More than a product and merchandising studio —
we’re a growth partner for creative apparel brands,
bringing structure, strategy, and story together to scale what’s next.

We help apparel founders align product, brand, and strategy through clear frameworks that drive sustainable growth.

Start your Growth Blueprint

PHILOSOPHY

At Shortform, we believe clarity fuels creativity. The best ideas need systems that help them scale — not slow them down. We connect product, brand, and strategy so teams can grow with focus and confidence.

Our Core Beliefs

  1. Clarity fuels creativity.
    The best ideas scale when structure supports them — not when process stifles them. We build systems that make creativity sustainable.

  2. Strategy should feel human.
    Data drives decisions, but empathy, intuition, and story make them meaningful.

  3. Growth comes from alignment.
    When vision, product, and process work together, brands move with focus and confidence.

WHAT WE DO

  • Clarify your foundation. Align brand, audience, and product direction.
    A focused engagement to define your brand’s voice, audience, and whitespace opportunity — and translate it into a compelling product and creative direction. We connect story to strategy so you can scale with intention.

    Deliverables:

    • Brand positioning framework

    • Target customer profiles and whitespace map

    • Alignment across brand, product, and creative

  • Build the line. Balance creativity and commercial strategy.
    A deep dive into your product architecture, pricing strategy, and category opportunities. We map hero categories, a long-range SKU roadmap, and a clear plan for growth — grounded in brand identity and consumer use cases.

    Deliverables:

    • Category architecture & pricing ladder

    • SKU strategy & 3-year product vision

    • Creative and commercial guardrails

  • Plan and optimize season over season.
    An ongoing partnership to plan, review, and refine each season. We help you forecast, edit, and make confident merchandising decisions as you scale, staying aligned to your brand’s long-term goals.

    Deliverables:

    • Seasonal line plan & calendar support

    • Forecasting guidance

    • Merch reviews and optimization checkpoints

  • Fractional product leadership to guide smart, scalable growth.
    An ongoing engagement for founders who want experienced product and merchandising support without a full-time hire. Acting as your fractional Head of Product, we offer strategic oversight, decision support, and line reviews to help you scale with clarity and confidence.

    Deliverables:

    • Monthly strategy sessions

    • Assortment planning and feedback

    • Ongoing support across product, merchandising, and growth decisions

Book a Discovery Call

WHY SHORTFORM

Where creative instinct meets commercial impact.

With over a decade of experience leading product and merchandising strategy, we’ve partnered with brands ranging from heritage outdoor giants to fast-growing DTC startups. Our work bridges product, brand, and financial goals — turning creative vision into sustained momentum.

We don’t just build strategy — we build traction.

  • Drove a 152% revenue increase over 6 months through targeted SKU optimization and pricing architecture.

  • Launched 1,000+ products across 9+ categories, balancing innovation with merchandising discipline.

  • Led 50+ seasonal line plans, aligning cross-functional teams from concept to sell-in.

  • Built positioning frameworks that unlocked 400+ new retail doors, boosted DTC conversion by 62%, and clarified brand story across marketing and product.

Clients come to us for clarity — and stay for growth.
We combine systems thinking with creative fluency — helping teams scale with focus, confidence, and purpose.

PROCESS

01

Discover —

We dig into your data, assortment, and consumer insights to uncover opportunities.

02

Define —

We build your product architecture, category strategy, and financial model for growth.

04

Deliver —

You leave with a clear roadmap and systems that scale.

03

Design —

We translate the plan into visuals, calendars, and tools your team can use.

Real growth, real brands

The North Face has always stood for exploration — both outdoors and within. Our work focused on blending legacy with innovation, building frameworks for new categories and modern consumer connection.

Make it stand out.

At Halfdays, we set out to redefine women’s outdoor apparel — making performance feel modern, confident, and fun. This campaign brings that vision to life through thoughtful design, technical craft, and a brand built for women who own the mountain.

ANNIE SHORT

Founder & Principal, Shortform Studio

Annie is a product and merchandising leader with deep expertise in design thinking, brand strategy, and building scalable systems for creative growth. She has spent her career leading product and merchandising for some of the most dynamic apparel and lifestyle brands, including The North Face, Crocs, and VF Corp, and currently serves as Chief Product Officer at Halfdays.

At Shortform Studio, Annie partners with apparel founders and leadership teams to bring clarity, structure, and storytelling to brand and product strategy. Her passion lies in helping brands grow with purpose — translating creative vision into strategy, frameworks, and decisions that scale.

Annie began her career at L.L. Bean and Lands’ End before going on to build VF Corporation’s Venture Foundry, an internal innovation studio that launched multiple new ventures. She is a graduate of Bowdoin College, where she studied Economics and Visual Arts, and lives in Golden, Colorado, surrounded by the mountains that continue to inspire her work.