Gilt Groupe: Inside the Warehouse- 12.07.10
Thanks to the Gilt Man team for sponsoring this post and bringing me out to NY to play in the warehouse!
First i showed you sneak peek at Love Moschino post… and as promised, here’s the peek inside the warehouse… where we can get a look at where all our Gilt goodies live and what they go through before they get to us! From the cages, endless shelves, and racks of product… it truly made my head spin! Seeing it ALL there, they aren’t messing around, when the products sell out instantly, they really are only selling exactly what is right in this space! And when your waitlist spot suddenly finds that one more dress for you? Sometimes they really found another one hiding in here! Sometimes they convince the designer to sell a few more… Even saw baskets of orders waiting to go out… racks of dresses for sales yet to come… stacks of boxes being assembled waiting for that inevitable noon sale rush! It’s a trip, and so fun to see behind our simple interaction of see the site, order some stuff, and ding dong package arrives! So here’s a peek inside the world of Gilt Groupe… we’ll start at the Park Ave office and work out way out to the Brooklyn Navy Yard Warehouse on the next page!
First stop: Gilt’s beautiful old NY styled Park ave office… right after their all hands meeting announcing that Gilt Man will be launching an FULL PRICE store! Yes, a non-sale store to further grow the Gilt Man/Gilt MANual lifestyle…
Read in to it how you will that this very strategic and carefully (quickly!) grown company has a large chess set in its entrance…
… and of course fun fashion imagery in the waiting area!
Next stop, we hop a car across the bridge to the Brooklyn Navy Yard ~ extra gritty on a dreary day, they are positioned right next to the B&H Warehouse… so tempting to go see what was in THERE too!
And up to suite 601 we go… this shot is for anyone else who ever wondered why their Gilt packages always came saying Mercedes on the return label ~ that’s the people who run the distribution…
… in we go behind the big security guarded door…
There’s something fun about their minty/forest green walls…
We peek into the offices, then back out on the floor…
Right to the “special” shoe closet ~ anything over a few hundred dollars specially bought or saved to be reused on shoots gets locked in here. Swoon
These are the less pricey counterparts waiting for shoots!
… and for the men…
… the jewelry that get’s locked up for accessorizing on shoots!
Prepped shoots are organized and ready to go…
Everything is organized in these cages! From props to products, it’s all in here, and everything has its place.
I loved seeing the prop furniture… in a cage… in front of a wall of shoes.
Trovata coats waiting for a sale date!
And then a SEA of clothes literally waiting for you to snatch them up when the clock strikes 12… noon… on the given sale date!
Endless rows of shoes waiting for sale…
Tops and more…
Even MORE clothes…
There was a definite eerie fascination wandering the stacks… so curious what treasures lie hidden in the many boxes.
Then the BOXING! Once they pull your order together, it comes to the boxing station…
… where they fold and package up your order in those signature printed boxes… dropping in the little faux handwritten note and all…
AND OFF THEY GO! To end up at your doorstep in no time!
And as you saw in the sneak peek at Love Moschino post… here’s another shoot in progress…
In another part of the warehouse, there’s a Home shoot being set up for bedding… but they are ready for anything with fireplace sets, xmas trees, the works!
Love that there’s even some fun art that has snuck on to the columns!
Curious where your calls go when you contact customer service? To these guys!
Being pretty far out in the navy yard, they have a festive lunch room with catered meals! Love that they mix up their caterers as much as their freelancers, always keeping things fresh, Adorable that they even have hand written menus! It really feels lie a fun family of a crew in the warehouse, and so much creativity and fast paced organized chaos surrounding you at all times!
And just for security, upon exit from the warehouse, everyone has to press the button… and it randomly decides whether you get searched! So no stealing goodies out of the warehouse… unless you’re feeling really lucky i suppose…..
phew are you as exhausted as i am? It was quite the trip seeing where my Gilt Groupe packages come from… and what it all goes through before it gets to me!
Great article and images!
I spend waaay too much of my money at GILT and I loved getting a look behind the scenes.
thanks for the peek.
----- laura sweet 10.12.10 10:38