What we do
Brands engage the full scope or a single workstream:
The consumer read and cultural insights that keep the brand relevant and competitive in the marketplace.
The brand codes, the design language, and the end-to-end workflow that move ideas from concept to launch.
The categories, price tiers, and material mix that connect with the customer and reflect how they shop today.
The cross-functional rhythm that brings product to market with consistency and intent.
Services
Decoding how the customer shops and translating trend into commercially viable products.
Design and innovation as brand differentiators that build equity and perceived value.
The product logic that makes the brand recognizable, shoppable, and commercially productive.
The repeatable process that turns strategy into execution with accountability and discipline.
Select clients
About
Founder, The Product Collective
Maria Then is a jewelry product strategy and design executive who has created commercially relevant product for luxury houses and billion-dollar retailers, including Signet, Michael Hill, and Michael Kors.
Her work connects design language, customer behavior, assortment architecture, and margin discipline as one system.
She has built new brands, repositioned legacy assortments, and led product direction across the US, Australia, and Europe.
Maria trained in design at FIT and Parsons and holds gemology and fine jewelry certifications from GIA and L’École Van Cleef & Arpels. She is based between New York and Dallas.
How we work
We scope each engagement around what the brand requires, as a retainer or a defined project.
An evaluation of the assortment and the process led by The Product Collective. The audit evaluates:
We lead the product function alongside founders, CEOs, and leadership teams. Design language, assortment, development, and go-to-market run as one connected system. We can also join the leadership team as a fractional or interim head of product.
A single workstream led end to end. A brand reposition, an assortment audit, a launch, or a category strategy, scoped to what the work requires.
A senior product, design, and development team assembled and led by TPC, embedded alongside the internal team for the duration of the build.
How we use AI
We use it for anything repetitive, which makes us more efficient and lets us focus on judgment. AI gathers the signals and relies on the past. Interpreting those signals and taking a brand into the future is our work.
Where we apply it
How we work with it
What is done by humans
Client information never goes into public AI tools.