We help lifestyle and outdoor brands turn ideas into products people actually want.
Shortform Studio is a product and brand strategy partner for modern lifestyle and outdoor brands operating at the intersection of culture, function, and commercial rigor.
From first idea to scale. From city to mountain.
The most relevant brands today live between worlds — performance and style, utility and emotion, mountain and city.
For founders and leadership teams building modern apparel brands
We work with brands where product is not just an output, but the core expression of the brand itself.
Our clients care deeply about:
Design and point of view
Real-world performance and wearability
Making smart, disciplined decisions as they grow
You might be:
A design-led lifestyle brand adding functional depth
A performance or outdoor brand evolving beyond category norms
A founder building a hybrid apparel brand that doesn’t fit neatly into a box
If product is central to your brand story, we’re built to work together.
Clarity before complexity
Great brands are built from the inside out. The strongest ones are clear on who they are for, what they stand for, and how their products show up in the world.
Our work starts with truth — consumer truth, product truth, and business truth. From there, we help brands make confident decisions that align product, brand, and growth.
We bring structure without stripping soul, and strategy without slowing momentum.
What We Do
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Get clear before you build
We help brands articulate a clear product and brand point of view that becomes the foundation for every future decision.
Outcomes
Brand and product positioning clarity
Defined customer, use cases, and intent
A product thesis that guides design and merchandising
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Build product systems that balance function, style, and scale
From first assortment to scaled line architecture, we help brands design product systems that are intentional, edited, and commercially viable.
Outcomes
Cohesive assortment architecture
Category and franchise logic
SKU discipline without creative compromise
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Turn vision into execution
We partner through key seasons and growth moments to ensure product, marketing, and business goals stay aligned.
Outcomes
Seasonal product and GTM clarity
Stronger storytelling tied to real product priorities
Better cross-functional alignment
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A strategic partner in the room
For founders and leaders who want an experienced product and brand operator as a thought partner over time.
Outcomes
Faster, more confident decision-making
Clearer prioritization
Strategic support through inflection points
Built from product. Shaped by experience.
About Annie Short
I’ve built products from the inside at some of the most influential lifestyle and outdoor brands in the world.
I started in merchandising and product because that’s where the truth lives: in what people actually wear, what sells, and the tension between creativity, performance, and commercial reality.
I’ve led product and merchandising organizations at brands like The North Face and Crocs, helped incubate new businesses inside VF Corp, and most recently served as Chief Product Officer at Halfdays.
I founded Shortform Studio to bring that operator perspective directly to founders and leadership teams — not as a consultant delivering decks, but as a strategic partner who understands the weight of real decisions, from first ideas to moments of scale and reinvention.
Focused, collaborative, and tailored
We work in clearly defined engagements designed to move quickly and deliver real clarity. Every project is customized based on where you are and where you want to go.
We value honest conversation, strong opinions, and mutual respect. The best work happens when founders and teams are willing to get specific.
Let’s build something worth wearing
If you’re building a lifestyle, outdoor, or hybrid apparel brand and want a strategic partner who understands both creativity and business, we’d love to connect.