Role: Category Head / Manager - Apparel

Category: Baby & Kids Wear Category

Location: Ahmedabad

Budget: 22 to 25 LPA

Employment: Full-Time · Onsite

Experience: 10+ Years

About the Company

We are a leading Indian baby and kids consumer brand with a growing portfolio of products designed for modern parents. As the company continues to expand its product portfolio, we are looking for an experienced Apparel Head to build and scale the Baby & Kids Wear category as a significant growth opportunity.

About the Role

We are looking for a senior Apparel / Category Leader who can own the Baby & Kids Wear business end-to-end from category strategy, consumer and trend understanding, design and product development to sourcing, merchandising, inventory planning, launches and commercial performance .

This is a business ownership role, not a pure design or merchandising position.

You will be responsible for building commercially successful collections while ensuring the right balance between design, quality, price, availability, inventory and profitability .

The ideal candidate should have strong understanding of the complete apparel value chain and experience scaling Baby Wear, Kids Wear or related fashion/apparel categories across retail, D2C or other consumer businesses.

Key Responsibilities

Category & Business Ownership

- Own the Baby & Kids Wear category and its overall business performance.
- Develop annual, seasonal and category growth plans.
- Own category-level revenue, margin, profitability and inventory outcomes.
- Analyse sales, margins, sell-through, stock cover, ageing and SKU-level performance.
- Identify category gaps and opportunities across price points, age groups, styles and product segments.
- Build a balanced portfolio of core, seasonal and new products.
- Drive sustainable category growth while maintaining healthy inventory and margins.

Design & Collection Development
- Lead the development of seasonal and core collections from concept to launch.
- Define collection themes, colour palettes, prints, fabrics, silhouettes and product direction.
- Translate consumer insights, market trends and competitive intelligence into commercially viable products.
- Build and manage collection calendars and launch timelines.
- Ensure collections have the right balance of fashion, functionality, comfort, safety and commercial viability .
- Evaluate product performance and use consumer and sales data to inform future collections.

Product Development & Apparel Expertise
- Own product development from initial concept through sampling, approvals and production.
- Have strong knowledge of knitted and woven fabrics and their application in baby and kids apparel.
- Understand GSM, shrinkage, pilling, colourfastness,



fabric performance and garment durability.
- Have strong understanding of fit, patterns, stitching, trims, construction and garment finishing.
- Ensure apparel meets appropriate standards for comfort, quality, durability and safety for babies and children.
- Work closely with technical and quality teams to resolve product and manufacturing issues.

Sourcing & Vendor Management
- Build and manage a reliable network of mills, garment manufacturers, factories and trim suppliers .
- Drive product development and sourcing from concept to commercial production.
- Evaluate and develop vendors based on quality, capability, capacity, cost and delivery performance.
- Own product costing, BOMs, target pricing and manufacturing feasibility.
- Negotiate with suppliers to achieve competitive cost structures without compromising quality.
- Monitor vendor performance and drive improvements in quality, lead time and OTIF.
- Develop alternate sourcing options for critical products and materials.

Merchandising & Range Management
- Lead merchandising strategy across the Baby & Kids Wear portfolio.
- Build assortment plans based on consumer demand, seasonality, price points and channel requirements.
- Define SKU architecture and collection depth.
- Monitor product-level performance and make timely decisions on replenishment, markdowns, continuation and discontinuation.
- Ensure new collections are launched with the right inventory and channel readiness.

Forecasting & Inventory Planning
- Own demand forecasting and seasonal merchandise planning.
- Work closely with sales and ecommerce teams to translate demand signals into inventory requirements.
- Establish SKU-level inventory plans and replenishment mechanisms.
- Maintain healthy stock cover and inventory turns.
- Minimise stock-outs, excess inventory and ageing stock.
- Use sales and inventory data to continuously improve forecast accuracy and buying decisions.

Team Leadership
- Lead and develop teams across design, merchandising and product development .
- Set transparent KRAs, KPIs, SOPs and review mechanisms.
- Build a strong product and category culture focused on ownership and commercial outcomes.
- Mentor team members and build leadership capability within the function.
- Ensure clear accountability across the product lifecycle.

Cross-Functional Collaboration

Work closely with

- Supply Chain
- Procurement




- Quality
- Ecommerce
- Retail / Sales
- Marketing
- Finance
- Operations

to ensure seamless execution from product concept → development → sourcing → production → launch → sell-through .

Key Performance Indicators

Success in this role will be measured through:

- Category Revenue & Growth
- Gross Margin & Profitability
- Collection Launch Adherence
- Product Success Rate
- Sell-through %
- Inventory Turns
- Stock Cover
- Forecast Accuracy
- Stock-out & Ageing Inventory
- Vendor OTIF
- Product Quality & Returns
- New Product Contribution
- Team Performance

What We're Looking For

- 10+ years of experience in apparel, fashion, merchandising, category management or product leadership.
- Strong experience in Baby Wear / Kids Wear / Children's Apparel is highly preferred.
- Experience owning or significantly contributing to a complete apparel category or business.
- Strong understanding of the end-to-end apparel value chain — design, product development, fabrics, sourcing, manufacturing, merchandising and inventory.
- Strong fabric and garment knowledge, particularly across knitted and woven products.
- Proven experience in vendor development, product costing and manufacturing management.
- Strong understanding of demand forecasting, assortment planning and inventory management.
- Commercial orientation with the ability to connect product decisions to revenue, margin and profitability .
- Experience working with retail, D2C, ecommerce or consumer brands.
- Strong team leadership and cross-functional stakeholder management skills.
- Comfortable operating in a fast-moving setting with high ownership and accountability.

Qualification Graduate / Postgraduate in Fashion Design, Textile Technology, Apparel Manufacturing, Fashion Management or a related discipline.

Preferred Candidate Profile

We are looking for candidates currently working in senior roles such as Apparel Head, Category Head, Business Head, Product Head, Design & Merchandising Head or similar leadership positions within Baby Wear, Kids Wear, Fashion, Apparel, Retail, D2C or consumer brands.

The ideal candidate should have demonstrated ownership across multiple stages of the apparel value chain and be able to combine strong product understanding with commercial and category thinking .

Why Join?

- Lead and build a high-potential Baby & Kids Wear category .
- Own the category across product, sourcing, merchandising and commercial performance.
- Work closely with leadership on category strategy and growth.
- Build collections that directly reach a large base of parents and young consumers.
- Opportunity to build a category and team with significant scope for growth.

📌 Category Head / Manager - Apparel (Ahmedabad)
🏢 Recrivio
📍 Ahmedabad