Dead Inventory

Dead inventory accumulates for many reasons: a style that didn't resonate as expected, a size run that doesn't match demand, or simply a product that exists in the catalog but never surfaces in a shopper's browse-and-filter path. The last cause is the most addressable — the product isn't unsellable, it's unsurfaced. Most fashion brands clear dead inventory through markdowns, which recovers some value but sacrifices margin. An alternative approach is contextual surfacing: presenting the slow-moving item as part of a complete outfit for a shopper whose occasion and taste genuinely match it, at full price.