (Asana / Monday / Notion), and factory communication tools (WeChat / WhatsApp / email).
Competencies and working style:
•Systematic, instinctively converts a recurring problem into a documented process.
•Persistent and diplomatic with factory partners; firm on standards, constructive in tone.
•Comfortable with ambiguity early in development and precision later.
•Works well across design intent and manufacturing reality.
30/60/90-day outcomes:
•First 30 days: Map the current development workflow, material set, factory communication practices, and recurring issues, and produce a documented view of where time and accuracy are being lost.
•By 60 days: A structured sample-review and change-tracking process is implemented and in use, with templates, checklists, and clear status definitions adopted by internal teams and factories.
•By 90 days: Development execution is measurably more consistent, with fewer sample rounds and fewer missed revisions, and leadership has a clear, regularly updated quality and material-risk view.

Skills

5–8+ years in intimates, apparel, soft goods, consumer product, or materials development including ownership of a development calendar, exceptional attention to detail across samples, materials, specifications, measurements and quality, proven experience managing overseas factory communication directly ideally in Asia, and fluency in reading and commenting on tech packs and specifications.

Direct experience with factories in China, Vietnam, and Indonesia and mills in Europe, materials or textile technology background or familiarity with performance testing standards, PLM system experience, and experience implementing a new process not only operating an existing one.