Fashion Product Development & Sourcing Manager (Athleisure)
Job description
Original text imported from Reed
We are looking for an experienced Fashion Product Development & Sourcing Manager to help build and launch the product range for an exciting new athleisure brand backed by an established business.
We are preparing to launch our first collection and are seeking someone who can help bring our product vision to life.
This is not a fashion design role. Instead, we are looking for someone with a strong understanding of the athleisure market, an eye for emerging trends, and hands-on experience sourcing products and working directly with manufacturers.
You will play a key role in identifying products with strong market potential, building relationships with factories, managing the sampling process, and helping create a commercially successful product range.
Key Responsibilities
- Research athleisure, activewear, and lifestyle trends to identify products and styles with strong market appeal.
- Source and develop relationships with suitable factories and manufacturing partners.
- Identify products that align with the brand vision and target customer.
- Manage the sampling process, reviewing products for quality, fit, functionality, and overall appeal.
- Work with factories to refine and improve products including fabric selection, colour, branding, packaging, fit, and feature adjustments.
- Negotiate pricing, lead times, minimum order quantities, and commercial terms with suppliers.
- Oversee the sourcing and product development process through to production.
- Ensure products meet quality, performance, and commercial objectives.
About You
- Background in fashion is essential with experience in buying, merchandising and product development
- Experience working directly with manufacturers and suppliers
- Strong understanding of the athleisure, activewear, or sportswear market.
- Excellent product awareness and a keen eye for trends, styling, and consumer preferences.
- Experience evaluating samples and working with suppliers to improve and refine products.
- Strong commercial awareness and negotiation skills.
Why Join Us?
- Be a founding member of an exciting new athleisure brand.
- Play a key role in shaping the initial product range and supplier network.
- Work alongside experienced entrepreneurs with a successful track record of launching and scaling online brands.
- Enjoy significant opportunity for growth and progression as the business expands.
If you have a passion for great products, a strong understanding of the athleisure market, and the sourcing expertise to turn ideas into a successful product range, we'd love to hear from you.
Key skills
AI-extracted from the job advert
Application advice
5 AI-generated recommendations to maximise your chances.
⭐ Open your CV with a Personal Statement that explicitly names athleisure or activewear as your specialism — the advert states 'strong understanding of the athleisure market' as a core requirement.
📊 Quantify your sourcing track record: e.g. 'Managed a supplier base of 12 factories across China and Portugal, reducing sampling lead times by 25%'.
🎯 Dedicate a bullet per role to the sampling and refinement process — the advert specifically calls out reviewing samples for quality, fit, functionality and branding, so show this directly.
🌐 List the countries or regions where you have active factory relationships (e.g. China, Bangladesh, Turkey) — this signals immediate value to a brand building its supplier network from scratch.
🤝 Highlight any experience joining or launching a brand at an early stage — the advert emphasises being a 'founding member', so evidence of working in a start-up or new brand launch context will differentiate you strongly.
Suggested CV bullets
3 bullets our AI drafted for this specific advert, mirroring its ATS keywords.
Add these 3 bullets under your most recent experience:
- •Sourced and onboarded 8 athleisure factories across China and Portugal, cutting average sampling lead time from 6 weeks to 4 weeks across a 40-SKU debut collection.
- •Negotiated MOQs down by 30% with 3 key manufacturers, enabling a £120,000 first-order budget to cover twice the originally planned colourway range.
- •Managed end-to-end sample evaluation for 60+ activewear styles per season, achieving a first-fit approval rate of 72% through detailed technical briefs and supplier feedback loops.
Free to copy — tailoring requires a 30-sec CV upload.
Your cover letter is ready
We've drafted a cover letter for Valcora. Preview the opening, then unlock the full personalised version.
Letter preview — tailored to Valcora
Dear Hiring Manager,
Valcora's ambition to launch a commercially focused athleisure brand from the ground up is precisely the kind of challenge I have been preparing for. Having spent several years in fashion product development and sourcing — evaluating samples, negotiating MOQs, and managing factory relationships across multiple product categories — I am confident I can help turn your product vision into a successful first collection.
My background in activewear sourcing and buying means I understand how to identify styles with genuine market appeal, not just aesthetic interest. I have managed the full sampling cycle from initial brief through to production approval, working directly with manufacturers to refine fit, fabric choice, and branding details. I have also negotiated pricing and lead times with suppliers where budgets were tight and timelines unforgiving, consistently delivering commercially viable ranges on schedule.
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Interview questions
10 questions generated from this advert.
Technical
- ›Walk us through your end-to-end product development process from trend identification to production sign-off.
- ›How do you evaluate a factory's suitability for an athleisure product range — what criteria do you use?
- ›Describe how you manage the sampling process when a supplier's first sample misses the brief on fit and fabric.
- ›What tools or methods do you use to research emerging athleisure and activewear trends?
- ›How do you negotiate minimum order quantities with a new factory when you are placing a first, small order?
Behavioural
- ›Tell me about a time you identified a product with strong market potential that others had overlooked — what was your process?
- ›Describe a situation where a supplier relationship broke down during production. How did you handle it?
- ›Give an example of when you had to balance product quality improvements against tight commercial margins.
- ›Tell me about a time you had to build a supplier network from scratch. What steps did you take?
- ›Describe a moment when you had to push back on a factory's lead time or pricing. What was the outcome?
STAR answer examples
Model answers using the Situation-Task-Action-Result framework. Adapt to your own experience.
Tell me about a time you had to build a supplier network from scratch. What steps did you take?
Give an example of when you had to balance product quality improvements against tight commercial margins.