When it comes to running an efficient and profitable business, many brands and retailers focus on what they’re making, rather than how they’re making it. Yet this over-indexed focus on design or product at the expense of workflow efficiency puts a drag on the bottom line.
The newly released book “The Material Life: Process Innovation for Retailers and Brands,” tackles this issue head on.
“Process innovation is the most underrated opportunity to solve for overdevelopment, product creation inefficiencies, and of course, all of that translates into increasing full-price sales,” said Liza Amlani, co-founder and principal of Retail Strategy Group, who co-authored the book with Raj Dhiman, PhD, president of Retail Strategy Group.
Materials are the foundation of every product, yet they are often treated as an afterthought. Companies looking to boost efficiencies should start by addressing how materials teams operate and how well they’re integrated into the overall strategy.
In addition to being scattered across time zones, the typical materials team doesn’t necessarily interface with design and merchandising, and are disconnected from strategy. This results in hand-offs, rework, delays and lost accountability.
To optimize process efficiencies, brands and retailers should involve materials early in assortment and planning decisions, and replace design-first development with pre-approved fabrics, colors and supplier strategies. They should then introduce process-first innovations like multi-track calendars, clear governance through metrics such as Material Adoption Rate (MAR), and deeper supplier partnerships focused on co-creation rather than cost pressure.
“Focusing on materials and what’s happening around concept-to-market can avoid unnecessary delays, like making changes after assortment lock or adding a new style during prototype review,” Amlani said.
By removing silos, materials and sourcing teams are elevated to true partners. This eliminates late-stage decision-making, and according to the book “putting the right people in the room earlier” has direct positive impacts on margins, speed and full-price sell-through.
The constant and manic cycle for product introduction also slows down process innovation, argued Amlani. With so many overlapping product calendars, materials teams often juggle multiple seasons while scrambling to chase short-term deadlines. This results in “missed market windows, eroded margins and stalled progress.”
Materials teams don’t have enough lead time to research, test and scale new fibers, trims or processes. Slowing down and rationalizing product calendars would create the space needed for meaningful materials innovation, better margin management and stronger market alignment.
The final barrier? Mindset.
Despite the prevalence of 3D technology, much of the industry is stuck in analog mode, which has a negative impact on timelines, risk exposure and P&Ls
“Too many teams still rely on physical samples, something we call ‘touch crutch,’” said Amlani, noting that other industries perform remote surgery and land spacecraft digitally, while fashion is still overreliant on the physical. “Retail can do the same with digital material libraries, realistic visualization and approval workflows that cut samples and compress timelines.”
Together, the chapters position materials as the foundation for speed, resilience, sustainability, and competitive advantage in modern apparel.
“Process innovation is where true speed happens,” Amlani concluded. “Materials–and the data, decisions and workflows around them–hold untapped potential.”
