Designing the operating model behind a stronger materials organization.
Defining who a global materials organization is, how it works, and where it's headed next.
A new team, a growing program, and a bigger transformation on the horizon.
A global athletic brand was midway through a program to reduce its library of 50,000 materials and multi-source its core materials. As part of the program, the apparel materials organization stood up a palette team to build the go-to set of high-volume materials designers should choose first.
Our founder was brought in to set up how the new palette team would work, and was soon asked to do the same for the entire materials organization.
A moving target and a new team
The program moved fast, so the way of working changed nearly every season. The palette team sat between designers, product creation, and supply chain, and many partners were still learning who the team was and how palettes could help them. The team was also expected to help shape an AI tool for a way of working that was still being defined. Some designers worried a palette-first approach would limit their creative freedom. And with a larger apparel transformation coming, the materials organization couldn't afford to carry unclear roles and disconnected calendars into it.
A leader for a team tackling four interconnected priorities
Over nine months, our founder served as operations strategy lead across four pieces of work: the palette team's operating model, program management for the palette team within the larger program, an 8-week operating model for the full materials organization, and the early structure for materials within the coming apparel transformation.
Clear roles, steady rhythms, and one view of all of the work
Before any technology was designed, we mapped every key decision from material strategy to getting materials onto the product, including who owns it and when in the season it must be made. We sequenced those decisions on a single multi-season calendar with transformation milestones layered on top. We brought category experts into consolidation workshops, coached the director, and ran a team session on norms, roles, and shared vision—which turned resistance into ownership.
The outcome
Clarity for the team and the transformation ahead
We started by defining how the palette team would work with supply chain and the wider materials organization: who owns each decision, which meetings and handoffs keep the season moving, and how the team tracks its work. That operating model became the blueprint for the palette team's AI tool. A session with the team on culture, roles, and ways of working made sure everyone knew what they were accountable for and how work moved between the team and its leader. Then we took the same approach organization-wide, building a walking deck that told the materials organization's story and an operating rhythm that pulled seasonal and transformation work into one view.
90
days to 9 months the trial engagement, extended
8
weeks to develop the global operating model and walking deck
4
connected pieces of work led over 9 months
1
view of seasonal and transformation work, instead of 5
In addition to working alongside the palette team, category experts, and the technology team as operations strategy lead, our founder became a trusted part of the VP of Global Materials’ leadership team. Whether sitting in executive rooms or in the weeds with team members, we reinforced the value of this project and the team at every step, so they fully understood their purpose, how they should operate, and where they’re headed.
Product creation was new territory for us, so we leaned on the people closest to the work. The engagement grew from one team's operating model to the whole organization's, with a request to extend again. An operating model is always much bigger than what it looks like at face value. It only works when the people inside it know who they are, what they own, and how they work together.
Operating model consulting helps an organization clarify how work gets done: who decides what and how differing functions work together. For a global materials organization, we mapped every key decision from strategy through product and delivered an operating model that the entire team could use with confidence.
Decision rights define who has the authority to make a given decision, when it must be made, and what happens when a deadline is missed. In the above scenario, we mapped each key decision with its owner and relevance to larger business priorities, so there was never ambiguity about who owns what.
Operations strategy consulting firms connect how an organization runs its strategic priorities—designing the processes, governance, and rhythms that make strategy real. Our founder served as operations strategy lead for this organization, sequencing seasonal and transformation work together while helping a new team define its roles and ways of working.
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