Location: Dongguan, China preferred or the USA with extensive international travel required.
Language: Bilingual in English and Mandarin
As the Director of Sourcing, you will lead global footwear sourcing strategies across a dynamic portfolio of brands—Birdies (women’s comfort luxury footwear), Taft (craft-led men’s footwear), Journee (accessible women’s fast fashion footwear), and Vance (men’s essential casual footwear). This role ensures the right product is delivered at the right cost, quality, and speed, aligning sourcing execution with each brand’s unique positioning and customer promise.
You will drive sourcing with a sharp focus on speed-to-market, margin optimization, and product integrity—owning cost negotiations, factory performance, and risk mitigation across a diversified global supply base. A key priority will be identifying and onboarding best-in-class footwear manufacturers capable of delivering innovation, craftsmanship, and scalability at competitive costs and maintain quarterly performance scorecards for each brand.
As a cross-functional leader, you will ensure tight alignment to development and production calendars—from last creation and material confirmation to commercialization and bulk production—keeping all brands on track for seasonal and rapid-release timelines. Additionally, you will build and lead a high-performing sourcing team, fostering a culture of accountability, craftsmanship appreciation, and continuous improvement.
This role translates brand vision into sourcing execution, elevating product value, protecting margins, and fueling growth across distinct footwear categories and consumer segments.
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Define and execute a global footwear sourcing strategy that delivers measurable cost savings while maintaining brand-specific quality standards, construction integrity, and speed-to-market.
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Lead supplier negotiations across footwear categories (leather uppers, outsoles, insoles, hardware, and packaging), reducing total cost of ownership while strengthening long-term factory partnerships.
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Build and diversify a global network of footwear factories across key regions (e.g., China, Vietnam, Brazil, India), balancing craftsmanship, capacity, cost, and geopolitical risk.
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Ensure on-time delivery by driving cross-functional calendar alignment—from design handoff and material sourcing to wear testing, commercialization, and production.
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Oversee end-to-end sourcing operations, including factory onboarding, development tracking, compliance (social, environmental, product safety), and KPI management across cost, quality, and delivery.
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Own sourcing financial performance, including FOB costing, landed cost modeling, margin optimization, and savings tracking across multiple brands and price tiers.
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Partner closely with Design and Product teams to balance aesthetic vision with manufacturability—optimizing construction methods (cemented, strobel, injection, Blake stitch, Goodyear welt, etc.) to meet both cost and quality targets.
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Lead material sourcing strategies, including leather, textiles, trims, and sustainable alternatives, ensuring consistency with brand positioning and evolving consumer expectations.
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Build, develop, and lead a high-performing sourcing and development team, elevating technical footwear knowledge, accountability, and execution excellence.
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Drive continuous improvement across systems (PLM/ERP), vendor scorecards, development timelines, and quality assurance processes.
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Serve as a key member of the Supply Chain leadership team, contributing to portfolio-level planning, inventory strategy, and long-term growth initiatives.
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Ensure compliance with relevant regulations and standards.
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Research & develop sourcing solutions for new product concepts and commercial competitiveness.
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A strategic, commercially driven sourcing leader with deep expertise in footwear manufacturing and global supply chains. You thrive in a multi-brand environment, understanding how sourcing strategies must flex across premium, fashion, and value segments.
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You bring a strong point of view on footwear construction, materials, and factory capabilities—balancing craftsmanship and cost with speed and scalability. You are highly analytical, an expert negotiator, and a confident cross-functional partner who can influence design, merchandising, and finance leaders.
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You build strong factory relationships grounded in trust and accountability, and you develop teams that operate with urgency, precision, and pride in product. You understand how sourcing decisions directly impact fit, comfort, durability, brand perception, and long-term customer loyalty.
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Required minimum experience
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10+ years of progressive experience in footwear sourcing, production, or supply chain leadership
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Proven experience developing and executing global sourcing strategies within footwear (fashion & casual categories for Men’s and Women’s)
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Deep knowledge of footwear construction methods (cement, strobel, welted), materials (leather, synthetics, textiles), and fit/testing standards
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Demonstrated success negotiating supplier agreements and delivering measurable cost savings without compromising product integrity
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Experience building and diversifying global factory networks across multiple regions
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Strong financial acumen, including FOB costing, margin analysis, and demand forecasting
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Experience leading and developing high-performing teams
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Strong cross-functional collaboration with Design, Merchandising, and Product Development teams
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Ability to manage multiple brand calendars in a fast-paced, deadline-driven environment
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Experience in DTC and/or omni-channel retail organizations
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Familiarity with PLM, ERP, and sourcing/vendor management systems
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