The Couture Club
Head of Womenswear
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Head of Womenswear
Location:
Manchester Office Based with Flexible hours
Department:
Creative / Design
Reports To:
Founders
About The Couture Club
The Couture Club is a contemporary men's and women's fashion brand rooted in modern luxury, street-inspired design, and strong brand storytelling. We pride ourselves on creating elevated apparel that blends trend-led graphics with timeless brand identity. Creativity, attention to detail, and authenticity are at the core of everything we do.
Role Overview
We are looking for a Head of Womenswear to take full ownership of the womenswear category — product strategy, range architecture, trend direction and commercial performance.
Womenswear at The Couture Club is trend-driven. Our customer is fast, informed and trend conscious. The person in this seat needs to see the must-have item early, have the conviction to back it, and get it to site while it still matters. You will translate what is happening at the top end of the market into product that works for our customer, at our price, at our margin.
The challenge is to keep what works and push the category forward meaningfully with newness via trend and opportunities within the market.
Key Responsibilities
Product Strategy & Range Architecture
- Own the womenswear product strategy end to end, from concept through to launch, aligned to the wider company strategy and brand identity
- Build a balanced range architecture across core, seasonal and trend product, with a clear product pyramid — what drives revenue, what builds brand image, what protects margin
- Collaborate on the option count, drop cadence and depth by category in partnership with Merchandising
- Own the seasonal range plan and champion it in range reviews and sign-off
- Set RRP architecture and entry, mid and exit price points by category
Trend, Taste & Directional Product
- Act as the taste authority for womenswear — identify the genuine must-have pieces emerging from luxury and directional brands and interpret them for our customer and price point
- Maintain a live view of the luxury and premium market: runway, resort, pre-collections, trade shows, resale, street and social
- Track competitor and comparison shop activity, sell-through signals and cultural momentum, and turn that into a clear seasonal point of view rather than generic trend work
- Make the call on which trends to back, how hard, and how early — including when to move fast on a short-lead reactive buy
- Build and present seasonal direction and key item stories to the founders and the wider business
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Buying, Sourcing & Supplier Management
- Own the supplier strategy for womenswear — reviewing the supply base each season, helping to source new partners and exiting those that no longer fit the needs of the business
- Balance the base across Europe and the Far East to support both speed and cost
- Negotiate cost prices, MOQs and terms to protect intake margin without compromising quality or handle
- Work with Garment Tech on fit, quality standards and testing so that the product delivers against the price we are asking
Commercial Performance & Margin
- Own the womenswear intake margin and delivery against target BIM
- Analyse costing trends, identify erosion early and implement corrective action
- Trade the category weekly with Merchandising — reacting to sell-through with reorders, repeats, markdown and range edits
- Own the post-season review: what worked, what did not, and what changes as a result
- Deliver against sales, margin and sell-through targets for the category
Critical Path & Delivery
- Own and maintain the womenswear critical path, from initial brief through to sign-off and delivery
- Share seasonal critical paths with suppliers and hold them to milestone dates
- Protect key trading and launch windows, escalating risk early
Cross-Functional & Brand
- Partner with Marketing, Content and Social to make sure the right products are behind campaign, shoot and paid activity, and ensure the hero items land with the support they need
- Brief Ecom and Creative on newness, launch sequencing and product storytelling
- Support wholesale and partner accounts with the right assortment and seasonal selection where relevant
- Work with Logistics and Operations to keep intake, delivery and availability on plan
Leadership & Team Management
- Lead, develop and mentor the womenswear team, setting clear standards and accountability
- Structure the function to support growth — defining roles, processes and ways of working
- Run range reviews, pre-sign-off and sign-off, and weekly trade meetings
- Represent womenswear at senior level and present category performance and strategy to the founders
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Key Skills & Experience
- Significant buying experience in womenswear, at Senior Buyer, Buying Manager or Head of level, ideally within fast fashion, premium or trend-led ecom
- Strategic — able to evidence key items they identified early and the results those items delivered
- Genuine fluency in the luxury and premium market, and the judgement to know what translates to our customer and what does not
- Strong commercial and analytical ability — comfortable owning BIM, costing, sell-through and range profitability
- Proven supplier negotiation and sourcing capability across UK and Far East bases
- Experience owning a critical path in a fast, high-newness environment
- Experience leading and developing a team
- Conviction — able to take a position on product and stand behind it
Desirable
- Wholesale and third-party account experience
- Exposure to design or product development, and comfort briefing and directing designers
- Experience working closely with founders in an entrepreneurial business
Success Metrics
- Sales, intake margin and sell-through delivery against category plan
- Full-price sell-through and markdown exposure
- Strike rate on key items — how often the pieces we back become bestsellers
- Speed to market on reactive trend product
- Critical path adherence and on-time delivery
- Health, cost and reliability of the supply base
- Development and retention of the team
What We Are Looking For
Strong candidates will demonstrate:
- A clear point of view on product
- Balance between taste and commerciality
- Understanding of brand-building versus revenue-driving product
- The ability to think beyond the range plan into strategy and leadership
- Pace — the instinct to move on something while it is still hot
Salary
Competitive, dependent on experience — [to be confirmed]
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