Reinvent Retail. Transform Performance.
We help retailers, brands, and global organizations improve how product are created, managed, and brought to market, leading to stronger margins, increased profits, reduced inventory risk, and accelerated speed-to-market.
VALUE PROPOSITION
We combine 20+ years of end-to-end retail expertise with global perspective and proven frameworks that drive breakthrough results and dramatic improvements in profitability.
WHAT WE Create
Our work helps leaders:
- Increase full-price sales
- Reduce excess inventory
- Strengthen margin performance
- Eliminate overdevelopment
- Improve cross-functional alignment
HOW WE WORK
01.
Diagnose
02.
design
We build clear, practical operating solutions, not theory, that align teams, streamline workflows, and improve decision-making.
03.
Deliver
OUR IMPACT AT A GLANCE
20+ years of global retail experience
Advisory work spanning retail, brand, government, and supply-chain partners
Track record of improving full-price sales and gross margin
Proven ability to reduce excess inventory and accelerate speed-to-market
Published authors and industry thought leaders
WHY LEADERS CHOOSE US
We’ve lived the complexities of retail, and know how to simplify them.
Leadership recognized by RETHINK Retail, NRF Retail Voices, and major industry publications
- Deep, lived retail experience across multiple continents
- Practical frameworks leaders can use immediately
- A provocative thinking style that challenges assumptions
- A global viewpoint shaped by teaching, travel, and industry involvement
- A track record of delivering meaningful, measurable outcomes
Books for Leaders Who Want to Think Differently
Explore practical frameworks and insights from RSG partners Liza Amlani and Raj Dhiman, PhD, written to help executives navigate today’s retail landscape.
The Whole Sale (2025)
The Material Life (2025)
Process innovation is the most underrated opportunity in the fashion supply chain today. An ideal starting point to innovate processes is materials. How is this done? This book outlines exactly how any apparel brand can exploit this opportunity and drive breakthrough performance.
RECENT INSIGHTS
The Canadian Press: Roots Threads Plans for Global Growth
The Full-Price Flywheel
The Chief Merchant Minute – Newness Earns the Next Visit
The Chief Merchant Minute – Clarity Without Execution Is Guessing
The Interline Podcast: Why Fashion Still Over-Develops
Despite decades’ worth of technology adoption and transformation initiatives, brands, on average, develop far more materials and style than they, or the …
The Chief Merchant Minute – Every Collection Needs a Hero
The Chief Merchant Minute – Do the Outfitting For Them
The World Cup of Merchandising
The Chief Merchant Minute – World Cup of Merchandising
HGI: How GLP-1s Expose Fit Volatility
The Chief Merchant Minute – Know Your Buyer. Not Yourself.
Levi’s: The Perfect Fit
The Chief Merchant Minute – Levi’s: Premium Bet. Premium Risk?
The Chief Merchant Minute – Knix and Mortar
The Chief Merchant Minute – The Newness Quotient
Future Commerce: GLP-1s and Fashion’s Fight to Keep Up
Seeing Through The Merchant Lens
The Back Room Podcast: The Weight-Loss Era Is Not Just About Selling Clothes
Case Study: Club Monaco – The Customer Evolved. The Brand Didn’t
Wall Street Journal: One Size Fits Most Retailer Is Shutting Its Changing Rooms
Retail Dive: Target’s New Creative Director
NAUMD: There is Nothing Uniform About Fit
Volatility. Trust. Failure.
Business of Fashion: How Ozempic Is Forcing Fashion to Rethink Fit
The Body Won’t Sit Still: The Seven Forces Contributing to Fit Volatility
Fit Volatility: Pumping Iron Edition
Retail Dive: Banana Republic’s New CEO
Banana Republic could finally be getting its act together with a new CEO at the helm. With a merchant-leader. Donald Kohler is …
Materials Don’t Win the Race
The Golden Gap
Fit Volatility: Bridal Edition
The Variance Tax
Retail Dive: Are Retailers Ready For What the Weight-Loss Boom Requires?
As seen in Retail Dive “For brands and retailers, the GLP-1 trend is upending assortment planning and exposing flaws in their processes, …
Fit Volatility
Retail Unwrapped: GLP-1s Impact on Retail
The fastest-growing consumer behavior shift isn’t driven by a trend, a digital platform, or a fickle generation: it’s a weight loss drug. …
Elevators, Not Escalators
We talk frequently about raising the value of brand-vendor relationships. The idea to move away from transactional relationships and towards true partnerships …
Kornit Konnections 2026
Care of Scott Walton over on LinkedIn: One of the biggest opportunities in fashion right now isn’t just new technology. It’s PROCESS …
The Chief Merchant Minute – You’re Wound Up Too Tight
HGI – Materials Strategy Is An Untapped Opportunity
Sometimes the HOW is more valuable than the WHAT. An over-indexed focus on design or product at the expense of workflow efficiency …
Significant Shrinkage
The Chief Merchant Minute – Fitted Intentions
The Chief Merchant Minute – TCMCCC
The Chief Merchant Minute – Category vs Outfit Buying
The Home (Improvement) Field of Play
Upcoming Webinar: What High-Performing Retail Operators Do Differently
Jump For Joy!
In 2017, we were all jumping for joy. Jumpsuits were having a moment at that time. I was the merch lead for …
I Want the Dirty Job.
Let me tell you about my dad’s side hustle. I have memories of being 8 years old, sitting in the passenger seat …
Sourcing Exchange Podcast
𝗜𝘀 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁 𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗵𝗲𝗹𝗽𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗼𝗿 𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗺𝗮𝗿𝗴𝗶𝗻𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗲𝗳𝗳𝗶𝗰𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝘆? In the latest episode of the Sourcing Exchange, host Paul …
Robin Report: Why Materials Should Lead Design
What if the real competitive edge in fashion isn’t design… but in materials? On this episode of The Robin Report’s Retail Unwrapped …
Fitted Intentions
If there ever was a case for process innovation, the recent hubbub around the football Hall of Fame is Exhibit A. For …
Olympic Capsules
I talked to The Canadian Press / Global News about lululemon’s Olympic gear. Here’s my hot take: This Olympic collection feels noticeably …
The Interline: Fashion’s Most Underrated Opportunity
Tech might be flashy, but process is foundational. In our latest article in The Interline, we make the case that fashion’s biggest …
Materially Overdeveloped
Here’s something that you might not be thinking about when creating products… We already know that overdevelopment is an issue. But, there …
Sourcing Journal – The Rearview Mirror
Retail decisions ripple …and most brands don’t notice. In our latest contribution to Sourcing Journal, we argue that supply chain strategy can’t …
Cozey Up
I spend a lot of time in stores. Over the holidays, I walked into a store I had never visited before: Cozey …
Mere Merchants Podcast
Liza’s latest podcast appearance is live and this time she joins the Mere Merchants podcast. We discussed the role of the merchant …
Materials Are Everything
Momentum is building rapidly in materials research, discovery, and next-generation innovation. Consider a few signals: AI-native materials startups such as Lila Sciences, …
New Report: From Stitch to Scale
Uncertainty has become the new normal for fashion. Tariffs, supply chain disruptions, excess inventory, and shifting consumer demand are putting unprecedented pressure …
Look in the Rearview Mirror
In my first role out of university, I was able to negotiate a car into my compensation package. It was a design …
Materials Leads The Way
The following is adapted from our upcoming book, The Material Life – Process Innovation for Retailers and Brands. Available for pre-order now! …
Keep Pulling On The Thread
This edition of the newsletter comes from pulling on a thread and watching the spool unravel. Last week we looked at a …
The Voice of Retail Podcast: The Material Life
In this episode of The Voice of Retail podcast, Liza Amlani, Principal of Retail Strategy Group, explores the ideas behind her new …
Material Ops.
Generally, LinkedIn is full of junk. My favorite is when someone starts a post with “This might be a hot take, but….” …
Marketing, Merchandising, Misaligned
Let’s talk marketing for a moment. Here are some interesting, marketing-related headlines that are “retail relevant” 1 – Luxury fashion brand Chrome …
The Afterlife
I’m kicking off with a little shameless self-promotion. If that’s not your thing, skip it, unsubscribe, whatever you like. But there’s a …
That’s What’s Up.
Raj launched his “power ranking” style newsletter last week to highlight the moments that made him ask, “What’s up with that?” Half-joking, …
Equality Is Overrated
If every style rides the same track, your calendar jams and margins get squeezed. In our new Sourcing Journal piece, we argue …
Betting On Selling
As seen over at Retail Dive… Saks Global is betting big on its Top Seller Program. Saks wants to bring in talented …
What’s Up With That?
This week’s newsletter is based on one question… “What’s up with that?” Because there is a bunch of stuff that I have …
Liza Amlani Named to NRF’s Top 50 Voices for 2026
I am honored to share that I have been selected as one of the top 50 NRF Retail Voices for 2026! This …
Time Capsule
As seen over at Future Commerce…. Time. There’s never enough of it. Teams are constantly sprinting to hit deadlines, leaving little room …
Everyday Is Sunday.
The hot news today is that Lululemon will be cranking out fan apparel for all 32 teams of the NFL. I’ll look …
Size (Still) Matters
Yes, size still matters. (hee hee, cue the teenage giggles) It’s no shocker that sizing and fit drive a huge share of …
Inventory Woes at Saks
As seen over at Retail Dive: The company is now acknowledging its predicament in stark terms, though it said the situation continues …
Hidden Damage
Where is the “hidden damage” in your business? If that sounds like an odd question to you, well, it is. If it’s …
Coming in December: The Material Life
Special Announcement: Our next book, The Material Life: Process Innovation for Retailers and Brands, is coming in December 2025. We’re excited for …
We Don’t Sell Tops. We Sell Tuesday Mornings.
Consider the following: A beauty brand selling a single lipstick vs. a beauty routine. A furniture brand selling a single chair vs. …
I’ll Tell You Where The Money Is.
According to Harvard Business Review, there are five key “commandments” that can be derived from Costco’s Code of Ethics. Here is one …
Material Aura Farming
I’m experiencing a kind of material déjà vu. Here’s what I mean. Natural Fiber Welding (NFW), a next-gen material company is winding …
The Vegan’s Nightmare
A trio of companies, The Organoid Company (NL), Lab-Grown Leather Ltd. (UK) and US marketing agency VML issued a press release saying …
Weekly articles exploring trends, challenges, and frameworks shaping the future of retail.
client TESTIMONIALS
Ian Sinclair
EVP, Commercial Solutions, National Logistics Services
Dan Berthiaume
Senior Editor, Technology, Chain Store Age
David McCaffrey
David McCaffrey Country Manager & SVP | Enterprise Ireland Canada
Anaid Chacón
CEO & Co-Founder, Minette.ai LinkedIn | Website
Sandra Williams
Director of Materials - Columbia/Mountain Hardwear
Jennifer Rothwell,
Founder of Jennifer Rothwell Designs
Cathy, Founder,
Founder, Celtic Tweed
Managing Director at Ella & Jo
Anneliese Duffy Fallon,
Linen Shirt Company/ Fashion Connect Ireland
Rachel Wyatt
SVP, Digital and Customer Experience, Signet Jewelers
Lesley Hawkins
VP of Retail, Adidas Canada
Karen Giberson,
President & CEO - The Accessories Council
Shannon Flanagan
VP Industry Strategy, TalkDesk
Dave Bruno
Director of Retail Industry Insights, Aptos
Maria Carlton
Sr. Director, Global Go-to-Market, Under Armour.
Angie Rieger,
Chief Transformation Officer, Lands’ End
