Protecting the product
2026, May 08
Sometimes the safest decision carries the greater risk.
For our Spring collection, we chose a new Turkish denim wash house to produce a capsule within our collection. When the first protos arrived, we were shocked. Twelve styles within our 125-style denim collection, fell well below the quality we were aiming for.
We had two imperfect options: continue with a vendor we no longer believed could deliver, or absorb the operational cost of changing vendors mid-season.
We were three weeks away from proto review. At the time, I knew there was real risk in changing vendors mid-season. One of our current Turkish vendors had delivered the quality we wanted in the prior and current season, but they hadn't planned for the additional styles we were now asking them to absorb. Changing vendors meant revising product specifications, coordinating across multiple teams, and risking our delivery timeline.
Even with that risk, I recommended switching our styles to our reliable Turkish vendor. Protecting the product was worth the operational cost. The Creative Director agreed, and we reallocated the capsule mid-season.
We delivered the collection on time.
No decision exists in isolation
Not about the product