Product Line Manager, Apparel

Your Responsibilites:

• Consumer Knowledge/Analysis/Empathy
• Work with the Run-Sights Lab to mine consumer insights, uncover latent needs, and sharpen understanding of consumer groups. This includes curating time in the market with key apparel team members, analyzing and interpreting data, and interacting directly with consumers including leading focus groups, consumer one on ones, and rapid prototyping.
• Interact frequently with internal and external sales and marketing teams to identify insights and opportunities.
• Keep up-to-date on consumer trends, competitors, and product innovations and make recommendations to the team.


• Product Line Planning/Briefing
• Utilize consumer expertise along with regional market opportunities to build comprehensive product briefs alongside the Director that kicks off the product creation process.
• Challenge the status quo at the product & category level and provide new solutions to better serve the consumer.
• Provide Design and Development with visual and factual consumer and marketplace cues to motivate and inspire the cross-functional triad team.
• Ensure a highly collaborative triad process and interaction with shared ownership of an entire project, from brief to design to prototypes to production.


• Process Leadership/Product Confirmation
• Collaborate with and challenge all service and interlinked departments (Design, Operations, Development, Merchandising) to create an industry-leading product range.
• Communicate product vision and strategy in confident and persuasive way.
• Work with the Design and Development team, to make day-to-day product decisions aligned with the apparel roadmap.
• Execute the approval process for materials, fit, and prototype sign-off.
• Ensure key calendar milestones are met for on-time delivery and adoption of styles.
• Work with PLM & Merchandising Team and cross functional teams (Sales, Marketing, Direct) to build collateral that supports the Go-To-Market process with input on key concept development.


• Product Presentation/Communication
• Present apparel line to both internal and external audiences, adapting as required to the needs of each audience. Ensure an intuitive presentation of technologies and aesthetics with a keen eye for trends, business metrics, and an ability for storytelling.
• Develop partnerships for Brooks apparel through account meetings, pre-lines, and sales meeting presentations.


• Product Costing and Profitability/Business Acumen
• Ensure products meet forecast, revenue, and margin targets while optimizing global opportunities.
• Work with PLM Team & Director on creation of the seasonal pricing structure of their product segment while assessing consumer price elasticity in order to maximize product adoption and sell-through.
• Monitor & report sell-in, sell-through, market acceptance, and postmortem on SKU productivity to influence the effectiveness of future line plans with PLM & Merchandising Team.


• Leadership
• See beyond the apparel team, understand the impact across functions within the company, and connect the dots to create alignment and ensure efficiencies.
• Empower teammates and triads to perform their jobs at a high level. Demonstrate empathy for each function.
• Share experience and knowledge with other PLMs and Associate PLMs.
• Deliver presentation excellence in apparel to elevate the quality and consistency of presentations to both internal and external audiences.

Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in Business, Marketing, or a related field
• 5+ years of experience in a relevant product-related role
• Strong verbal and written communication skills, demonstrating effective listening through concise, clear verbal and written communication.
• Effective presentation skills and interpersonal communication skills
• Strong business orientation, analytical aptitude, retail math, and computer skills
• Creativity and passion for product
• Keen attention to detail in planning, organization, and execution of tasks, while still seeing the big picture and understanding how all the pieces fit together and affect one another.
• Ability to anticipate how a decision is made can affect our customers, our partners, our products, or other departments’ operations and/or morale; “connecting the dots.”
• Demonstration of innovation and initiative – always looking at improving our products and processes while also displaying a willingness to dive into the details and help wherever necessary.
• Passionate participation in Brooks’ sports activities is a plus, overridden by the ability to understand and empathize with the runner to develop loyal, engaging relationships with our customers and the Brooks community.
• Embraces and lives the Brooks values!
• Proficiency in Microsoft applications, including Microsoft Word, Excel & PowerPoint
• Experience with Illustrator and Photoshop is preferred.
• Travel 25% of the time, including internationally.