Background
Boden, a British clothing retailer, was established in 1991 by Johnnie Boden as a mail-order business. Specializing in online and catalogue sales, the company has expanded its presence to multiple countries, including the United Kingdom, the United States, Germany, and Australia.

Problem
In May 2022, Boden faced challenges in managing and tracking productivity and sample inventory for its newly established in-house studio in London. While previously collaborating with an external studio, Boden sought to optimize its processes, particularly aiming to reduce the time from the shoot to product delivery. The need for better management of shoot priorities based on changing merchandising requirements became apparent. Additionally, there was a crucial requirement to improve efficiencies around sample management, with an initial inventory of over 50,000 product samples causing difficulties in tracking, ordering, and understanding sample levels.

Solution

Given the inception of a brand-new studio team, Lets Flo had the opportunity to implement proven processes successfully applied for other brands. Key steps included ensuring accurate data sets through a product data feed from Boden’s data tool. To better organize samples with multiple sizing options, a barcoding system was introduced. Efficiencies were driven through standardizing the outfitting process, shifting outfitting sessions to a fit model. Integrations with third-party retouch houses via SFTP and API accelerated the retouching process, with delivery streamlined to Boden’s on-premise DAM.
Pixelz API integration streamlining Post Production process
SSO Integration providing security and compliance
DAM Assets delivered on to 3rd Party DAM with key data sets
Results

Within three months of implementation, Boden achieved a remarkable 98% content availability to its ‘product drop’ metric. The sample inventory was significantly reduced to just over 26,000. The introduction of a ‘fit model’ for styling translated to fewer samples being held in the studio, aligning model sizing more closely with the garments. The collaborative efforts between Boden and Lets Flo resulted in substantial improvements in content availability and sample management efficiency, contributing to a more streamlined and effective in-house studio operation.