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Olympia International LimitedVerified
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ABOUT OLYMPIA
Olympia International is an international apparel business working across the UK, Europe, North America and the Middle East.
We specialise in developing and supplying commercial fashion products for major international retailers, particularly within the off-price sector.
Our product categories include T-shirts, polos, sweatshirts, hoodies, Henleys, knit tops and other casualwear across a portfolio of owned and licensed brands.
We operate through teams in London and Bangladesh and work with a network of manufacturing partners across Bangladesh, China and other sourcing markets.
As the business continues to grow, we are looking for an experienced Knit Merchandising Manager to take responsibility for our knit merchandising operation in Bangladesh.
THE ROLE
This is a senior, hands-on merchandising position responsible for managing the complete knit product and order lifecycle — from initial development and costing through sampling, order placement, production and final shipment.
The successful candidate will be expected to take ownership rather than simply follow up orders.
You will manage and develop the knit merchandising team in Bangladesh while working closely with Olympia's London Brand Leads, Bangladesh Product & Design team, garment technologists, factories, fabric mills, quality teams and production teams.
A major part of the role is ensuring that information moves quickly and accurately between customers, the London office and factories.
The objective is simple:
Develop the right product, at the right price, place it with the right factory and deliver it on time and to the required quality standard.
WHAT WE ARE LOOKING FOR
We are looking for someone with approximately 8–12+ years' experience in knit apparel merchandising, including meaningful experience managing a merchandising team.
Strong experience in products such as:
- T-shirts
- Polos
- Sweatshirts
- Hoodies
- Henleys
- Jersey tops
- Fashion casualwear
Experience working with international retailers, brands, buying offices or sourcing companies is strongly preferred.
The successful candidate should demonstrate:
- Excellent knowledge of knit garment production.
- Strong fabric and garment construction knowledge.
- Strong costing and price-negotiation ability.
- Excellent understanding of critical-path management.
- Strong factory management skills.
- Ability to manage multiple customers and large numbers of styles simultaneously.
- Strong problem-solving skills.
- Excellent written and spoken English.
- Strong Excel/reporting ability.
- Ability to manage and develop junior team members.
- Confidence communicating directly with overseas commercial teams and senior management.
THE PERSON WE WANT
Olympia is a fast-moving entrepreneurial business.
We therefore need someone who thinks beyond the traditional merchandising role.
We want someone who:
Takes ownership.
If something is going wrong, they act rather than wait for instructions.
Communicates early.
Bad news communicated early can normally be managed. Problems hidden until the last minute cannot.
Understands product.
They can look at a garment and understand how it should be made, where it should be made and approximately what it should cost.
Is commercially minded.
They understand that every sourcing and production decision ultimately affects whether Olympia can win and retain business.
Can prioritise.
Not every problem has the same commercial importance.
Develops people.
We want someone capable of building a strong merchandising department underneath them.
Is comfortable with change.
Olympia is growing and our systems, customers, factories and product categories will continue to evolve.
SUCCESS IN THIS ROLE
Within the first 6–12 months, we would expect the successful candidate to have:
- Full control and visibility of the knit development and production pipeline.
- Established clear accountability within the merchandising team.
- Reduced late developments and production surprises.
- Improved development turnaround times.
- Strengthened factory costing and negotiation.
- Improved communication between Bangladesh and London.
- Developed stronger factory allocation and capacity planning.
- Created reliable reporting for all live developments and orders.
- Built a merchandising structure capable of supporting significant growth.
This is an important leadership position within Olympia's Bangladesh operation and offers the opportunity to play a major role in the continued development of our international apparel business.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
1. Product Development & Sampling
Manage the knit development pipeline across multiple customers and brands.
Responsibilities include:
- Receive development briefs, tech packs and product requirements from Brand Leads and the Product/Design team.
- Review developments before sending them to factories.
- Identify suitable factories, fabrics, constructions and production methods.
- Coordinate proto samples, fit samples, salesman samples, approval samples and other development requirements.
- Ensure factories clearly understand all product comments and revisions.
- Track outstanding developments and aggressively follow up delayed samples.
- Work closely with designers and garment technologists to resolve technical or construction issues.
- Ensure samples are commercially viable for bulk production.
- Maintain visibility of the complete development pipeline.
Speed of development is particularly important to Olympia's business model.
2. COSTING & COMMERCIAL MANAGEMENT
Take responsibility for obtaining competitive and accurate factory pricing.
This includes:
- Request and negotiate factory quotations.
- Understand garment consumption, fabric prices, CM, trims, washing, printing, embroidery and other cost components.
- Challenge factory prices where necessary.
- Compare pricing between suppliers.
- Identify opportunities to engineer cost without compromising the required product.
- Maintain accurate costing records.
- Work with management and Brand Leads to achieve required target prices.
The Merchandising Manager must have strong commercial judgement and understand what makes a product commercially viable.
3. ORDER PLACEMENT & FACTORY ALLOCATION
Once orders are confirmed:
- Review order details before placement.
- Confirm quantities, colours, size ratios, delivery dates and product specifications.
- Recommend the appropriate factory based on price, capability, capacity, compliance and delivery.
- Ensure purchase orders and factory instructions are accurate.
- Confirm factory acceptance and production capacity.
- Identify potential production risks before orders are committed.
Factories should never be allocated simply because they developed the original sample.
Olympia expects the merchandising team to continuously identify the best production solution.
4. CRITICAL PATH & PRODUCTION MANAGEMENT
Take ownership of the complete production critical path.
Monitor and manage:
- Fabric booking
- Yarn/fabric availability
- Lab dips
- Strike-offs
- Trims
- Labels and packaging
- Fit approvals
- PP samples
- Size sets
- Testing
- Bulk fabric
- Cutting
- Sewing
- Printing/embroidery/washing
- Finishing
- Inspection
- Packing
- Shipment
The merchandising team must identify delays before they become shipment problems.
The manager will be expected to maintain clear visibility of every live order and escalate risks early.
5. FACTORY MANAGEMENT
Build strong working relationships with Olympia's manufacturing partners.
Responsibilities include:
- Regular factory communication and visits.
- Monitor factory performance.
- Challenge unrealistic production plans.
- Verify capacity before committing orders.
- Resolve development and production problems quickly.
- Work closely with factory merchandising and production teams.
- Escalate serious delivery, quality or compliance risks.
- Help identify and onboard new factories where required.
The role requires someone comfortable dealing directly with factory owners and senior management when necessary.
6. TEAM MANAGEMENT
Lead Olympia's knit merchandising team in Bangladesh.
Responsibilities include:
- Allocate customers, developments and orders across the team.
- Set priorities and deadlines.
- Review team workload.
- Conduct regular order and development reviews.
- Ensure critical paths are updated.
- Coach junior merchandisers and develop their commercial understanding.
- Improve working processes and accountability.
- Ensure problems are escalated rather than hidden.
The manager should build a department capable of managing significant growth without becoming dependent on one individual.
7. LONDON / BANGLADESH COORDINATION
Act as one of the key operational links between the London commercial team and Bangladesh supply base.
Work closely with Olympia's Brand Leads to:
- Understand customer requirements.
- Translate buyer/product comments into clear factory actions.
- Provide accurate development and production updates.
- Highlight commercial or delivery risks.
- Support preparation for buyer meetings.
- Ensure developments required for upcoming selling periods are completed on time.
Communication must be concise, accurate and proactive.
The London team should not need to repeatedly chase Bangladesh for updates.
8. PRODUCT, DESIGN & TECHNICAL COLLABORATION
Work closely with Olympia's Bangladesh Product/Design leadership, designers, product developers and garment technologists.
The Merchandising Manager will primarily own the commercial execution and order pipeline, while the Product/Design team leads collection and product creation.
Both teams must work together on:
- Fabric sourcing
- Product development
- Tech packs
- Sampling
- Cost engineering
- Factory selection
- Product feasibility
- Approval processes
- Production readiness
The role therefore requires someone who understands product — not simply someone who can manage spreadsheets and production dates.
9. QUALITY & COMPLIANCE
Work closely with Olympia's Quality, Technical and Compliance teams to ensure orders are placed and produced with suitable factories.
The Merchandising Manager should:
- Understand customer quality requirements.
- Ensure testing requirements are communicated.
- Ensure required approvals are completed before production.
- Work with Quality teams when problems arise.
- Ensure only appropriately approved/compliant factories are used for relevant customers.
- Support corrective actions when factory issues are identified.
10. REPORTING & MANAGEMENT INFORMATION
Maintain clear and accurate reporting covering:
Development Pipeline
- New developments
- Sample status
- Costing status
- Outstanding approvals
- Target completion dates
Order Pipeline
- Customer
- Brand
- Factory
- Style
- Quantity
- Order value
- Production status
- Ex-factory date
- Shipment date
- Risks/issues
Management should be able to understand the status of the entire knit business without having to individually chase merchandisers.
Work at office
Full time
Dhaka (Savar city)
Applications for this job are handled on the company's own website.
