I’m mapping a Q2 collection critical path and keep seeing a 90-day concept-to-floor cadence. What’s the actual origin of that timeline — steamship-era resort calendars, department-store inventory turns, or the early couture show schedules? We plan for 60% sell-through by week 8, so I’m curious how those legacy rhythms shaped today’s inventory and sales benchmarks.
It’s mostly a 4–5-4 retail thing: 13‑week quarters and department‑store OTB gates made 90 days the default — blame the calendar, not the steamships (NRF 4‑5‑4: https://nrf.com/resources/4–5-4-calendar). Try plotting last year’s receipt dates vs sell-through on a 4–5-4 grid; you’ll see why ‘60% by week 8’ became the benchmark — are you on a strict 4–5-4?
Feels more like the factory cash cycle locked it in: mills need 30–45 days for greige/dye, cut/sew/QA is about 30, then ocean + DC appointments eat the rest, so “concept‑to‑floor” naturally rounds to 90. Building on @flores72, that window also tracks with net‑30/60 terms and OTB gates, which is why your “60% by week 8” read tends to be the first real redeploy/chase checkpoint. If you want to compress, pre‑book greige or air the first size‑color run while the balance rides ocean.
In my teams, the “fit + photo” calendar is what quietly locks 90: two fit rounds plus ecom studio lead times eat about 3–4 weeks on top of @nwrigh47’s mill/cut–sew chunks. We clawed back 10–14 days by pre-booking core greige and booking the studio to shoot 1st proto/PPS instead of waiting for TOP — have you tried that?