September 8, 2025 · 5 min read
It rarely feels dramatic in the moment. It looks like a couple more late nights for the team, another round of protos ordered, stitched, dyed, and shipped “just in case.” Nobody questions it because that’s just how it’s done. Most big brands design and develop far more product than they ever intend to sell.
Every season, brands waste hundreds of thousands on product that will never reach the store. Overdevelopment is fashion’s slow killer.
Why does this keep happening? Partly because the design process starts a year or more before anything lands in store, and predicting consumer demand that far out is like betting blind. But let’s be honest — it’s also because traditional fashion has grown a little too comfortable, maybe even addicted, to making decisions only when the final sample is sitting on the table.
I once worked on a collection where development was outsourced, and that’s when I saw the real number up close: about $4,500 per style to get it developed, excluding design. That was just the cost of having something “ready” for a sales meeting.
Now, do the math. A team develops 150 styles in a season, but only 100 make it to market. That’s 50 styles wasted. At $4,500 each, that’s $225,000 gone in one product group, in one season. Scale that across all groups, across multiple divisions, across four seasons a year, and suddenly you’re staring at millions.
And here’s what people often forget: every hour spent on product that never ships is time stolen from the product that does. The winners. The ones that actually make a difference for the consumer and for your brand.
The bigger hit = TIME
Money wasted hurts. Time wasted kills.
Most brands are still battling to cut their calendars from 60 weeks down to 45. But even 45 weeks is built on looking backwards, waiting to see what sold a year ago before making the next decision.
Meanwhile, Zara and Shein are operating on cycles of just 8 to 15 weeks. That’s not a small tweak in efficiency. That’s a completely different sport. And as long as you insist on seeing every physical sample before you commit, you’ll never match that responsiveness, no matter how much you poor into overdevelopment.
I love product. I was trained as a developer. I care about touch, feel, and well made garments. And no, lets not all copy Zara or Shein practices. The point is that too much money, energy, and margin is still wasted in process and admin instead of going into creating better clothes.
In the traditional model, overdevelopment is a way of coping with insecurity. Teams build more than they need because they don’t trust decisions until every sample is on the table.
In the digital model, overdevelopment becomes something else entirely: a way to open up creative space. A chance to test ideas, refine concepts, and explore product directions without burning months of time and hundreds of thousands in cost.
Let me be clear: digital is not optional. If it’s not part of your process today, you are already losing time and money.
And if you think you can wait, you are falling behind.
And if you think AI will save you but your digital workflows aren’t integrated yet, you’re fooling yourself. Without a clear strategy and strong digital foundations, AI doesn’t fix inefficiencies — it inflates them. You’ll burn budget without creating real value. (The GenAI Divide)
The brands that win are not the ones who develop the most styles or who cling to physical samples for safety. The brands that win are the ones who design and develop digitally from day one, who cut waste, move faster, and design closer to the consumer naturally.
Digital overdevelopment isn’t another project on your roadmap. It’s not about buying more licenses or running pilots. Done right, it’s the way you unlock focus, speed, and creative freedom, without the old penalties of time and money.
Don’t treat it as a process improvement.
Get involved! It’s a new business model opportunity.
Margins are shrinking. Material costs are rising. Discounts are eating into revenue. At the same time, competitors are proving that speed and focus are the only ways to win. This is not about “workflow improvements” or small tweaks to the calendar. This is about whether your brand can still compete three years from now.
Most leaders already know this problem exists — they feel it in the numbers, in the margins, in the pace. But too often change stalls in the middle. Layers of management play it safe, hide behind “how we’ve always done it,” and progress dies in the committees.
Someone from the top has to drive this hard. Because if you’re waiting for middle management to move first, you’ll be waiting forever. And if your biggest objection comes down to “but I like how a physical proto feels” — then maybe that’s not the type of person you need on your future team.
Are your teams already creating digital images and videos that look convincing?
Ask yourself: would you buy from them?
If the answer is yes, then why are you still paying the tax of physical limitations? If the answer is no, then dig deeper. Do you have the right strategy and skills in place? This is the moment to get the foundation right, because your future will depend on it.
At EnhanceThat, we help fashion brands cut the silent costs of overdevelopment by making the most of what they already have. We connect digital design and development systems, automate what matters, and take the waste out of everyday workflows.
The result? Less admin, faster calendars, and teams with the focus to create better product.
This isn’t about adding another tool to your stack. It’s about building the digital muscle that lets your brand serve the consumer faster, smarter, and with more confidence.
That’s how you stop paying the overdevelopment tax and turn digital creation into a competitive advantage.