Freelance Surface Pattern Designer Jobs in Portland, OR

Pendleton has been woven in the West since 1863. Built on a legacy of craft, quality, and authenticity, our products are known for their timeless design and enduring stories. The Apparel Print & Pattern Designer is responsible for creating original artwork, prints, graphics, and surface design concepts that bring Pendleton’s heritage, creative direction, and seasonal storytelling to life. This role translates inspiration and creative direction into commercially relevant designs while honoring the brand’s legacy of craftsmanship, pattern, color, and textile innovation.

What You'll Do:

Creative Concept & Brand Storytelling

• Interpret seasonal creative direction into compelling print, pattern, and graphic concepts across apparel categories.
• Research and translate inspiration from Pendleton’s archives, art, culture, nature, craft, and market trends into modern, brand-right artwork.
• Help define and evolve Pendleton’s visual codes through consistent use of pattern language, scale, color, layout, and storytelling.
• Balance heritage authenticity with innovation to attract both loyal and emerging consumers.

Print, Pattern & Artwork Development

• Create original artwork including engineered prints, repeat patterns, placement graphics, yarn-dye concepts, and surface applications.
• Build print packages including repeats, colorways, artwork files, scale specifications, and production-ready details.
• Partner with textile and material teams to ensure artwork is optimized for the intended fabric, technique, and end use.
• Explore new applications including jacquard inspiration, embroidery, appliqué, embellishment, and other surface techniques.

Cross-Category Collaboration

• Partner with Men’s, Women’s, Sweater, Accessories, and Home teams to create a cohesive brand expression.
• Support seasonal color palette development and ensure artwork aligns with broader color strategy.
• Collaborate with merchandising and product teams to build balanced assortments across statement, core, and commercial print offerings.
• Maintain visibility across categories to avoid duplication and strengthen one unified brand point of view.

Archive & Heritage Stewardship

• Leverage Pendleton’s rich archive as a source of inspiration while creating new expressions relevant for today’s consumer.
• Identify opportunities to evolve iconic patterns, motifs, and storytelling moments.
• Support documentation and organization of seasonal artwork libraries and brand design assets.

Technical Excellence

• Create accurate production-ready artwork using Adobe Creative Suite.
• Maintain strong understanding of repeat structures, color separation, printing methods, textile construction, and manufacturing requirements.

Project Management & Organizational Excellence

• Bachelor’s degree in Textile Design, Surface Design, Fashion Design, Graphic Design, or related field.
• 5+ years of experience designing prints, patterns, or surface artwork within apparel, outdoor, lifestyle, or heritage brands.
• Expert knowledge of Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop.
• Strong understanding of textile design, repeats, color, scale, and manufacturing processes.
• Experience working with archives, heritage brands, or storytelling-driven product preferred.
• Ability to balance creative vision with commercial needs.
• Strong collaboration skills and ability to influence across cross-functional teams.