Drop
A drop is a dated release of part of a season’s range — a defined set of styles and colorways that lands together on the floor or online — used in place of, or inside, traditional seasonal deliveries so a line reaches the customer in several smaller waves.
On a line board, the drop is increasingly the primary grouping axis, and it is already the default for footwear and accessories lines. Grouping by drop changes the balance question: instead of asking only whether the season holds together, you ask whether each drop stands on its own — complete enough to merchandise, priced across more than one tier, and legible as a set rather than a leftover.
Drops also compress the color question. A monthly or six-weekly cadence means the palette hands over eight to twelve times a year rather than across two or three seasonal deliveries, so bridge colors that live in consecutive drops stop being a nicety and become the thing that keeps the floor from changing over as a hard cut.
The trade is calendar pressure. A shorter interval between drops leaves less runway for color approvals and sampling, which is why drop-led brands lean harder on carryover color than they usually intend to. Wholesale complicates it further, since buyers prebook a season in one pass while the drops themselves land sequentially.
Canvas — the visual line board inside RetailNorthstar — puts these on one connected board, live against the plan from board to buy.