RALPH LAUREN

AirSea Packing (ASP) was founded in 1966 in

Slough, Berkshire, UK and remains a family-run

business. For over forty five years, ASP have

handled unique and fragile objects throughout the

world for a discerning clientele base with the utmost

care, consistency and confidentiality. It is their

tradition and philosophy to attend to every detail to

ensure the safety of clients’ valuable and, often,

irreplaceable possessions whilst enhancing complete

peace of mind. Their experience and expertise, in

the context of speaking the language of trust,

integrity and discretion, have allowed ASP to

develop long-lasting relationships with a varied

client-base within the Art, Antiques, Interior Design

and Architectural communities.

ASP provides a comprehensive and flexible

fulfilment of clients’ needs by using the most

advanced technologies alongside the traditional

skills and personal service at every stage of every

project.

ASP has offices in London, Paris, New York, Los

Angeles and Miami with over 300,000 sq/ft of

warehouse and storage space. They currently

employ a team of 225 people worldwide and run a

fleet of over 50 vehicles.

AirSea Packing’s relationship with Ralph Lauren

goes back 25 years, when Nick Edwards, Director,

negotiated the release of existing inventory with the

receivers of a previous RL service provider.

Subsequently, the first major project launch was the

Mansion flagship store on Madison Avenue in 1986.

Throughout the 1980s, the main focus of the

services provided to Ralph Lauren was supporting

the procurement, packing and shipping of antique

furniture, artwork and props predominantly from

Europe to New York and throughout the US as

new Ralph Lauren stores opened. ASP also worked

on the considerable project of furnishing and

accessorizing Mr and Mrs Lauren’s private estate in

Bedford, New York. This took place over a number

of years in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Items for

this project were consolidated in London and

shipped by airfreight to a specialist storage facility in

Queens, New York, from which deliveries and

white glove installations took place to the specific

instructions of Mr and Mrs Lauren’s senior design

team. In 1990 as it became apparent to ASP that

client interests would be better served by in-

sourcing versus sub-contracting services, the

company expanded its geography by opening new

operations in New York and Paris.

ASP firmly believed they could make a difference

and manage these markets better whilst creating

substantial value in these markets for their clients.

In the 1990s Air Sea Packing serviced ever

increasing requirements for new and existing

Ralph Lauren stores throughout Europe and the

US. The two most significant projects supported

by ASP were the openings of La Madeleine store

in Paris and No. 1 New Bond Street Flagship store

in London. In 2004, ASP and Ralph Lauren signed

a ten-year agreement to store, maintain and

distribute some 50,000 items for a number of

different retail and wholesale groups within Ralph

Lauren Corporation.

NASH TAILOR

RL Director Creative

Logistics

STEVE GYDE

RL Supervisor

Creative Logistics

NICK EDWARDS Director ASP

BEN DAVIES Director ASP

IBE CHUKWU Client Services ASP

Northolt

SARA SMITH Client Services ASP

Northolt

NORI SAI Client Services ASP

Paris

VANESSA

ROSINE Client Services ASP

Paris

DONNA FITZGERALD

RL Client Manager ASP

Northolt

MARK DRASAR General Manager ASP Paris

In order to keep pace with Ralph Lauren’s

continued European expansion, ASP has moved

into a new, upgraded facility in Paris.

The new Paris warehouse is located 25km north of

Paris, with high speed road links allowing access to

central Paris in less than thirty minutes, as well as

providing easy access to main land Europe.

Old ASP Warehouse

9 rue Joseph et Etienne de

Montgolfier Rosny Sous

Bois 93110

New ASP Warehouse 14 rue Berthelot

95500 Gonesse

2,475

2,950

5,100

2,810

1,500 Retail Creative

Wholesale Creative

Ralph Lauren Store Development

Retail Operations (restaurant)

Maison d'Objects

14,835 square feet dedicated to Ralph Lauren

50% of RL space occupied by Retail & Wholesale

160 dedicated racks

2,115 sq feet for packaging, loading & unloading

6,500 units of Creative product

3,000 Units of restaurant product

700 Units of Maison d’Objet product

10 racks of dedicated mannequin storage

Dedicated packaging area

Dedicated RL warehouse staff

The new facility is situated on 1 floor with the option of using the 1st floor mezzanine – this enables the EU

Creative Supply Chain team to drive business performance through ASP efficiency giving full grip & control

over Ralph Lauren’s Creative Logistic network.

Square footage by division

Area A Mezzanine

Ralph Lauren Store Development

None RL Area D - inc Under mezzanine

Area B Retail Creative - Wholesale Creative - Operations

(Restaurant) - Maison d’Objects

Area C Handling, Packing – Photography –

Inventorise - Good In & Out

The new ASP facility provides an enhanced service

offering that not only streamlines and improves

operations, but also provides a highly safe and secure

environment for all Ralph Lauren items.

This includes a dedicated loading & unloading dock -

which helps reduce waiting times, dedicated staff,

space for processing RL work orders.

Average of 8 RL related transports per day with a

dedicated white glove loading/unloading service

An average of 3 hours per working day dedicated

to loading/unloading activity

Operations will support over 300 Retail and

Wholesale creative installations in FY14.

Dedicated RL unloading space – creating a

streamlined unpacking/repacking process.

Trials have been initiated on a new ASP-

managed asset logging and ordering system

(Voxme) that will allow the creative teams to not

only log and track all Creative items but also to

order those items from a web portal. The Paris

Wholesale Creative team are trialing the system,

meanwhile all Paris Retail Creative items are to

be photographed & inventoried by the end of

October.