Everlane’s Magical Minimalist Shelving, Revealed
Walking into an Everlane store is like walking into a minimalist heaven. Everlane’s brick-and-mortar stores exemplify the brand’s founding ethos of radical transparency through white walls, ample natural light, and gracefully partitioned displays of charming yet restrained apparel. What’s keeping the clothing neatly organized is a shelving system as simple and flexible as the company’s aesthetic.
When architecture firm Leong Leong approached B&N Industries about the shelving for Everlane’s New York flagship, the manufacturer’s first task was to figure out which product would fit the programmatic requirements and aesthetic vision of the retail company. They settled on the 1224 system, made up of configurable shelving units that pay homage to the repeating modularity and rectilinear forms of the International Style. B&N was easily able to integrate Everlane’s white powder-coated steel and Baltic birch palette, creating shelving units so unique to the brand that they’re virtually unrecognizable.
“We don’t want people to be able to pick out our system,” explains B&N Industries CEO Brad Somberg. “It should seamlessly disappear into the fabric of the whole store, yet present itself to the consumer and owner in a manner that is flexible, shoppable, and aesthetically pleasing.”
Along with retail applications, the product has also been specified in hotels, bookstores, corporate offices, and more. Comprised of 15 to 20 basic parts, the 1224 system can be reconfigured dramatically and quickly without the use of tools, allowing retailers to change their environments for seasonal campaigns or new merchandise. The products can also be electrified with LEDs, making illuminated shelving or even a feature wall possible.
“It’s a chameleon of a system,” says Somberg. “There is a little bit of magic in our products. People don’t quite understand how they work but they do, and they do quite well.”
