Empress Athleticus is a women’s clothing brand based in Australia, founded by James Lewin and his wife just over a year ago. The brand focuses on high-quality, locally manufactured activewear and has rapidly grown to become a significant player in the fashion industry. The company operates multiple fashion lines from a single warehouse, with plans to expand further. 

We spoke with James Lewin, COO of Empress Athleticus, to understand how Linnworks has played a pivotal role in their operational journey and supported their rapid growth.

Before Linnworks: Manual processes and scaling challenges

“Before we started with Linnworks, everything we were doing was being done manually,” recalls James Lewin, COO of Empress Athleticus. “We were using Starship for printing orders and managing inventory on Shopify. We had two staff members who just knew where everything was in the warehouse, but the system wasn’t scalable. It put a lot of pressure on our staff because we’re growing, and we needed something that could help us scale.”

James continues, “We are about a month and a half away from launching another business that we will share the same space with, and we needed a system that could handle multiple channels and be intuitive enough for new staff to start being productive right away.”

A multi-channel system for scalable growth with Linnworks

“We needed a multi-channel system that could support us as we grew,” explains James. “Linnworks has given us that and more. It was about reducing manual processes, improving efficiency, and making it easy to train new hires. With Linnworks, I can hire someone new, and they can start picking orders within a few minutes.”

James emphasizes the importance of visibility across their operations. “We need to know exactly where our business is at any given moment. Whether it’s receiving purchase orders or tracking shipments, Linnworks provides that transparency. We can also quickly trace any errors back to their source, which has been invaluable. Since implementing Linnworks, we haven’t had a single mistake.”

Key benefits of Linnworks for Empress Athleticus

1. Increased Efficiency and Reduced Errors: “Every mistake in our business costs about $50,” says James. “Since using Linnworks, our errors have significantly decreased, saving us both time and money. We’ve already saved about eight times the cost of using the software in just a few weeks.”
2. Faster Training and Onboarding: “To train someone on our manual system used to take days, but with Linnworks, it takes about one and a half minutes. We just show them the buttons to click and the steps to follow. It’s that simple.”
3. Improved Operational Visibility: “With Linnworks, we have complete visibility of our operations. We know what’s in stock, what’s being fulfilled, and if there’s an issue, we can pinpoint exactly where it happened and who was responsible. This level of oversight has reduced our stress levels as business owners and given us confidence in our daily operations.”
4. Scalability and Flexibility: “Linnworks allows us to scale. Whether we have one company or eight, we can manage all operations seamlessly from a single platform.”

“We need to know exactly where our business is at any given moment. Whether it’s receiving purchase orders or tracking shipments, Linnworks provides that transparency. We can also quickly trace any errors back to their source, which has been invaluable. Since implementing Linnworks, we haven’t had a single mistake.”

James Lewin, Empress Athleticus

A partnership for future growth

With Linnworks, Empress Athleticus has transformed its warehouse operations, enabling the brand to scale effectively and efficiently while maintaining high standards of quality and customer satisfaction. As the company continues to grow and launch new businesses, Linnworks remains a critical component in their strategy, helping them navigate the complexities of ecommerce with ease.

James concludes, “Linnworks has given me time back and reduced the stress that we have as owners of the company, and that’s invaluable.”