The Container Store: Aether Clothing Fills Proxy by Envelope A+D

Sometimes a bad thing turns out really good. Such was the case in San Francisco, at a 1/2-acre lot planned to be the site of two residential buildings. Then 2008 hit. Everything was put on hold, and the Mayor’s Office of Economic and Workforce Development put out an RFP for temporary projects.

Envelope A+D responded with Proxy, a vibrant mixed-use village of shipping containers. The most recent occupant is the outdoor-apparel company Aether: its first stand-alone store, housed in a stack of three 40-foot containers. Envelope A+D and Gaugain laid floor planks of reclaimed oak on the lower two levels of the 700-square-foot interior. It’s also outfitted with a custom conveyor-belt system that can retrieve items from the stock room at the top.