Nature & Scope → Your Role at Roots The Senior Materials Specialist 19-Month Contract is responsible for leading and optimizing the fabric sourcing, development, and material management processes to align with the company’s quality, sustainability, and cost-efficiency objectives. This role requires a deep understanding of material trends, supplier relations, and cross-functional collaboration to enhance product quality, innovation, and supply chain effectiveness.

Key Responsibilities → How You’ll Make an Impact Lead the identification, sourcing, and evaluation of a diverse range of fabric materials from domestic and international mills/vendors, ensuring compliance with quality, sustainability, and cost objectives.

Develop and maintain strategic relationships with key suppliers to drive innovation, improve material performance, and ensure on-time deliveries.

Provide expertise in market trends, emerging fabric technologies, and sourcing strategies to support business objectives and drive continuous improvement in material selection.

Oversee fabric testing reports and development assessment tools to standardize quality expectations across functional teams.

Collaborate closely with PD&S;, design, and production teams to ensure materials align with pricing architecture, performance requirements, and design intent.

Proactively resolve material costing, quality, and supplier performance issues by working cross functionally and maintaining strong communication channels.

Manage the material development process to ensure alignment with calendar timelines and business needs, mitigating risks and optimizing efficiency.

Enhance and oversee the maintenance of the physical and virtual fabric library, ensuring accessibility,



organization, and ease of use for cross-functional teams.

Develop and implement best practices for fabric tracking, documentation, and compliance, ensuring adherence to sustainability and certification requirements.

Lead the creation, organization, and management of the Raw Material Code (RMC) system for fabrics, ensuring accuracy and accessibility.

Oversee wear test sample tracking and management, ensuring timely assessments and documentation for continuous product improvement.

Ensure accurate entry of approved fabric content into internal systems (e.g., Momentis) to support design and production processes.

Take a leadership role in coordinating and executing the seasonal supplier week, enhancing vendor collaboration and material selection processes.

Oversee the core fabric development and continuously improve to ensure the quality meets our original standards to move forward with diversity in fabric mill options.

Qualifications &

Experience → The Skills You Bring Degree or diploma in Fashion

Minimum 7-8 years of experience in raw materials management, sourcing, and development

Strong understanding of fabric construction

Practical experience in testing, quality assurance and sustainability best practices Experience working with sustainable materials is an asset

Outstanding written and verbal communication

Solid computer skills, proficient use of Microsoft Office, Excel and PLM systems

Flexibility and adaptability; able to problem-solve and handle pressure well in a deadline-driven environment with frequent rush assignments A team player with the ability to lead and collaborate across functions.

Strong attention to detail and ability to manage multiple projects simultaneously

📌 Sr. Materials Specialist *19-Month Contract* (Toronto)
🏢 Roots
📍 Toronto