Rob built his foundation as a retail buyer for multi-billion-dollar companies, then moved to the wholesale side — where his roles have consistently sat at the director level or above. Deveraux Group turns that executive-level depth into sales strategy, sourcing fixes, and merchandising discipline for apparel brands and their retail partners.
Deveraux Group is a sales and consulting firm for apparel brands and their retail partners. Rob works directly with brand owners and retailers to build distribution strategy, fix sourcing and production problems, and put merchandising discipline in place — turning a first order into a lasting program.
The work spans both sides of the account: helping a brand get in the door, and helping the retailer buy, stock, and merchandise it well enough to keep reordering. That two-sided view is what turns a first order into a program.
Rob’s merchant career started on the retail side — buying for some of the top multi-billion-dollar retailers in the country, managing assortments across outdoor and apparel categories, owning open-to-buy, vendor negotiations, and in-season management. That buying-side foundation is what shaped everything that followed.
He later moved to the wholesale side of the business, representing brands to the same kind of retailers he once bought for — and along the way built sourcing and production relationships across Mexico, China, South Korea, Pakistan, and India, work that took him onto factory floors most sales reps and consultants never see.
Core ExpertiseThat firsthand view from both sides of the table — buyer and seller, retail and production — is what separates a sales pitch from a fix. When a program has a fit, durability, or lead-time problem, Deveraux Group can trace it back to the production floor and correct it there — not just work around it.
Sourcing & Production ExperienceThree decades of retail buying relationships translate into real distribution, not cold outreach. Deveraux Group builds the account strategy and gets your line in front of the buyers who actually make the call — then scales it past your first few doors into a national program.
Buying standards, open-to-buy discipline, and merchandising systems built from the buyer’s side of the desk — so product lands on time, in the right quantities, and doesn’t erode margin order after order.
Manufacturing relationships across five countries mean lead-time and durability problems get solved on the factory floor, not patched over after the fact — the same hands-on fixes that turned a failing denim program into a 20% sales gain.
Director-level and above experience, available fractionally — for brands and retailers that need an experienced merchant in the room, setting strategy and holding teams to a standard, without committing to a full-time executive hire.
Rob negotiated a direct licensing agreement with NASCAR, then owned the process end to end — product development, production, and retail sell-through — taking the branded line from signed deal to national shelves.
As the national buyer for a major department store chain’s Men’s Denim and Workwear business — 900 stores, branded and private label — Rob rebuilt the assortment and vendor strategy, improving gross margin rate by 1,000 basis points over three years while growing the Workwear category from $37M to $50M in volume.
A core five-pocket denim program was losing ground to fit and durability complaints on an overseas-made product. Drawing on his Mexico sourcing relationships, Rob moved production to a Mexico-based partner, cutting lead time from six months to sixty days, and re-engineered the seams customers were complaining about.
A Bronx-based apparel brand with a handful of local accounts needed a national strategy. Deveraux built distribution into more than 50 stores nationwide by targeting sneaker-culture retailers, then fixed the production side with a blank-inventory system that let the owner buy in bulk instead of per order.
Rob serves as Sales Director for a Midwest apparel brand and retailer, growing its store count nationwide and now implementing merchandising standards for on-time, correct-quantity delivery. A warehouse fulfillment overhaul is currently in progress.
Whether you’re a brand looking for representation, a retailer looking to sharpen your buying, or a company that needs an experienced merchant on a fractional basis, Rob’s happy to talk through where you are and where you want to go.