Pros
HQ is located in Greenville, South Carolina
Cons
I worked as a Designer at Southern Tide for several years, and I can confidently say that it was the most toxic and dysfunctional work environment I’ve ever experienced. From the top down, the management is deeply flawed. The head of the department, HR, and even the CEO consistently ignored the needs of the team, creating a culture where gaslighting, manipulation, and retaliation were the norms. Employees were forced to keep “receipts” of every interaction to prepare for the inevitable moment when they would be thrown under the bus. Upper management also keeps receipts and picks people off when it suits them. Your job is never safe. The expectations placed on us were not just high, but entirely unrealistic, and when we voiced concerns, the responses were manipulative and dismissive. I wouldn’t recommend working here to ANYONE. They are incredibly skilled at manipulating the narrative during the hiring process, painting a rosy picture that quickly fades to reveal the toxic reality. The problem people are still very much in power, and their ability to pretend otherwise during interviews is chilling. If you value your mental and physical health, stay far away from this place. I suggest reaching out to non-management people on LinkedIn and having a conversation if you are considering taking a position at this company. A shiny new office isn’t going to fix the internal cancers. They hire good people that are eager and hungry, knowing they will over extend their capabilities, put too high of expectations on them and burn them out - they pay you for 1 job and expect 3 out of you. There is high turn over for a reason. The culture at Southern Tide is so toxic that it is literally making people physically sick. Three different doctors told me “you need to leave this job” before I actually did. Lying, blaming, and finger-pointing were rampant, and any feedback given to management was taken personally, leading to further retaliation. In a company-wide meeting, we were bluntly told that if we were burned out, we should leave. The CEO told me privately that she didn’t want me to “suffer in silence,” yet she fosters an environment where suffering in silence was the only way to survive. I did everything they said to do when you need help, I talked to my manager, and when that got me no where, go to upper management. I was punished for bringing up my concerns and needs with them, being told “you can’t let this happen again.” Promises were regularly made and broken. There was no support. I was expected to create stunning designs with no time to think, while frantically doing emails and tech packs in a sea of gray cubicle walls and tension you can feel when you walk in. I didn’t even have time to take care of my basic needs like eating or using the bathroom. This was talked and joked about often. The work-life balance was non-existent; I regularly worked late, on weekends, and cut holidays short, leading to burnout and now regret letting them have so much of my time. The pressure put on design is soul crushing. We often were told that it would get better next season or we just need to make it to next Spring development and things would ease, but they never did because upper management down right refused to make plans for the future. There was always something that 9/10 could have been avoided and it never got better. I put up with it for years to my own detriment, one of Southern Tide’s core pillars is that they invest in their people, but that could not have been farther from the truth. Communication between upper management and other departments was a disaster. While my immediate design team was supportive, we were all constantly battling against a tide of poor leadership and impossible demands. The company lured me in with promises that were quickly broken once I started. I was left to shoulder an unreasonable workload on my own. I wish I had left sooner.