Footwear design and production company ESTAS BRANDS is creating the first ever footwear sample making & “hands on” footwear education facility in New York. This facility will be named BROOKLYN DESIGN LAB. By moving its New York headquarters to Industry City, the 16-building, 6 million square-foot manufacturing and innovation campus on the waterfront in Sunset Park – Brooklyn Design Lab will be able to create a shoe prototypes & production in the same space as its offices and design center. ESTAS and partners currently produce and ship 70 million pairs of footwear to the U.S ever year on behalf of dozens of brands and retailers
The vertically integrated factory group, which also has multiple offices in Asia, Africa, and Los Angeles is relocating its New York office to a 15,000 square-foot space at the property from its current 6,000 square feet headquarters at 156 West 56th Street in Midtown Manhattan. The company’s New York-based employees will move into the new space upon its opening in Q1 of 2019. Additional hiring is for the new space is expected later in 2019
“I couldn’t be more excited about this project and our move to Industry City Brooklyn” said Steve Reynolds, CEO of ESTAS Brands. “This relocation gives us the ability to build the first ever New York based footwear sample making facility that will be open to the industry. In addition, we are proud to create an environment that will offer “hands on” education for those interested in learning more about footwear”
“Brooklyn Design Lab sits at the nexus of multiple industries; in this case, fashion, design, and production,” said Kathe Chase, director of leasing at Industry City. “By co-locating the executive offices, production facilities, a design studio, and a training center in one space, innovation and collaboration can happen across company divisions. Brooklyn Design Lab headquarters model, which inspires a cross-pollination of ideas across departments, mirrors the Industry City ecosystem at large.”
In addition to design offices, Brooklyn Design Lab’s new headquarters will also feature a sample-making room for shoes, as well as an education center which will be based around a curriculum to educate on the process of shoe-making to the public, industry folk and potential new employees. They are looking to partner with universities to enhance the educational component of the shoe-making process.
Brooklyn Design Lab specializes in supply chain management of footwear production for leading distributors as well as for national and private label brands in the US and international markets. The company and its partners directly own several footwear production facilities in Asia, Vietnam, and Ethiopia. This vertical integration gives the company greater control over costs, allowing it to provide customers with lower prices.
At their new space, Brooklyn Design Lab will own complete development of their shoes, including the production of around 50-75 shoes a day. Moreover, the company will make custom, direct-to-consumer footwear at the space, which will be shipped directly to customers via its retail brand M4D3.
Brielle Milano and Jeff Fein of Industry City’s internal leasing team represented Industry City. Rents at Industry City range from $15 to $40 per square foot.
The tenant did not have a rep on the transaction.
At Industry City, Brooklyn Design Lab will be located at 219 36th Street and surrounded by a vibrant ecosystem of fashion companies. Other fashion and apparel companies based at Industry City include Gap Inc., swimwear label Malia Mills, fashion jewelry company Alexis Bittar, fashion label Rag & Bone, fashion jewelry designer FREIDA ROTHMAN, fashion accessories maker By Boe, and many others.
The strategic redevelopment of Industry City—launched in 2013 by Belvedere Capital and Jamestown—has generated significant leasing activity and job creation. Over the past five years, Industry City has invested over $300 million into the property and leased more than 3 million square feet of space, including 1 million square feet of manufacturing space—its highest level in decades. During this period, businesses based at the property have collectively grown by an average of 100 jobs per month, more than tripling from 1,900 jobs in 2013 to 7,000 jobs today.
Industry City is accessible by the D, N, R trains at 36th Street, one express stop from Atlantic Terminal and two from Manhattan.
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