Ep. 74 – “Belts, Pants & the New Retail Trinity – David Katz Unpacked

Joining Rick Watson and Jessica Lesesky on the Virtual sofa last week David J. Katz

This was a fanboy moment having David on the show. Or Katz as I now call him in my head. His team said "Do not call him that". Fair point. But, David J. Katz is not your average CMO. He’s part fashion insider, part data scientist, part consumer-behavior whisperer. As EVP & CMO of Randa Apparel & Accessories, he steers marketing and growth for more than 35 powerhouse brands including Calvin Klein, Levi’s, Tommy Hilfiger, Columbia, Cole Haan, Dickies and Haggar. Chances are you are wearing one of his products today.

Randa is the world’s largest men’s accessories company and one of the biggest women’s suppliers (minus handbags and footwear), with products sold everywhere from Nordstrom and Macy’s to Tractor Supply, Walmart and Costco. They also own Haggar Clothing Co. (26% of the U.S. non-denim pants market and the #1 sport coat brand by units), Tribal Women’s Sportswear (in 2,500 specialty boutiques), a JV stake in Moss Bros. in the UK, and even 50% of the two largest belt factories on earth (Guatemala and Chennai).

This is a company that literally controls the belt you’re wearing, the pants you’re in, and the jacket you throw over it, and yet Katz spends his time re-thinking the model, not just the merchandise.

The Backlot Dispatch - seen through the eyes of an everyman

What We Learned in This Episode

• The model is brittle, not the consumer. Katz argues retail isn’t “broken”, it’s the outdated financial and operational models that can’t flex fast enough. He’s showing that a 100-year-old company can still behave like a start-up if it questions its own assumptions about forecasting, ownership and distribution. Curiousity did not, as it happens kill all cats, just some.
• Logic over loyalty. Today’s shoppers chase value, culture and immediacy, not just logos. Infrastructure may be the new loyalty program. Katz’s teams aren’t lamenting the death of loyalty instead the use info and tools and they’re engineering relevance at speed.
• Arbitrage as strategy. Randa reads global signals in real time (even planning inventory around Taylor Swift’s tour cities) and treats internationalization as a risk reducer, not a risk. That’s a lesson for any brand sitting on siloed domestic data. We are all believeers in Swiftonomics.
• Forecast to flexibility. Annual plans are dead weight. Katz urges brands to build long-term strategy first and layer tactics later. If you’re an operator obsessing over next quarter’s contribution margin while ignoring macro shifts, you’re building a paper ship for a storm.
• The new retail trinity. Culture, CapEx and consciousness: know who you are, what you can sacrifice, and how quickly you can respond. Katz frames it as an operating system, not a slogan.

Thinking about me, thinking about you.

David isn’t just giving conference platitudes. He’s running a portfolio that spans private label, licensed brands, vertical manufacturing, global JVs and mass/mid-market channels. When he says “flexibility beats forecasts,” it’s because he’s applying it to factories he partly owns and brands he licenses in dozens of countries.

For DTC founders, this is a warning shot: your Instagram halo won’t save you if your supply chain is brittle. For legacy brands, it’s proof you can pivot without blowing up your P&L. And for retailers, it’s a blueprint for treating infrastructure as loyalty making it so easy, reliable and relevant that customers keep coming back even when the logo changes. Music to the ears of Nick Kaplan

From The Backlot - Some Meanderings

Some episodes feel like interviews. This one felt like alchemy. (No surprise) David Katz didn’t just talk about belts, pants and jackets, he talked about the hidden scaffolding of retail, the code beneath the interface. This, he talks about with so much ease that it has got to be difficult. Listening to him, you realise retail isn’t broken; it’s brittle. He isn’t selling another “playbook”. He is though, making the whole structure more supple so it can flex without tearing.

He showed us that loyalty hasn’t died; it’s just wearing a different costume. Infrastructure, speed, and cultural fluency are today’s loyalty cards. He showed us arbitrage as a form of listening, reading the crowd in Melbourne to predict the crowd in Memphis, following the beat of a Taylor Swift tour like a travelling merchant caravan.

And the part that sticks: a 100-year-old company behaving like a start-up because it keeps its capital, culture and consciousness aligned. Discipline disguised as curiosity.

He left us with a simple provocation: if Randa can flex at scale, what excuse do the rest of us have?

Next Week - Kristen Wiley of Statusphere

Friday 26th Noon Eastern Time. Beer o Clock on GMT.

🔗 Subscribe to The Watson Weekend on YouTube to catch full episodes, backstage takes and our next guest reveal.👉 Subscribe on Youtube -Never miss a guest

About our Guest

David J. Katz is a fashion, retail, and consumer behavior expert. He is the Executive Vice President and CMO of Randa Apparel & Accessories (RAA), a global leader in lifestyle products, producing clothing and accessories for 25 owned and licensed brands, including Haggar, Calvin Klein, Levi’s, Tommy Hilfiger, Columbia Sportswear, Cole Haan, and Dickies sold through majordistribution channels worldwide.

David is an alchemist who uses data, insights, and technology to study and shape consumer behavior across thousands of physical and digital touchpoints. He is recognized as a retail industry influencer by The Wall Street Journal, CNN, CNBC, The New York Times, and Women’s Wear Daily. He is the co-author of the best-selling book “Design for Response: Creative Direct Marketing That Works,” a “LinkedIn Top Voice,” and a prolific writer and speaker on marketing, technology (including artificial intelligence), and consumer behavior.

David holds neuroscience and business administration degrees from Tufts University and the Harvard Business School. He is fascinated by the science of stimulus and response. Heunderstands what makes Pavlov’s dog salivate and what makes people buy.

P.S. ALCHEMY: A science or philosophy that transforms something ordinary into something extraordinary, often through mysterious means.

Credits - where due

Produced by my good self, Kaylea Sepulvado and Libby Dallis

Music by RYAL - the side hustle of the wonderful Jacquelyn Laufer

Show Sponsor Rithum