Designing An Apparel Brand’s Product Library

Storing Apparel for a Brand’s Designers and Buyers

Like many other apparel designers, this lifestyle brand maintains an extensive product library, also called a sample library, at its headquarters. Samples of lounge wear, intimates, and activewear are stored on-site for eight seasons to enable designers and buyers to reference past products as they work. Three staffers are continually pulling requested items for meetings, returning stock, and replacing older apparel with more recent items.

The product library had been stored on the building’s second floor, even though conference rooms and other workspaces were located on the first floor. This resulted in a lot of wasted time as staff constantly moved items between floors. Relocating the product library to the first floor would be much more convenient for staff, but there was a problem: the only available room on the first floor was much smaller than the upstairs storage area.

More Room in Less Space

Spacesaver helped relocate this product library to a smaller but more convenient work area. The firm’s design and construction department called in the local Spacesaver consultant to see if a compact mobile storage system could provide quicker, more convenient access for staff while still accommodating thousands of items in a relatively small space.

The Spacesaver consultant assessed the room and designed a 12’ high-density shelving system to take advantage of the room’s height. He also spaced hanging rods strategically to ensure that space was fully optimized within each unit. By eliminating wasted aisle space, the system allows all the samples to be stored in a much smaller room. When staff need access to a particular product sample, they simply turn a mechanical-assist handle to move the units and open the appropriate aisle.

The product library is now located on the building’s first floor, right off the conference rooms. Its convenient location and well-organized configuration has improved efficiency by saving staff time and streamlining workflows.