Danielle Sponder Testa specializes in the relationship between people, products, and the surrounding environment. Dr. Testa’s research builds on her corporate retail and consulting career, providing practical insights to the needs of retailers, professionals, and consumers. Her research explores the impact of strategic changes in retail including internationalization, sustainability strategies, channel strategies, and the retail employee experience.
Dr. Testa has worked, taught, and researched across North America, Europe, and Asia. She teaches courses in merchandising, fashion management, and fashion forecasting. She also researches in the areas of sustainability, technology, and human interactions with fashion systems. Professor Testa is the recipient of the International Textile and Apparel Association Paper of Distinction Award for her paper, “Economic, competitive, and psychological motivations for retail internationalization: Theorizing a motivations hierarchy.” She has also mentored more than a dozen undergraduate students who have received national Fashion Scholarship Fund awards.
Dr. Testa’s research and teaching continues to be inspired by her industry career. She is an experienced retail consultant and trend forecaster and has partnered with leading global retailers and brands, recently, as a Senior Consultant at WGSN. As a retail professional, Dr. Testa utilized her knowledge of culture and design to help clients curate brand aesthetics to global audiences and localize product strategies to various consumer groups. Dr. Testa's connection between industry and academia has been recognized through fellowships and awards including the International Textile and Apparel Association Lois Dickey Fellowship: Outstanding Continuing Doctoral Student, and the International Textile and Apparel Association Marjorie Joseph Outstanding Beginning Doctoral Student Award.
Additional professional experiences include growing leading brands in their global endeavors. As the head of the International Merchandising team at Forever 21, Dr. Testa was responsible for a team of Merchants and the assortments of 50+ countries. While at Topshop in the UK, Dr. Testa was on the ground floor of the Topshop within Nordstrom shop-within-a-shop launch.
Inspired by innovation but always looking to the future, Dr. Testa may be caught quoting Henry Ford in saying, “If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.”
