Apparel Graphic Designer & Illustrator

About Sunset Surf

Sunset Surf is a growing coastal-inspired fashion and lifestyle brand creating unique, thoughtfully designed apparel inspired by the ocean, tropical destinations, surf culture, and the feeling of endless summer.

Our collections feature detailed illustrations, beautiful color combinations, original graphics, and premium embroidery across hoodies, sweatshirts, T-shirts, and other apparel.

We are looking for an exceptionally talented Apparel Graphic Designer & Illustrator with a strong artistic eye, excellent color theory skills, and the ability to create beautiful, original artwork from concept to production.

This is not a traditional marketing graphic design position. Your primary responsibility will be designing the actual artwork that appears on our clothing.

We need someone who is highly creative, detail-oriented, skilled in illustration, and passionate about developing unique apparel designs that customers will love.

Key Responsibilities

1. Original Artwork & Illustration

Create original, detailed illustrations for hoodies, sweatshirts, T-shirts, matching sets, and future apparel collections.

Develop custom artwork inspired by coastal living, tropical flowers, ocean wildlife, surf culture, and nature.

Illustrate elements such as hibiscus flowers, sea turtles, dolphins, whale sharks, seashells, coral reefs, palm trees, ocean waves, and other coastal imagery.

Create illustrations with beautiful linework, thoughtful shading, depth, texture, and artistic detail.

Develop both large-scale back graphics and smaller complementary front, sleeve, and hood designs.

Create visually balanced compositions featuring multiple illustrated elements.

Explore different illustration styles while maintaining a recognizable Sunset Surf aesthetic.

Produce original artwork rather than relying on generic stock graphics or premade templates.

2. Advanced Color Theory & Color Development

Color is an extremely important part of our brand identity.

We are looking for someone with an exceptional understanding of color combinations, harmony, contrast, and how different colors interact on apparel.

Responsibilities include:

Develop beautiful, cohesive color palettes for individual graphics and complete collections.

Experiment with coastal-inspired colors, including ocean blues, seafoam greens, coral pinks, tropical oranges, butter yellows, soft creams, and sunset-inspired tones.

Understand warm and cool color relationships, complementary colors, analogous palettes, and tonal balance.

Select illustration colors that complement garment fabric colors.

Create multiple color variations of artwork for different hoodie and T-shirt colorways.

Understand how thread colors, fabric colors, and printing techniques affect the final appearance of artwork.

Develop precise color specifications using Pantone references, HEX, RGB, and CMYK where appropriate.

Maintain color consistency across products and collections.

We want a designer who can look at a pink hoodie and thoughtfully determine which shades of blue, coral, cream, green, and yellow would create the most beautiful finished illustration.

3. Apparel Graphic Design & Composition

Design graphics specifically for clothing rather than traditional digital advertising.

Understand artwork scale, positioning, and placement on different garment silhouettes.

Create detailed back graphics, small chest graphics, sleeve illustrations, and embroidery placements.

Develop layouts that balance typography, illustrations, negative space, and visual hierarchy.

Create artwork that looks beautiful both close-up and from a distance.

Experiment with vintage-inspired graphics, hand-drawn illustration, tropical artwork, custom lettering, and contemporary coastal aesthetics.

Create coordinated designs that can be used across hoodies, sweatpants, shorts, and matching sets.

Understand how artwork should be adjusted for different garment sizes and colorways.

4. Embroidery & Print Production

Many of our apparel designs feature detailed embroidery, so production awareness is essential.

Create artwork suitable for embroidery, screen printing, and other apparel decoration methods.

Understand the differences between artwork designed for print and artwork designed for embroidery.

Simplify or adjust intricate details when necessary to maintain production quality.

Consider stitch density, minimum line thickness, thread colors, and embroidery limitations.

Prepare clean vector files, layered illustrations, and organized production-ready artwork.

Work with the fashion designer and production team to ensure artwork can be accurately reproduced.

Review embroidery samples and printed samples, identifying areas requiring adjustments.

Make corrections to artwork based on production feedback.

Experience preparing embroidery-ready artwork is strongly preferred. Experience with embroidery digitizing is a plus but not required.

5. Collection Development & Creative Collaboration

You will work closely with our Founder, Merchandising Manager, and Fashion Designer to bring new collections to life.

Receive product development briefs outlining upcoming collection themes, product categories, colorways, and graphic opportunities.

Translate creative briefs into original illustrations and apparel graphic concepts.

Present multiple creative directions for review.

Create mood boards, color palettes, and design presentations.

Collaborate with the Fashion Designer to ensure graphics complement the garment's silhouette, fabric, and construction.

Work with the Merchandising Manager to develop new variations of successful product designs.

Incorporate feedback while maintaining a strong artistic standard.

Help establish a cohesive visual identity across future collections.

Example project:

Our Merchandising Manager identifies an opportunity to expand our tropical floral hoodie collection.

You may be asked to:

Research and sketch original hibiscus illustrations.

Develop three distinct graphic compositions.

Create coordinating color palettes for cream, pink, and blue hoodies.

Explore floral arrangements, tropical leaves, ocean-inspired details, and complementary typography.

Present digital mockups showing how the artwork would look on each garment.

Refine the selected concept based on feedback.

Prepare final layered vector artwork and production specifications for our manufacturer.

6. Trend Research & Creative Development

Research emerging apparel graphics, illustration styles, color trends, and creative directions.

Stay informed about fashion, surfwear, resortwear, and lifestyle apparel trends.

Identify new artistic techniques and graphic concepts that could complement our brand.

Present original ideas for future collections.

Use inspiration and references responsibly without copying competitors' artwork.

Help our brand develop distinctive, recognizable illustrations that stand apart in the market.

7. Artwork Organization & Deliverables

Maintain organized, clearly named project files.

Provide editable source files in AI, PSD, or other agreed formats.

Deliver vector artwork in appropriate formats such as AI, EPS, SVG, or PDF.

Provide high-resolution transparent PNG files for previews.

Include color specifications and artwork placement information.

Create clean apparel mockups for internal design reviews.

Maintain version control and meet agreed collection deadlines.

Ensure all final artwork is original and properly licensed for commercial use.

Required Skills & Qualifications

Strong professional experience in graphic design, illustration, or apparel artwork development.

An outstanding portfolio featuring original illustrations and apparel graphics.

Advanced proficiency in Adobe Illustrator.

Strong proficiency in Adobe Photoshop.

Excellent understanding of color theory, color harmony, and palette development.

Strong hand-drawing or digital illustration abilities.

Experience designing detailed floral, botanical, tropical, animal, or nature-inspired artwork.

Ability to create intricate yet visually balanced compositions.

Experience developing designs for hoodies, sweatshirts, T-shirts, or other clothing.

Strong understanding of vector illustration and print production.

Ability to translate creative direction into polished original designs.

Excellent attention to detail, organization, and communication.

Ability to receive feedback and independently refine artwork.

Preferred Qualifications

Experience working with fashion or lifestyle apparel brands.

Knowledge of embroidery artwork preparation and production limitations.

Experience with Procreate or other digital illustration tools.

Experience creating custom lettering or typography.

Experience developing coordinated apparel collections.

Familiarity with Pantone colors and textile color matching.

Experience collaborating with fashion designers and apparel manufacturers.

The Type of Designer We're Looking For

We are especially interested in someone who:

Has a naturally strong artistic eye and loves experimenting with colors.

Can draw beautiful, intricate illustrations from scratch.

Understands how to make multiple colors work harmoniously together.

Enjoys creating floral, tropical, coastal, and ocean-inspired artwork.

Can take a simple idea and develop it into a distinctive, premium apparel graphic.

Pays close attention to small details, including linework, shading, color transitions, and composition.

Can create original artwork that feels artistic, intentional, and commercially appealing.

Is comfortable collaborating with a team and taking creative direction.

Is passionate about fashion and wants to contribute to the growth of a recognizable apparel brand.

We are NOT looking for someone who primarily creates Canva templates, social media advertisements, or basic logo designs.

We are looking for a true illustrator and apparel graphic artist who can create beautiful, original designs for our clothing collections.

How to Apply

Please submit the following:

1. Portfolio

Include examples of your strongest original illustration and apparel graphic design work.

We especially want to see:

Detailed floral and botanical illustrations.

Ocean wildlife or nature-inspired artwork.

Colorful, multi-element compositions.

Hoodie, sweatshirt, or T-shirt graphics.

Examples of different colorways of the same design.

Vector illustrations and artwork prepared for embroidery or printing.

2. Resume

Include your relevant work experience, software proficiency, and any fashion or apparel industry experience.

3. Design Process

Briefly explain how you develop an original apparel illustration, from initial concept and color selection to final production artwork.

4. Compensation

Please include your expected monthly salary in Philippine pesos (PHP).

5. Availability

Let us know your earliest possible start date and your availability for remote collaboration.

Important Portfolio Requirement

Applicants must provide examples of original artwork they personally illustrated.

Please identify which pieces you created independently and which were collaborative projects.

We value original creativity, strong illustration skills, excellent color selection, and attention to detail.

Shortlisted candidates may be invited to complete a compensated design exercise to demonstrate their illustration style, color development, and approach to apparel graphics.

Join Sunset Surf

We're looking for a talented artist who wants to do more than complete individual design assignments.

We want someone who is excited to help develop beautiful collections, contribute original creative ideas, and build a recognizable artistic identity for Sunset Surf.

If you love illustration, fashion, tropical colors, ocean-inspired artwork, and creating designs that people are excited to wear, we'd love to see your work.

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