Pros
Salary and benefits are very good compared to other apparel companies
Cons
This job was easily the worst I've ever had in my many years in the apparel industry. Hours tend to be very long because of the near constant indecisiveness of upper management. Creative leads are too busy fawning over upper management to actually lead design direction, instead making their subordinates fulfill every whimsical decision made by management without any thought to how it would affect deadlines, costing, the personal lives of employees and factory workers, or the environment. It was almost as if we worked in a bubble with no regard for the much bigger picture. Several times I was brought into meetings with upper management at the last minute and with no time to prepare. Anyone who has worked in this role and been through that will know immediately what I'm talking about, It's a bit like being thrown into a cave with an overly aggressive mother bear. In the girl's graphic department it was not usual to have the design lead come to the department at 6:00 pm and sit at the conference table to make sure no one was thinking about leaving on time. 6:00 meetings were also a near daily occurrence. This wouldn't be a dealbreaker if it didn't happen with such frequency that dinners were almost always missed. The turnover for designers is very high, many leave because of the negative work environment but many more are fired in January before bonuses are announced. Freelancers are regularly brought in with promises of flex schedules only to be denied or told that wasn't promised once they agree to full time.