Perspectives

As the pressure to develop must-have items mounts, major brands are tapping Chief Product Officers to drive brand heat.

The rise of the Chief Product Officer role is directly tied to a recent resurgence in demand for merchandising executives. CPOs have always existed in fashion in some capacity under different titles, but the role hasn’t been given the spotlight that merchandising and design positions had — until recently.

Companies are increasingly putting more importance on the role as the business environment further reinforces the need for product differentiation and innovation. With a product-driven leader, brands can streamline operations by connecting merchandising and design, and on occasion marketing, to ensure alignment around vision and deliver a more cohesive customer experience. A CPO is essentially the company’s “one voice speaking to product,” Managing Partner Jaimee Marshall shared.

The most effective CPOs are merchants at heart with hands-on experience in product creation and have spent significant time in stores. Ideal candidates have experience in merchandising or design and preferably a mix of both.

“It’s somebody who has that next level of connection to the product,” Marshall said. “There’s [now] an appreciation for vision at the top of the brand [which] we lost a little bit of during the heyday of digital when the world was moving more analytical and more [towards] data.”

Across fashion and footwear, companies are hiring and promoting merchandising executives and Chief Product Officers at a record-setting pace. With a flurry of hires and promotions at brands, including Under Armour, Arc’teryx, Ganni, Famous Footwear, Levi’s, Merrell, Michael Kors, Petco, and Vans, 2025 just might be the year of the Chief Product Officer.

Read the full article on Business of Fashion: Chief Product Officers are Fashion’s New Power Players