Footwear Materials Designer

Footwear Materials Designer

Location: Beaverton, OR - On-site

Schedule: Full-time contract

Experience: 10+ years preferred

About the Role

We are seeking an exceptional Footwear Materials Designer to help shape innovative material expressions across a diverse portfolio of performance and lifestyle footwear.

This role is ideal for a highly creative and technically skilled materials designer who understands how to take a material concept from early ideation through development and production. You will collaborate with Industrial Design, Color, Graphic Design, Product Development, Marketing, and manufacturing partners to translate creative direction into compelling, commercially viable footwear materials.

What You'll Do

• Develop innovative material concepts across a broad range of footwear products and categories.
• Design and develop materials including knits, leather, suede, synthetics, wovens, and other textile constructions.
• Work across both performance and lifestyle/non-sneaker footwear, balancing technical requirements with strong aesthetic and consumer appeal.
• Drive materials from concept and ideation through sampling, development, commercialization, and final production.
• Collaborate closely with material vendors, suppliers, factories, and product development teams to bring new materials and finishes to life.
• Translate creative concepts into practical material executions while maintaining design intent.
• Research and explore new materials, manufacturing techniques, finishes, and construction methods.
• Develop and communicate material stories through moodboards, visual research, material explorations, presentations, and prototypes.
• Create or contribute to physical samples, mockups, and 3D material applications.
• Prepare and refine material specifications and technical documentation for development and production.
• Manage multiple seasonal projects while working within tight timelines and evolving priorities.
• Present concepts and material strategies to cross-functional and external partners.
• Consider sustainability, manufacturing feasibility, quality, cost, performance, and scalability throughout the design process.

What We're Looking For

• 10+ years of professional experience in footwear materials design, textile design, footwear design, or a closely related discipline.
• Demonstrated expertise designing and developing footwear upper materials.
• Strong hands-on knowledge of knits, leather, suede, synthetics, wovens, and related material constructions.
• Experience working across both performance and lifestyle footwear.
• Strong understanding of the relationship between material design, manufacturing, sourcing, development, and production.
• Proven experience collaborating with material vendors and manufacturing partners.
• Ability to independently own projects and make thoughtful creative and technical decisions.
• Strong visual and conceptual design skills with a high level of aesthetic judgment.
• Ability to clearly communicate the story and rationale behind a design, from initial concept through final execution.
• Understanding of the broader footwear product creation process.
• Bachelor's degree in Design, Art, Textile Design, Fashion Design, Footwear Design, Product Design, Industrial Design, or a related field-or equivalent professional experience.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience designing materials for athletic, performance, lifestyle, running, training, basketball, or sport-inspired products.
• Experience with material innovation and emerging manufacturing techniques.
• Experience developing 3D samples, hand-built mockups, prototypes, or physical material studies.
• Portfolio demonstrating the complete design process, including research, moodboards, ideation, material exploration, iteration, and final product execution.
• Experience translating concepts from 2D design into 3D product applications.
• Strong understanding of consumer insights, trends, sport culture, and lifestyle products.
• Experience incorporating sustainability and responsible material innovation into product development.
• Adobe Creative Suite proficiency, particularly Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign.
• Experience presenting to senior creative leadership, cross-functional teams, vendors, or manufacturing partners.

Portfolio

A portfolio is required and should demonstrate:

• Material design and innovation
• Footwear applications
• Range of material expertise
• Concept development and research
• Moodboards and visual storytelling
• Material experimentation and iteration
• The progression from initial concept development final execution
• Examples demonstrating both creative thinking and technical problem-solving

Why This Role

This is an opportunity to influence footwear products from the earliest stages of creative exploration through final production. You'll work at the intersection of design, material innovation, manufacturing, performance, and consumer culture, helping create products that are both technically compelling and visually distinctive.

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