Vp Footwear Jobs in Mansfield, MA (NOW HIRING)

The Director, CMG & Trend Footwear Design for HEYDUDE is responsible for defining and driving the long-range vision, seasonal strategy, and execution of Color, Materials, Graphics, and Trend across the brand portfolio. This role translates consumer, cultural, marketplace, and trend insights into commercially relevant product direction that strengthens brand equity, advances innovation, and supports business growth.

Reporting to the VP, Global Product Design, this strategic leader and creative catalyst partners across Design, Product Development, Sourcing, Category Management, Product Merchandising, Marketing, and Consumer Insights Commercial teams to create cohesive, consumer-centric product stories that balance trend relevance, brand authenticity, creative excellence, and critical business objectives.

• Define and lead the CMG & trend team against seasonal, QTM and long-range CMG and trend vision, translating global consumer, cultural, fashion, lifestyle, sport, social, marketplace, and competitive insights into actionable product strategies.
• Develop seasonal concept frameworks, trend forecasts, cohesive color palettes, and material innovation roadmaps aligned with brand positioning, consumer demand, and regional and channel needs.
• Lead material strategies that balance innovation, comfort, aesthetics, sustainability, and cost, partnering with Design Directors, Category Management, Development and Sourcing to identify new materials, finishes, technologies, and manufacturing opportunities.
• Work in close partnership with Material Development Director in tactical collaboration, to elevate and implement material dimensionality.
• Oversee seasonal graphic direction and visual storytelling, including print, pattern, embellishment, and scalable graphic systems that reinforce brand-authentic narratives across product categories and consumer segments.
• Influence product strategy and innovation from concept through commercialization, drive elevated design execution, and facilitate seasonal creative reviews and storytelling presentations with executive leadership.
• Lead and oversee a plethora of Contractor and Print-Graphic resources including creative-direction briefs, print curation from Print houses-resources, including contract and invoice processing/approvals.
• Evaluate color, material, graphic, consumer, and commercial performance after launch, integrating insights and hindsight's into future seasonal direction and innovation priorities.
• Lead, mentor, and develop a high-performing CMG and Trend team by establishing clear goals, development plans, career pathways, best practices, tools, and processes that foster creativity, curiosity, collaboration, accountability, and efficiency.

• Bachelor's degree in product design, fashion design, graphic design, a related field, or equivalent years of relevant and related experience.
• Minimum 10 years of experience in CMG, product design, trend forecasting, or creative direction, including demonstrated success leading seasonal product direction and trend strategy.
• Eight or more years of people leadership experience preferred, with a record of developing creative talent, building effective teams, and fostering engagement and retention.
• Experience in footwear, apparel, accessories, lifestyle, outdoor, sport, or consumer product industries, supported by a strong portfolio demonstrating color, material, graphic, and trend leadership.
• Deep understanding of consumer behavior, cultural trends, marketplace dynamics, color theory, material development, and graphic design.
• Strategic thinking and commercial acumen, with the ability to connect creative direction to product differentiation, brand relevance, consumer adoption, and business performance.
• Exceptional storytelling, presentation, organizational, and project leadership skills, with demonstrated ability to influence senior leaders and cross-functional stakeholders.
• Experience leveraging trend forecasting platforms and consumer insight tools to inform data- and trend-guided decisions and identify future market opportunities.

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