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
Case studies
Product leadership by Maria Then, founder of The Product Collective.
Case study 01
A legacy brand, elevated and repositioned for growth.
Michael Hill modernized and elevated the brand across product, marketing, and the in-store experience. Maria led the product transformation, with proprietary product at its center. It included a high-end limited-edition collection launched with brand ambassador Miranda Kerr.
+35%
Portfolio revenue growth
A$703M
Portfolio revenue, up from A$522M
Case study 02
Customization as the foundation of a new wedding jewelry brand.
Designed a core signature collection, to be customized by each client. The custom ring builder connects design, development, and technology as one platform.
Case study 03
Jewelry as a new category within a global fashion house’s lifestyle portfolio.
The Michael Kors aesthetic translated into jewelry, with design codes that tie every collection back to the house. Runway jewelry and commercial collections connected into a complete jewelry assortment.
$150M
Revenue within three years of launch
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.
Diagnose
A commercial and creative assessment of the product assortment, identifying opportunities to strengthen brand distinction, improve profitability, and unlock growth.
Build
We build the design language, assortment architecture, category strategy, development process, and go-to-market rhythm that turn the brand strategy into product. Brands take on the full system or a single workstream: a brand reposition, a launch, or a category strategy, scoped to what the project requires.
Lead
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.
AI scales human ability. We use it for anything repetitive, which makes us more efficient and lets us focus on judgment.
How we use AI