Denver-based apparel company Shinesty needs some room.
The company has already shifted its headquarters to a new office in Denver, vacating its former site at 1990 N. 57th Court in Boulder back in January, and it’s planning to move its distribution center into a larger space this summer.
The new distribution center at 6050 Washington St. will be more than 50,000 square feet, up more than double from about 21,000 square feet at the existing location at 5755 Washington St., said Shinesty Chief Operating Officer Laura Sanchez.
“First off, we’re growing like crazy,” Sanchez told Denver Business Journal. “So we really do need more space.”
Shinesty's headcount has grown significantly since the start of the pandemic. The company also recently made the decision to offer extended sizing in its underwear line, an expansion Sanchez said can have a big impact on space requirements.
The new headquarters — at 2930 Umatilla St. — is slightly larger than the company’s previous footprint of 5,000 square feet, but it’s probably smaller than it would have been if not for Covid-19, Sanchez said. The company now has a liberal remote work policy, and that’s had an influence on both the size and nature of its office needs, she said.
“I would definitely say the makeup of the space is quite different from what we had in Boulder,” Sanchez said. “There are more communal areas.”
Shinesty’s headcount fluctuates between 100 and 150 people, depending on seasonal needs, Sanchez said. That range might increase by something close to five permanent employees as the company fills the new, larger spaces, but it isn’t necessarily looking to significantly grow its headcount.
“We’re really focused on running a lean team and flat organization,” Sanchez said. “We’re not about spending money where we don’t need to.”
Of course, as the business itself expands and has to ship more product, that will naturally require more people, she said.
Shinesty’s first foray into Denver commercial real estate came a couple of years ago when it moved into its current distribution center — the one it's about to leave. It originally shifted those operations from Boulder to Denver — paving the way for the more-recent headquarters move — for a number of reasons. For one, the young employee base it started with was getting older, and its workers were beginning to think about buying their own homes, Sanchez said. The Denver footprint gives those employees better access to less expensive housing than they’re likely to find in Boulder, Sanchez said.
“Boulder’s tough — even the rental market is tough,” Sanchez said.
Also, there simply wasn’t property available in Boulder that met the company’s distribution center needs at the time, Sanchez said.
Shinesty is moving all of its operations to the new site; it isn’t planning to maintain any operations at the old location.
Shinesty declined to provide revenue numbers, citing its status as a private company, but it reported a $1.5 million equity raise in June 2021, of which it had raised about $600,000 at the time.
