Quality Assurance Manager - Clothing

Our client is seeking an experienced and commercially minded Quality Assurance Manager to lead and enhance the quality assurance function across multiple product categories. This role is responsible for ensuring product quality and technical excellence from product development through to bulk production and retail, while driving continuous improvement across fit, grading, supplier performance, and quality reporting.

The successful candidate will play a key role in maintaining brand standards, strengthening supplier partnerships, and implementing best-practice quality assurance processes that support business objectives.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead and approve all Fit & Seal processes across core and extended product categories.
• Evaluate garment fit on live models and dummies, ensuring consistency with brand standards and customer expectations.
• Review, approve and verify grading specifications for knit and woven garments across all size curves.
• Establish, implement and continuously improve quality assurance standards, procedures and best practices across suppliers and distribution centres.
• Conduct supplier audits, including inline, final and random inspections, to ensure compliance with company quality standards.
• Investigate quality failures through root cause analysis and implement effective corrective and preventative actions.
• Apply strong garment construction and production knowledge to resolve technical quality issues.
• Oversee quality assurance trackers, audit schedules and supplier performance scorecards.
• Produce advanced Excel reports, dashboards and trend analyses to identify opportunities for continuous improvement.
• Monitor quality performance across warehouse and retail operations, including customer returns, product defects and complaints.
• Present monthly quality reports with meaningful insights, recommendations and action plans to senior management.
• Lead, mentor and develop the Quality Assurance team through coaching, training and performance management.

Qualifications & Experience

• Degree or Diploma in Clothing Production, Fashion, Textile Technology or a related field.
• Proven experience in garment pattern making and grading across knit and woven product categories.
• Minimum of 5–8 years' experience within a garment quality assurance, technical or production environment.
• Demonstrated experience working across multiple product categories and managing supplier relationships.
• Advanced Microsoft Excel skills with the ability to analyse data and produce meaningful management reports.

Key Competencies

• Exceptional attention to detail and commitment to quality.
• Strong analytical thinking and problem-solving ability.
• Excellent organisational, planning and administrative skills.
• Strong communication and stakeholder management skills.
• Proven ability to build effective supplier partnerships.
• Leadership capability with experience developing and coaching teams.
• High level of accountability, ownership and commercial awareness.

Key Success Measures

The successful candidate will be expected to:

• Improve garment fit consistency and grading accuracy across all product categories.
• Drive higher supplier quality performance and compliance through effective auditing and partnership.
• Develop robust quality reporting, dashboards and data-driven insights to support decision-making.
• Strengthen quality assurance processes throughout the production lifecycle.
• Reduce quality-related defects, returns and customer complaints while supporting the delivery of exceptional products to market.