---
title: 'Freelance Softgoods Designer at Loop'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/freelance-softgoods-designer-loop-antwerp-2j6z1k1y5678'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-09-11'
---

# Freelance Softgoods Designer at Loop

- **Company:** Loop
- **Location:** Antwerp, Belgium
- **Compensation:** €70–€90/hr
- **Employment:** full-time
- **Work type:** hybrid
- **Posted:** 2026-09-08
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-11
- **Apply:** https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/loop-earplugs/72e58f1a-ab9e-4ff7-8d2f-3a7620da0d7b

## Job description

Freelance Softgoods Designer Location: Antwerp / Amsterdam | Freelance | Experience: 7+ years of experience in softgoods design, or a background in Industrial Design or CMF with at least 3–4 years specialising in softgoods.

Design the softgoods that carry Loop beyond the ear At Loop, softgoods aren't a side project. They're embedded in our ecosystem of wearable products and how they show up in someone's hands and daily routine. From wearables like sleep masks to the bags, cases, and pouches that carry our products, softgoods carry Loop's visual identity and performance standards into new materials and form factors. As our Senior Softgoods Designer, you'll own softgoods design execution across assigned product and accessory programs, from early concept and material exploration through pattern development, prototyping, and production-ready design.

## The Role

You'll lead the softgoods workstream for your programs end to end, working closely with Product Development Engineering, and suppliers to solve construction, integration, and manufacturing challenges, and with Industrial Design, CMF, UX, and Packaging wherever softgoods meet Loop's other products. You'll operate with a high degree of independence, balancing design vision, user needs, material choices, and manufacturability, and making the trade-offs behind each decision visible through prototypes, visuals, and storytelling.

## What You'll Do

- Lead softgoods design for assigned programs, from concept through patterns, prototypes, material definition, and production-ready design.
- Apply a broad softgoods perspective across product types, including wearable products as well as bags, cases, pouches, and other accessories.
- Partner with Product Development, Engineering, model makers and suppliers to solve construction, integration, DFM, and manufacturing challenges.
- Work closely with Industrial Design and CMF to integrate softgoods seamlessly with Loop products.
- Drive designs through key development phases and reviews (Design Gate, EVT, DVT), maintaining design intent as concepts move toward production.
- Give feedback to junior designers and bring specialist softgoods knowledge into design reviews across the wider Design team.
- Help evolve softgoods design methods, workflows, and prototyping approaches as Loop scales.

You Won't

- Treat softgoods as a side project instead of a full part of Loop's product ecosystem.
- Stay inside one product type when a broader softgoods perspective would serve the program better.
- Push a design vision forward without making the manufacturability trade-offs behind it visible.
- Wait for a fully resolved brief before proposing viable directions.
- Keep specialist softgoods knowledge to yourself instead of bringing it into design reviews and critique.

## How You'll Succeed

You're comfortable navigating ambiguity in a design brief and can propose multiple viable directions rather than waiting for one to be handed to you. You move fluidly between products worn on the body and protective or carrying solutions like bags and cases, connecting each design choice back to user benefit, feasibility, and Loop's wider product vision. You raise the bar for the people around you, through craft and judgment in your own work, and through the feedback and critique you bring to the rest of the Design team.

## What You'll Bring

- 7+ years of experience in softgoods design, or a background in Industrial Design or CMF with at least 3–4 years specialising in softgoods.
- Experience designing across a broad range of softgoods applications, from products worn on the body to protective and carrying solutions such as bags, cases, and pouches.
- Strong understanding of how softgoods move from concept through development into production, including manufacturing constraints.
- Strong visualisation and communication skills, using design and Adobe Creative Suite tools to develop and present ideas.
- Experience mentoring or giving critique to other designers, and working across a multidisciplinary design team (Industrial Design, CMF, UX, Packaging).
- Comfortable navigating ambiguous briefs and connecting design decisions to broader company goals and product horizons.

Loop isn't for everyone. We might not be a match if you:

- Prefer a fully defined brief over navigating ambiguity and proposing your own directions.
- Prefer specialising in one softgoods application rather than moving across wearables, bags, cases, and accessories.
- Find it hard to let manufacturability shape a design vision you're attached to.
- Prefer working independently over cross-functional critique and collaboration.
- Aren't drawn to mentoring or raising the bar for people around you.

Still interested? Great. If you're excited about shaping how softgoods extend Loop's product ecosystem, from sleep masks to the bags and cases that carry them, and about owning that design work independently from concept to production, we'd love to hear from you.

—- Application Window & Recruiter Interview: 8 Sept - 18 Sept Hiring Manager Interview: 21 Sept - 25 Sept Business Case & Team Interview: 28 Sept - 2 Oct Target Start Date: 2 Nov

## About Loop

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: Loop designs premium earplugs for situational hearing protection, focus, sleep, and sensory needs, building a new category in hearing wellness.
- **Entity Type**: Private (bootstrapped or VC-backed – funding details not publicly disclosed)
- **Headquarters**: Antwerp, Belgium
- **Founded**: 2016
- **Founders**: Maarten Bodewes and Dimitri O

## Core Business
- **Primary industry/industries**: Consumer electronics / Hearing wellness / Lifestyle products
- **Target customers**: B2C – nightlife goers, remote workers, people with sensory sensitivities, travelers, sleepers
- **Mission or purpose**: Helping people live life to the fullest by bettering their relationship with sound and senses.

## Products & Services
- **Loop Experience / Experience Plus**: High-fidelity earplugs for concerts, festivals, and loud events; reduce noise while preserving sound clarity (SaaS-like physical product with recurring accessories).
- **Loop Engage / Engage Plus**: Earplugs for conversations and social situations; lower background noise while maintaining speech clarity.
- **Loop Quiet / Quiet 2**: Earplugs for sleep, focus, and noise-sensitive needs; maximum noise reduction in a comfortable fit.
- **Loop Switch**: A single device with three interchangeable modes (Experience, Engage, Quiet) for on-the-fly adjustment.
- **Loop Dream**: Specifically designed for side-sleepers, ultra-soft and comfortable for overnight use.
- **Accessories**: Cases, ear tips in multiple sizes, lanyards. Most models come with multiple ear tip sizes to ensure fit.

## Market Standing
- **Valuation/Market Cap**: Not publicly available
- **Key Metric**: 1.5+ million customers served globally; 250+ employees across three continents [loopearplugs.com](https://www.loopearplugs.com/pages/about-loop)
- **Notable Investors/Partners**: Not publicly disclosed; company appears to be self-funded or raised non-public funding. Awards include Red Dot Design Award (2023, 2024), Deloitte Belgium Tech Fast 50, and recognition as Belgium’s fastest-growing tech company (2022, 2024) [loopearplugs.com](https://www.loopearplugs.com/pages/working-at-loop)
- **Growth Signals**: Expanded from nightlife earplugs into focus, sleep, and sensory comfort categories; opened hubs in Amsterdam, New York, and Shanghai; sustained rapid headcount growth from a small team to 250+.

## Competitive Advantages
- **Category creation**: First lifestyle earplug brand to treat hearing protection as a fashion/design item rather than a purely utilitarian medical product.
- **Design-led differentiation**: Award-winning product aesthetics (Red Dot), wide color palette and multiple form factors that appeal to different personas.
- **Strong brand community**: 1.5M+ customers create word-of-mouth flywheel; the brand is a status accessory in music and festival culture.
- **Full product ecosystem**: Multiple models for specific use cases, plus accessories, encouraging repeat purchases and cross-selling.
- **Early mover in sensory wellness**: Tapping into growing awareness around noise pollution, focus, and neurodiversity.

## Strategic Focus
- **Expanding into senses**: Moving beyond hearing to related sensory experiences (e.g., olfactory? – hinted as “expanding into senses” but not detailed) [loopearplugs.com](https://www.loopearplugs.com/pages/about-loop)
- **Global scaling**: Growing physical presence in key markets (US, China, EU) and building international teams.
- **Product innovation**: Continuous introduction of new models (Switch, Dream) that solve specific customer pain points and create new use cases.
- **Hiring top talent**: Aggressively hiring to maintain growth trajectory; focusing on “growth athletes” who can move fast and own projects.

## Why Work Here
- **Culture**: High autonomy, direct candor (“no politics, no ego, no BS”), steep learning curve, work with elite talent. Described as intense but rewarding – “you’ll learn more here in a year than most places teach in five” [loopearplugs.com](https://www.loopearplugs.com/pages/why-work-at-loop)
- **Hybrid/Remote**: Hybrid by design – typically two days in-office per week; plus four weeks per year of “work from anywhere” [loopearplugs.com](https://www.loopearplugs.com/pages/why-work-at-loop)
- **Benefits**: Top-of-market pay, 32 days of paid time off, comprehensive health insurance, ESOP (employee stock ownership plan), home office budget, mobility budget (company car/transport/bike lease or rent subsidy if close to office in Belgium) [loopearplugs.com](https://www.loopearplugs.com/pages/why-work-at-loop)
- **Engineering Culture**: Product developers and engineers have full ownership of projects; direct impact on millions of users; “your work doesn’t sit in drafts – it goes live” [loopearplugs.com](https://www.loopearplugs.com/pages/working-at-loop)
- **For Job Seekers**: Offers a fast-paced, high-growth environment where personal growth is prioritized. Not for everyone – requires high ownership and comfort with direct feedback.

## Sources
1. [Loop Earplugs – About page](https://www.loopearplugs.com/pages/about-loop)
2. [Loop Earplugs – Why work at Loop](https://www.loopearplugs.com/pages/why-work-at-loop)
3. [Loop Earplugs – Working at Loop](https://www.loopearplugs.com/pages/working-at-loop)
4. [Loop Earplugs – Careers page](https://www.loopearplugs.com/pages/careers)
5. [Loop Earplugs – Careers (Belgium)](https://www.loopearplugs.com/en-be/pages/careers)

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