The following is adapted from our upcoming book, The Material Life – Process Innovation for Retailers and Brands. Available for pre-order now!

Imagine a chef, midway through a busy day, suddenly deciding to use a rare ingredient for dinner service.

There is just one problem: it is not in the kitchen.

The chef can scramble to find it or send staff to search. Maybe they get exactly what they need. Maybe they overpay or get less than hoped for. Or they come back with nothing and end up right where they started.

Fun fact: for apparel brands, the process of creating product often ends up in a similar bind.

This “design-first” approach is common and not inherently wrong, but it creates challenges when the desired material is hard to source, has long lead times, or does not yet exist.

In our view, this approach has limits.

Leading with design can overburden the materials function and, by extension, vendor partners.

A contrarian approach, and a demonstrative example of process innovation, is to lead with materials first.

In this model, the materials team goes “shopping for groceries” in advance. Sourcing fabrics, colors, trims, and finishes to stock the pantry. The pantry (materials library) is then organized thoughtfully, from core materials to more innovative ones, with clear visibility into price, lead times, and other key data.

Designers then begin each season by designing into this curated, pre-organized library.

The upfront investment in materials and organization generates the benefit of accelerating the entire product development process.

Adopting a materials-first approach also demands a few complementary shifts:

• Vendor relationships must be prioritized for strategic value, not just lowest cost.
• The materials function must be empowered to provide more strategic input. (See a previous edition of the newsletter for an example of how Lululemon might be doing this.)
• A formal physical materials library must be built, ideally serving as the foundation for its digital counterpart.
• Material adoption rates must be tracked as a core metric, with clear accountability.

A materials-first model is also a prerequisite for brands that want a fast-track lane in their product creation calendar. Fast-tracking is especially useful for replenishing bestsellers or quickly responding to emerging trends, and it depends on having pre-positioned, in-stock fabrics in core colors.

In our experience, this kind of process innovation helps brands shorten development timelines, reduce overdevelopment, and free up time for higher-value work.

Not a bad outcome for being a little…materialistic.