Kenzo Knitwear Product Developer

About Kenzo

Founded in Paris in 1970 by Kenzo Takada, Kenzo is a singular luxury house where Japanese sensibility meets the energy of the French capital. Now part of LVMH, the Maison is renowned for its bold prints, cultural dialogue, and joyful approach to fashion, accessories, and fragrance. As an employer, Kenzo offers a creative, international environment that values curiosity, craftsmanship, and contemporary vision. Its teams contribute to a brand legacy defined by openness, color, and movement, while benefiting from the standards, resources, and global perspective of one of the world’s leading luxury groups.

Role & Responsibilities

• Manage collection development files from sketch to finished collection piece, working with the studio, manufacturers and merchandising.
• Liaise with yarn mills on pricing, color availability and minimum order quantities (MOQs), and place yarn orders.
• Negotiate prices and MOQs for collections and/or production.
• Develop knitting techniques and prototypes.
• Explain and monitor technical files with suppliers.
• Coordinate with Style and Merchandising to understand creative expectations, product details and target prices, and communicate estimated PRI.
• Propose technical solutions that reconcile Style’s requirements, manufacturers’ constraints and target prices while maximizing perceived value for money.
• Develop washes, dyeing and finishing processes, including embroidery, screen printing and prints.
• Participate in collection and production fittings.
• Correct all prototypes after fittings, then send and track comments with suppliers.
• Update collection tracking documents.
• Enter and maintain the complete product file in PLM, including measurements, supplier information, sample creation, yarns and their technical sheets and colors, fitting comments, BOM, prices, SMS launches and certifications, as well as product bills of materials.
• Enter collection launches in ORLI.
• Manage the development critical path with the stylists, communicate and track key dates with manufacturers, and deliver SMS collections on time.
• Check model conformity and measurements upon receipt, and ensure delivery deadlines align with the fitting schedule and collection critical path.
• Track quality by entering compositions in PLM, managing quality tests and monitoring certifications.
• Manage certification information, from gathering details through creating and updating a file for Production, Purchasing and CSR.
• Track and negotiate PRI.
• Act as a liaison with Production by creating and updating production lead-time files.
• Develop showroom prototypes with the Production team, communicate key dates and priorities by delivery group, conduct standardization fittings with Quality, and validate bills of materials for production.
• Analyze end-of-season sales by product category using a tracking file.

Qualifications

• Bac+4/5 degree from a business or fashion school, or equivalent.
• Passion for fashion and product sensitivity.
• Proactive, collaborative and organized.
• Proficient in Excel lookup and table functions.
• Fluent English, including technical English.
• Essential IT knowledge of ORLI and PLM.

Skills

Experience

At least 3 years; the profile specifies 3–5 years in a fashion house.

Education

Bac+4/5 degree from a business or fashion school, or equivalent.

Culture

Kenzo fosters a vibrant, multicultural workplace where Parisian sophistication meets bold, playful creative energy inspired by global perspectives. As an employer, it encourages individuality, collaboration, and artistic curiosity, offering teams an environment that values innovation, craftsmanship, and the freedom to challenge conventions.

About Cerulean

Cerulean is the definitive career portal for the global luxury industry. We match exceptional professionals with exclusive opportunities at the world's most prestigious brands. From haute couture and fine watchmaking to prestige beauty, hospitality, and boutique retail, Cerulean centralises luxury employment to help you find the career for which you were destined.