How to run a line review, step by step
A line review (or range review) is the cross-functional meeting where design, merchandising, and planning walk a season’s range together and lock it for buying. Running one well is a sequence: get the right people in the room, prep the board, walk the range by category, make add / cut / rebalance decisions against the whole picture, and lock sign-off.
The review is where the range is decided, so it is only as good as the board it walks. Build that board first — see how to build a line board.
1. Set the agenda and get the right people in the room
A line review is cross-functional: design brings the styles and the color story, merchandising shapes the range and price architecture, and planning holds it against option counts and the line plan. Sourcing and finance join for feasibility and margin where it matters. Agree up front what the meeting decides — the range that goes forward to the buy — so it is a decision forum, not a status update.
2. Prep the board before the room
Walking a stale board wastes the meeting. Before the review, make sure every style is current — image, category, colorways, price tier — and that option counts are loaded against the plan. A board that is up to date lets the room spend its time on judgment, not on reconciling what is actually in the range.
3. Walk the range category by category
Move through the board one category at a time with the whole season visible, not style by style in a list. Seeing tops, bottoms, and outerwear side by side is what makes an over-expanded category, a thin one, or a repetitive color story obvious — the judgments the eye makes far better than a spreadsheet.
4. Make add, cut, and rebalance decisions against the whole picture
The core work of the review: add the styles the range is missing, cut the ones that duplicate or underperform against the plan, and rebalance where a category or price tier is heavy or light. Each decision is made against the whole range, not the style in isolation — a cut is only right if the range still holds without it.
5. Check price-tier and option-count balance live
As styles are added and cut, watch the price-tier spread (good / better / best) and the option count by category so the range stays balanced as it changes. On a live board a cut updates its option count immediately; on a spreadsheet the counts drift out of sync the moment the room starts editing.
6. Lock sign-off and record the decisions
Close the review by locking the range: the styles, colorways, price tiers, and option counts that are agreed to go forward. Record what was cut and why, so the reasoning is not lost. Sign-off means the range is ready to flow into the assortment (what goes to which channel, at what depth) and then the buy.
7. Set the review cadence for the season
One review is rarely enough. Most teams run an early line review to shape direction, a mid review to pressure-test against the plan, and a final review to lock the range for buying. Setting the cadence up front keeps the range converging on time instead of being reopened late, when the only lever left is cutting good product for calendar reasons.
- A line review (or range review) is the cross-functional meeting where a season’s range is walked, decided, and locked for buying.
- Get design, merchandising, and planning in the room, and prep the board so the meeting is spent on judgment, not reconciliation.
- Walk the range by category with the whole season visible — that is what makes over-expansion, thin categories, and repetitive color stories obvious.
- Make add / cut / rebalance decisions against the whole picture, and watch price-tier and option-count balance as the range changes.
- Lock sign-off, record what was cut and why, and run reviews on a cadence so the range converges on time.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a line review?
- A line review is the cross-functional meeting where design, merchandising, and planning walk a season’s range together — usually on a line board — to add, cut, and rebalance styles and lock the range for buying. It is where the season stops being a set of individual styles and becomes a decided, balanced range ready to flow into the assortment and the buy.
- Who attends a line review?
- At minimum design, merchandising, and planning. Design owns the styles and the color story, merchandising shapes the range and price architecture, and planning holds it against option counts and the line plan. Sourcing joins for feasibility and lead-time reality, and finance or leadership for margin and sign-off on bigger ranges. It works best as a small decision-making group, not a large audience.
- What is the difference between a line review and a range review?
- They are the same meeting under different names — "line review" is more common in North America, "range review" in the UK and Europe. Both mean walking the season’s range as a team to add, cut, and rebalance styles and lock it for buying. The vocabulary differs; the job is identical.
- How often should you run line reviews?
- Most teams run a few per season rather than one: an early review to shape direction, a mid review to pressure-test the range against the line plan, and a final review to lock it for buying. The cadence matters more than the count — reviewing on a rhythm keeps the range converging on time instead of being reopened late in the calendar.
- What decisions get made at a line review?
- Which styles stay, which get cut, and where the range needs rebalancing — plus checks on price-tier balance (good / better / best) and option counts by category. The output is a signed-off range: the styles, colorways, price tiers, and counts agreed to go forward to the assortment and the buy, with a record of what was cut and why.
See how a line board works when it is connected to the plan. Canvas — the visual line board inside RetailNorthstar — links the board to open-to-buy, the assortment, sizing, purchase orders, and production, so the board stays live instead of going stale.