Location: Hayward, CA
Salary: $95,000–$110,000 (Full-time 1.0 FTE, Exempt)
About Stelle
Stelle (stelleworld.com) is a mom-trusted dancewear & athleisure brand best known for girls’ ballet and dance essentials. Founded in 2015, our woman-led team has supported modern women, moms, and active kids with quality dancewear, activewear, and timeless athleisure staples.
With over 15 million products sold worldwide, Stelle designs pieces that move seamlessly from the dance studio to daily life. Our e-commerce platform serves a growing community that values both fashion and function, offering apparel that helps girls and women look, feel, and move their best through every stage of life.
The opportunity
Stelle Athletica is seeking a highly creative, detail-oriented Textile Print & Color Designer to join our in-house design team in Hayward, California. This role is on site due to the development of original textile prints, artwork, seasonal color palettes, and product color direction across our women's and girls' collections.
The role's primary focus is original and creative design work that requires artistic judgment, discretion, and independent decision-making. The designer will translate broad brand direction, trend research, customer insights, and commercial needs into distinctive print and color solutions, then carry those concepts through production-ready execution.
What You'll Do
Original Print & Artwork Design
- Independently create original textile prints, repeat patterns, placement graphics, engineered prints, and embroidery artwork for women's and girls' apparel.
- Use hand-drawn and digital techniques to develop original concepts, layouts, scales, colorways, and production-ready artwork.
- Exercise creative judgment in selecting artwork direction, composition, scale, placement, and print/color combinations within Stelle brand guidelines.
- Prepare accurate artwork specifications, including repeats, color separations, scale, placement, and production details for digital print, screen print, sublimation, embroidery, and related techniques.
- Develop seasonal print concepts based on brand direction, trend research, customer insights, and market opportunities.
Seasonal Color Direction
- Develop cohesive seasonal color palettes and color stories for women's and girls' collections based on brand direction, market trends, and customer insights.
- Create and refine product colorways and print color combinations across apparel and related categories.
- Use Pantone and other recognized color standards to communicate color intent clearly to internal teams, vendors, mills, and factories.
- Maintain seasonal color standards, references, and libraries while balancing new fashion colors with proven core and carryover colors.
Sampling & Production
- Prepare clear artwork and color packages for vendors, mills, print houses, and factories.
- Review strike-offs, lab dips, embroidery samples, print samples, and production materials; provide clear comments on color, quality, scale, placement, and execution.
- Identify discrepancies and independently recommend revisions that balance creative intent, quality, cost, production feasibility, and timing.
- Partner with product development, sourcing, and production teams to ensure approved artwork and color standards are accurately executed.
Trend Research & Collaboration
- Research relevant print, pattern, color, fashion, art, lifestyle, and consumer trends and translate them into original, brand-appropriate concepts.
- Create seasonal inspiration boards, print stories, color boards, and visual presentations for design reviews.
- Collaborate with fashion designers so prints and colors complement garment silhouettes, fabrics, trims, and collection concepts.
- Manage multiple projects from concept through production-ready execution while maintaining organized artwork, print, and color files.
What You Bring
- Bachelor's degree in Textile Design, Fashion Design, or a related field, or equivalent professional experience.
- 3+ years of relevant professional experience in textile print, surface design, color design, or apparel design preferred.
- Strong portfolio showing original print development, pattern design, illustration, and colorway creation.
- Advanced proficiency in Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop; Procreate or similar illustration tools are a plus.
- Strong knowledge of color theory, Pantone standards, repeat patterns, placement prints, and production artwork preparation.
- Experience reviewing strike-offs, lab dips, print samples, and color approvals, with an understanding of textile printing and production techniques.
- Demonstrated ability to make independent creative decisions and take projects from concept through production-ready execution.
- Strong attention to detail, organization, communication, and ability to manage multiple deadlines in a fast-paced environment.
Bonus Qualifications
- Experience in athleisure, activewear, dancewear, kids wear, or lifestyle brands.
- Experience developing both women's and children's prints and color palettes.
- Experience working directly overseas with textile mills, print houses, vendors, or factories.
- Knowledge of dyeing, fabric development, embroidery, sublimation, digital printing, screen printing, or other specialty techniques.
- Familiarity with PLM systems and/or using sales, customer, or market insights to inform design decisions.
Equal Employment Opportunity
Stelle Athletica Inc. is an equal opportunity employer. We are committed to providing equal employment opportunities to all applicants and employees without regard to legally protected characteristics.
