Profession leather goods product developer

Leather goods product developers perform and interface between design and actual production. They analyse and study designer’s specifications and transform them into technical requirements, updating concepts to manufacturing lines, selecting or even designing components and selecting materials. Leather goods product developers also perform the pattern engineering meaning to make patterns manually, produce technical drawings for various range of tools, specially cutting. They evaluate prototypes, performing required tests for samples and confirming the customer’s quality requirements and pricing constrains.

Personality Type

• Realistic / Investigative
• Investigative / Realistic
• Realistic / Conventional
• Enterprising / Realistic

Knowledge

• Leather goods manufacturing processes

  The processes, technology and machinery involved in the leather goods manufacturing.  

• Leather goods quality

  The quality specifications of materials, processes, and final products, the most common defects in leather, quick tests procedures, laboratory tests procedures and standards, and the adequate equipment for quality checks. 

• Footwear and leather goods marketing planning

  The principles and methods used in creating a marketing plan and how a company can best position itself compared to its competitors, taking into account the specifities of the footwear and leather goods market. 

• Footwear creation process

  Footwear creation projects starting from inspiration to technical design and manufacturing by following several stages. Latest trends in footwear materials, components, processes, and concepts.

• Ergonomics in footwear and leather goods design

  The principles used in the design of various styles of footwear and leather goods for the correct anatomic and ergonomic proportions and measurements.

• Leather goods materials

  The wide range of materials used in leather goods production: leather, leather substitutes (synthetics or artificial materials), textile, etc; the way of distinguishing among various materials based on their properties, advantages and limitations.

• Leather goods components

  The various procedures and methods in the processing of leather materials and leather goods components like manufacturability and properties.  

Skills

• Develop footwear and leather goods marketing plans

  Be able to develop marketing plans and provide directions for marketing strategies of the company, as well as be able to identify potential markets and to perform marketing activities to promote the footwear products of the company.

• Develop leather goods collection

  Transform leather goods design ideas and concepts into prototypes and, finally, a collection. Analyse and check the designs from various angles like functionality, aesthetics, performance and manufacturability. Manage the development process of all the leather goods prototypes in order to meet the customer’s needs and to properly balance quality with production costs.

• Implement footwear marketing plan

  Implement marketing plans according to company specifications, complying with market demand.

• Reduce environmental impact of footwear manufacturing

  Assess the environmental impact of footwear manufacture and minimise environmental risks. Reduce environmentally harmful work practices in different stages of the footwear manufacturing.

• Distinguish fabrics

  Distinguish fabrics in order to determine differences among them. Evaluate fabrics based on their characteristics and their application in wearing apparel manufacturing.

• Apply development process to footwear design

  Understand the needs of the consumer and analyse the fashion trends. Innovate and develop the footwear concepts from an aesthetic, functional and technological point of view by using a wide range of methods and techniques, selecting materials, components and suitable technologies, adapting new concepts to manufacturing requirements and transforming the new ideas into marketable and sustainable products for mass or customised production. Communicate visually the new designs and ideas.

• Distinguish accessories

  Distinguish accessories in order to determine differences among them. Evaluate accessories based on their characteristics and their application in wearing apparel manufacturing.

• Use IT tools

  Application of computers, computer networks and other information technologies and equipment to storing, retrieving, transmitting and manipulating data, in the context of a business or enterprise.

• Communicate commercial and technical issues in foreign languages

  Speak one or more foreign languages in order to communicate commercial and technical issues with various suppliers and clients.

• Prepare leather goods samples

  Create, test and verify prototypes or samples of leather goods against a predefined set of criteria throughout all stages of the manufacturing process. Revise the initial design concepts and implement technical improvements.

• Sketch leather goods

  Be able to use various sketching and drawing techniques, including artistic representation, by hand or by computer, being aware of proportion and perspective, to sketch and draw leather goods in an accurate manner, both as 2D flat designs or as 3D volumes. Be able to prepare specification sheets with details of materials, components and manufacturing requirements.

• Use communication techniques

  Apply techniques of communication which allow interlocutors to better understand each other and communicate accurately in the transmission of messages.

• Practice innovative thinking in the footwear and leather goods industries

  Innovate and create in the footwear and leather goods sector. Evaluate new ideas and concepts to turn them into marketable products. Use entrepreneurial thinking in all stages of the product and process development to identify new business opportunities for the targeted markets.

• Apply fashion trends to footwear and leather goods

  Be able to stay up to date on the latest styles, attending fashion shows and review fashion/clothing magazines and manuals, analysing the past and present fashion trends in areas such as footwear, leather goods and clothing market. Use analytical thinking and creative models to apply and to interpret in a systematic way the upcoming trends in terms of fashion and life styles.

Source: Sisyphus ODB