Role: Design Development Assistant
Contract: Full-time
Start Date: ASAP
Location: London
Founded by Gemma Shiel from a North London Garage in 2001, Lazy Oaf is a design-led lifestyle brand with a history of doing things our own way. What started with hand-printed T-shirts sold from a stall in East London has now become an established independent brand, with creativity, collaboration and community at its heart. Lazy Oaf is primarily a DTC brand with retail space in London.
Design Development Assistant
At Lazy Oaf, we’re looking for a Design Development Assistant to join our design and product development teams. You’ll be at the heart of our design and product development process, helping bring our Oaf designs to life—from sketch to sample, fabric to final product. You’ll be working across everything from menswear to womenswear, accessories, doggie apparel, and whatever else we come up with. You will report into the Product Development Manager and working with the Design team and Garment Tech to keep everything running smoothly, on time, and within budget—all while ensuring that our creations continue to blow the minds of the Lazy Oaf community.
What you'll be doing:
- Tech Pack Creation: You’ll be a whiz at creating design technical packs on Adobe Illustrator.
- Project Management: You’ll stay focused and organized to keep track of deadlines, ensuring that prototypes, samples, and final products are delivered on time and within budget.
- Sample Management: You’ll be the keeper of all things samples. Managing them, tracking them, making sure they don’t disappear into the fashion abyss.
- Fabric & Trim Research: You’ll be sourcing fabrics, trims, and all those little details that make our products Oaf. You’ll ensure everything matches our aesthetic while keeping an eye on budget and production timelines.
- Collaboration with Suppliers & Factories: You’ll be talking to suppliers around the world to make sure our products are created exactly as we envision them—communicating clearly and following the critical path.
- Design Assistance: You’ll assist with creating new collections, doing mood boarding, deck builds, and contributing your thoughts on design inspiration and colours. You’ll help sketch out new ideas that’ll help drive the brand forward.
- Fitting Sessions: You’ll attend fittings and help collate all the comments to make sure the final product is perfect (or as close to perfect as humanly possible).
- Cross-functional Collaboration: You’ll work with everyone—from the design team to merchandisers to product developers—to ensure the design process is smooth, efficient, and aligned across all teams.
- Sourcing & Budget Management: You’ll help keep costs under control without sacrificing style or quality.
- Creative Problem Solving: There’s always something that needs tweaking. Whether it’s finding a new fabric or coming up with a solution for a tricky design challenge, you’ll use your creativity and problem-solving skills to find the answer.
- General Admin Support: You’ll keep everything organized, from design packs to calendars. If you’ve ever organized your life in a spreadsheet, you’ll feel right at home.
What we are looking for:
- Creativity: A Culture Sponge, You have a keen eye for 00's nostalgia, contemporary sub culture and an obsession with streetwear and design.
- Technical Design Skills: You’re a master in Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, Excel. You know how to create clean, detailed designs and tech packs that speak for themselves.
- Attention to Detail: You catch the small stuff—whether it’s a tiny trim detail or making sure the tech packs are perfect. You can’t let anything slip through the cracks.
- Organization: Keeping things on track, managing multiple projects at once, and sticking to timelines are second nature to you.
- Communication: Whether you're talking to a supplier halfway across the world or a teammate sitting next to you, you communicate clearly, and your email game is strong.
- Fashion Knowledge: You live and breathe fashion, from garment construction to fabric sourcing. If you can name five different types of zippers without hesitation, we’ll get along just fine.
- Previous Experience: Ideally, you’ve worked in a similar role (or as an intern) in streetwear, sportswear, or high street fashion. Experience in print design or accessories is a plus, we like variety.
- Commercially Minded: You know how to make creative designs that are also viable in the market. You get that it’s about balance: strong designs that also need to work in the real world.
- Able to Multitask Like a Pro: Juggling multiple projects at once. You’re always ahead of deadlines and making sure every piece of the puzzle fits perfectly.
- Passionate & Enthusiastic: You’re not just clocking in and clocking out. You’re invested in the brand and its evolution. You want to make an impact, and you have the energy to back it up.
- Sustainability Focused: You care about the planet. From sourcing eco-friendly fabrics to designing for longevity, you're thinking about the future of fashion.
- Please note that a right to work in the UK is required for this role.
Life at Oaf
As part of our ongoing commitment to create a work environment that values wellbeing, balance and inclusivity, at Lazy Oaf we have been successfully trialling an adjusted work week for the last 18 months. An adjusted work week offers Oafs more flexibility around their personal commitments, responsibilities and interests.
The adjusted work week format at Lazy Oaf is a four day week. This means that Head Oaffice Oafs currently don’t work Fridays. A few t&c's apply that we can talk you through at interview stage.
Of course we also offer a competitive salary, great discounts across our products and pension contributions after a qualifying period.
At Lazy Oaf, we don’t just accept difference – we’re built on it. Lazy Oaf is proud to be an equal opportunity workplace.
Hell Yeah! How do I apply?
If you think you tick all of the above boxes then we want to hear from you! We are likely to receive a lot of interest in this role. Please submit your C.V, a covering letter telling us why you are the right person for this job AND an example of tech pack you have done previously. Please send this info to [email protected] with the subject title ‘Design Development Assistant’.
