Business Development Manager - Naia Textiles

Eastman offers a career opportunity for experienced business developers within the European textile brand segment.

Eastman is a global specialty materials company that produces a broad range of products found in items people use every day. Eastman works with customers to deliver innovative products and solutions while maintaining a commitment to safety and sustainability.

Business Development Manager - Naia Textiles

The Role

Eastman’s Textiles business is a growth engine for Eastman; in our Fashion segment, our focus is to build a growth platform that embodies sustainability, innovation and design versatility. Our key brand is Naia™, a cellulosic yarn that is sustainable from sourcing to manufacturing until the end of life and is used to create fabrics that leave freshness on the skin, drape elegantly and give any garment a brilliant color with a luxurious soft hand and luster. Naia™ is available in filament and spun yarn.

We recognize there is a growing need to shift to a more sustainable fashion industry, and Naia™ is a yarn with a low environmental impact and a carefully designed production process. Eastman is also committed to empowering and collaborating with our partners to understand, communicate and collectively build a more sustainable fashion industry.

The role incumbent is responsible for creating a pull effect and executing our business strategy at brand level by convincing fashion and retail brand accounts and stakeholders to integrate Naia™ into their collections and develop the textile value chain. Approximately 50%+ travel is required for this role.

Responsibilities

• Position, develop and expand Naia™ by using and/or building your business network at fashion brands
• Generate brand targets aligned with the business strategy to deliver future growth
• Effectively engage buying influences at brand level to learn more about their unmet needs and the buying process
• Utilize sources for competitive and customer information that allows a deep understanding of the market
• Present information that enables the prospective customer to understand the value proposition of Naia™ and Eastman’s sustainable solutions
• Create and drive account strategies and plans
• Identify opportunities and act to strengthen Eastman’s position in the eyes of the customer
• Develop strong trust and credibility with all key players impacting the customer’s buying process
• Lead cross functional brand engagement team to ensure opportunities are provided with the required resources
• Cultivate a broad network of relationships across the value chain and within the customer organizations beyond procurement and sustainability to enable successful development of new business
• Create a brand pull to enable accelerated Naia™ adoption into fashion brand

Qualifications

• Bachelor/Master’s degree in Business or Textile/Fashion related
• 15 years’ experience in Textiles industry
• Experience working with global and European fashion brands and strong understanding of textiles value chain
• Advanced consultative sales skills (at least 8 years), ideally from a newly established business area
• Extensive knowledge of the European fashion markets and solid network with fashion brands is preferred; ability to form partnerships with other players in the value chain
• Strong market & customer strategy and planning experience with a start-up spirit
• Experience with CRM and other sales systems and tools is an asset
• Strong communication skills in English and French; a third language like German, Italian, Spanish would be an advantage
• High curiosity, strong strategic skills with a bias for action