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About the Role

Garan, a leading children’s apparel company, seeks an entrepreneurial commercial leader to accelerate growth across strategic customer relationships, focusing initially on a major national mass-market retailer. This role involves identifying and creating new business opportunities in children's and baby apparel by analyzing assortments, anticipating trends, developing product concepts, and strengthening merchant relationships.

Responsibilities

Develop and execute a strategic growth plan for a leading national mass-market retailer and other key customer relationships.
Identify whitespace opportunities across children’s and baby apparel, including categories, products, fabrics, silhouettes, graphics, licensed products, price points, packaging, and merchandising.
Assess competitive children’s apparel assortments to identify unmet consumer needs, emerging trends, competitive vulnerabilities, and opportunities to gain market share.
Develop new product, category, and merchandising concepts proactively.
Translate consumer, fashion, fabric, pricing, and retail trends into commercially viable apparel programs.
Build trusted, productive relationships with buyers, merchants, directors, and senior customer leadership.
Strengthen Garan’s presence, relevance, and influence with key retail customers.
Lead, coach, and develop the account-management team, creating a culture of proactive business development and accountability.
Partner closely with design, merchandising, product development, sourcing, planning, marketing, and operations to turn opportunities into executable apparel programs.
Lead persuasive customer presentations, line reviews, innovation meetings, and executive business reviews.
Establish and manage a disciplined pipeline of new ideas and growth opportunities.
Drive incremental programs, assortment expansion, shelf-space gains, and market-share growth.

Requirements

Approximately 10–15 years of experience in apparel, with children’s, baby, family, or related categories strongly preferred.
Significant experience working for an apparel manufacturer, supplier, brand, or other consumer products company selling to major national retailers.
Significant experience working directly with leading national mass-market retailers.
Established relationships and credibility within major retail merchant organizations.
A demonstrated track record of originating and winning new apparel programs, expanding assortments, and growing strategic retail accounts.
Evidence of identifying competitive opportunities and successfully gaining market share or shelf space.
Strong knowledge of children’s and/or baby apparel, including basics, fabrics, graphics, licensing, pricing, product development, merchandising, and consumer trends.
A merchant mindset combined with strong business-development and selling capabilities.
The ability to evaluate an apparel assortment and identify what is missing, what could perform better, and where a supplier can create differentiated value.
Proven ability to uncover opportunities through competitive shopping, store visits, consumer insights, data, and trend intelligence.
Strong executive presence, communication skills, and the ability to develop persuasive product and business presentations.
Experience leading, coaching, or developing account-management teams.
Ability and willingness to spend meaningful time engaging with customers in person.

Skills

Commercial acumen
Entrepreneurial mindset
Business development
Selling skills
Product curiosity
Competitive intelligence
Trend analysis
Merchandising
Relationship building
Presentation skills
Pipeline management
Market share growth
Apparel assortment evaluation
Competitive shopping
Consumer insights
Data analysis
Trend identification
Executive presence
Communication skills

Location

New York City market

Work Type

Full-time
Onsite

Experience Level

Director

Salary/Compensations

$175,000–$200,000

About the Company

Garan is a children’s apparel company and supplier with a long history of developing products and programs for major retailers.
Our business brings together design, merchandising, product development, sourcing, planning, and customer expertise to create compelling children’s apparel assortments for consumers.
The Director, Strategic Growth – Key Accounts will have the opportunity to shape the future of some of Garan’s most important retail partnerships.
Rather than simply managing existing business, this leader will help determine where we grow next, what products and programs we should create, and how we can win in an intensely competitive children’s apparel marketplace.