About
Boston Proper
Boston Proper is a 30-year-old women’s apparel brand, now operating as an online-only business with about $90M in annual revenue. The brand serves women 40+ who want bold, vibrant collections that let them stand out and express confidence.
For most of its history, Boston Proper operated on a catalog-first business model, planning assortments one drop at a time with little visibility beyond that season’s launch. Without a holistic view of the business, teams worked in siloed spreadsheets, making it difficult to track performance, align on financial targets, or adapt quickly when trends or supply chain realities shifted. Once plans were set, they often went untouched, leaving missed opportunities to chase winning products or mitigate underperformers.
As part of a larger digital transformation, Boston Proper needed a planning tool that could modernize their processes, improve collaboration across teams, and replace the “set it and forget it” cycle with agile, data-driven decision-making.
“We needed a tool that was more holistic and flexible, that could help us forge our own path instead of just repeating history. Toolio gave us that, and it’s already changed the way we work.” — Chad, VP of Merch Planning, Boston Proper
Use Cases
Inventory Planning and Management
Collaboration and Transparency
Reporting & Analytics
Modules
Merchandise Planning
Assortment Planning
Location
United States
30%
Fewer Buy Cycles
5%
Turnover improvement
10 hours
Monthly planning time saved
Solution
Transformation in Inventory Planning
Boston Proper’s planning process was tied to a legacy catalog cadence, with assortments built one drop at a time and no continuous performance tracking. Plans lived in Excel, formats varied by user, and data definitions were inconsistent.
Growth goals and the shift to a digital-first strategy demanded faster pivots, more transparency, and a system that could bridge planning, merchandising, and sourcing.
Toolio became the foundation for this change. Since onboarding in January 2024, Boston Proper has shifted to a digital-first, consumer-focused planning model, built a single integrated data set for cross-team collaboration, and introduced real-time visibility into inventory productivity, profit, and lifecycle performance.
Guided workflows ensure consistency across processes, while integrated tools and data make it easy to move seamlessly from preseason strategy to in-season execution with greater accuracy and efficiency.
“The UI is simple, the collaboration is real-time, and the support team has been incredible from day one.”
Chad Wong
VP of Merch Planning
“We went from holding ourselves hostage in Excel to having a live workspace everyone can see and use. The time savings and confidence in the numbers are huge.”
A Closer Look at Metrics
- Optimized Inventory: Reduced buys by 30% while holding 98% in-stock
- Faster PO Turnaround: Automated POs processed with zero errors or manual intervention
- Scenario Speed: Modeled multiple tariff scenarios and margin impacts within a single meeting
- Data Discipline: Established clear ownership and audit processes for product attributes, enabling accurate size curves and forecasting
Data-Driven Decision Making
Before Toolio, Boston Proper’s assortment and inventory planning were reactive and disconnected from in-season performance. Today, all teams plan against the same data set, creating a unified foundation for decision-making. Merchants and planners collaborate to reconcile financial targets with creative vision, ensuring that both business goals and brand identity are aligned. Real-time visibility into performance enables the team to pivot quickly based on sell-through, margin trends, or supply chain events, replacing guesswork with data-driven action.
“The more you automate in Toolio, the more important pristine data becomes. The platform has helped us build that governance.”
Driving Operational Excellence
Boston Proper’s journey is as much about changing the way they work as it is about implementing new technology. The platform has empowered merchants to act as true business owners, giving them the tools and insights to make more informed choices. It has created a shared workspace that blends the art of merchandising with the science of planning, and it has supported the brand’s shift from rigid catalog drops to a more agile, digital-first go-to-market model.
“We’re still young in our implementation, but Toolio has already reshaped our process, our team culture, and our ability to grow. It’s not just a planning tool, it’s part of how we run the business now.”
