A Warehouse Can Hold Your Inventory. Can It Support Your Brand?

Faith Artieda • September 9, 2026

At first glance, choosing a 3PL can seem like a search for space. You have inventory that needs somewhere to go, orders that need to leave on time, and customers waiting on the other side.


But nearly every warehouse can store a pallet.

The more important question is what happens after your inventory arrives.


As a brand grows, fulfillment becomes increasingly connected to the experience customers have with the business. Orders become more complex, new sales channels emerge, retail opportunities appear, and expectations continue to rise. Suddenly, simply having enough warehouse space is no longer the standard. You need a partner that understands what your brand is trying to accomplish and has the experience to support where it is going next.


That distinction is something Scott Wilkins emphasizes when talking with brands evaluating a 3PL. One of the simplest questions he recommends asking a potential provider is also one of the most revealing:

“Tell me about some of the customers that are like me.”


The answer can tell you much more than how many square feet are available.


Experience Should Look Familiar

Every brand has its own story, but you should not want your 3PL to encounter every challenge for the first time alongside you.

If you are an apparel company, does the provider understand the nuances that come with apparel fulfillment? If your business is moving from direct to consumer sales into major retail, has the 3PL helped other brands make that transition? If Walmart suddenly places a substantial purchase order, will your fulfillment team understand what comes next?


Scott encourages brands to dig into those examples rather than simply accepting a list of capabilities. Ask about customers with similar businesses. Ask what challenges those companies encountered. Ask how the 3PL approached those problems and what your own team should understand before entering a new channel.


There is reassurance in discovering that the situation keeping your team awake at night is something your partner has already seen before.


As Scott explained, “We're as much consultants to a lot of these companies as a fulfillment and 3PL and warehouse provider.”


That is a meaningful distinction. A warehouse responds to what arrives. A partner helps you think about what might be coming next.


Your Brand Does Not Stop at the Warehouse Door

Customers will probably never know where their order was stored, who picked it, or how many steps were required to get it to their doorstep. They will simply know whether the experience felt right.


That is why fulfillment should reflect the standards a brand has established everywhere else.


The right product matters, but so does how it is presented. Custom packaging, branded inserts, gift messaging, kitting, and other details can turn an ordinary shipment into something that feels unmistakably connected to the company that sent it. The same principle applies beyond ecommerce. Retailers have their own requirements, marketplaces introduce different expectations, and wholesale orders can look completely different from the packages heading to individual consumers.


A 3PL supporting all of those channels has to understand that the inventory may be the same, but the expectations surrounding it are not.


Look Beyond the Basics

Warehouse space, shipping capabilities, technology, and pricing deserve a place in any 3PL conversation. They simply should not be the entire conversation.


When evaluating whether a provider can truly support your brand, consider questions such as:

  • Have they supported brands with needs similar to yours?
  • Can they accommodate both your current business and the channels you plan to enter?
  • Will they take the time to understand how you want your products handled and presented?
  • Can they adapt when an unexpected retailer order, promotion, or surge in demand changes the plan?
  • Will you have experienced people to turn to when something unfamiliar happens?
  • Are they thinking about the customer receiving the order, not simply the package leaving the building?


These questions shift the conversation away from what a 3PL owns and toward what it can actually contribute to the business.


What Happens When the Business Changes?

The fulfillment arrangement that works today may not be the one your brand needs several years from now. Perhaps you are primarily selling through your own website today, but retail is becoming part of the conversation. Maybe marketplaces are growing quickly. A product could take off unexpectedly, or a retailer could place an order much larger than anything your team has handled before.


Scott has seen brands encounter exactly those moments.


“There’s been more than a number of examples where we get a phone call like one of their sales guys just landed a huge PO with

Walmart and they're like, ‘My gosh, how are we gonna handle this?’”


The response brands want to hear in that situation is not uncertainty.


“We got you. Like we'll walk you through it, we'll tell you how to handle it.”


That confidence comes from experience. It also illustrates the difference between having somewhere to store inventory and having a team capable of helping your business navigate what happens when growth becomes real.


Find the Partner That Can Grow With the Story

Scott describes the idea of brands finding a “forever 3PL,” one they do not have to replace every time the business reaches another stage.

That does not mean predicting every challenge your company will encounter. Few brands know exactly what their business will look like several years from now. It means choosing a partner with enough experience, flexibility, and curiosity to evolve alongside you.


Because your inventory is not just inventory. It represents products your team designed, customers you worked to earn, retailer relationships you spent years pursuing, and a reputation that has taken time to build.


Finding somewhere to put it is the easy part.

Finding a partner that understands what it represents is what really matters.

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From Scrubs to Shipments: Kindthread Selects Barrett Distribution Centers for Omnichannel Fulfillment

By Faith Artieda • September 9, 2026
FRANKLIN, Mass., July 29, 2026 — Barrett Distribution Centers, a trusted third-party logistics (3PL) provider specializing in omnichannel fulfillment, announced a new partnership with Kindthread , a leading healthcare apparel company known for its portfolio of trusted medical scrub and workwear brands. "Finding the right fulfillment partner was one of the most important decisions we had to make," said Jamie Bailey , senior director of logistics at Kindthread. "From our first conversations, Barrett showed they understood our business and the complexity of supporting both wholesale and direct-to-consumer fulfillment. Their team was responsive, easy to work with and focused on finding solutions every step of the way. That gave us confidence we had the right partner for this transition." Kindthread selected Barrett to rapidly transition its B2B, retail, and direct-to-consumer fulfillment operations from Mexico to the U.S. following changes to Section 321 de minimis regulations. Leveraging its Olive Branch, Tennessee campus and a fast-track implementation approach, Barrett onboarded more than 100 truckloads of inventory and launched custom embroidery services to support personalized orders. "Kindthread has an aggressive growth strategy that aligns extremely well with Barrett's capabilities and long-term vision," said Scott Wilkins , vice president of customer solutions. "Given the short implementation window, establishing trust and maintaining clear communication from the very beginning was critical. Both organizations worked tirelessly to meet key milestones while minimizing disruption to Kindthread's customers. We sincerely appreciate the confidence Kindthread placed in Barrett and look forward to building a successful partnership for many years to come." The partnership positions Kindthread for continued growth while providing the operational flexibility needed to support evolving customer demand across multiple sales channels. About Kindthread At Kindthread, we don’t just make scrubs; we make your new favorite uniform. Every stitch, seam, and pocket has a job to do, and they take it seriously. From fabrics that move with you to thoughtful features that make those long shifts feel a little lighter, we’ve got your back (and front). Carefully crafted for the folks who give their all to care for others, blending innovative design, durability, and comfort into pieces that won't let you down. About Barrett Distribution Centers Since 1941, Barrett has provided customized third-party logistics (3PL), direct-to-consumer (DTC) eCommerce fulfillment, omnichannel distribution, managed transportation solutions and retail compliance for clients across all industries, with a focus on apparel & footwear, health & beauty, consumer packaged goods (CPG) and education. Barrett continues to be a leading 3rd party logistics provider in North America, known for superior execution, customer engagement and direct access to senior leadership decision makers. As a member of Inc's fastest growing companies list 15+ times, Barrett is big enough to do the job and still small enough to deeply care about your business. Brands interested in a new 3PL partnership may contact Barrett directly here . Media Contact: Faith Artieda Marketing Content Specialist faith.artieda@barrettdistribution.com

You Just Landed a Major Retailer. Now What?

By Faith Artieda • September 8, 2026
For a growing brand, there are certain moments that make all the work behind the scenes feel worth it. Landing a major retailer is one of them. Maybe the business started with a small collection of products and a loyal group of customers ordering directly from the website. Over time, those orders became more consistent. The audience grew. More people started recognizing the name, and conversations that once felt aspirational began turning into real opportunities. Then comes the email, the meeting, or the purchase order your team has been working toward. A major retailer wants your product. It is the kind of news that deserves to be celebrated. It is also the kind of news that can transform the business almost overnight. Suddenly, the operation that has been comfortably supporting your direct to consumer business is being asked to do something very different. Instead of preparing individual orders for customers, you may be looking at cases or pallets containing thousands of units. Inventory that once supported one primary sales channel now has to stretch across several. New requirements enter the conversation, and the margin for error becomes smaller because the size of the opportunity has become considerably larger. Scott Wilkins, Senior Vice President of Customer Solutions at Barrett Distribution Centers, has spent 14 years with Barrett and has watched brands reach this exact point in their growth. In some cases, the shift happens faster than anyone anticipated. A sales team lands the retailer it has been pursuing, the excitement spreads throughout the company, and then someone asks the question that brings everyone back to reality: How are we actually going to handle this? Retail Changes the Rhythm of Your Business Direct to consumer fulfillment can become familiar over time. An order comes through a website or marketplace, a few products are picked and packed, and the package travels directly to someone's home. Retail operates differently. Orders may move by the case or pallet rather than as individual packages. Products might be headed to a retailer's distribution center or directly to stores. Inventory requirements can change, and retailers often have their own expectations surrounding how products are prepared and delivered. Then there is the sheer size of the opportunity. As Scott explained, “A PO to Walmart could be tens of thousands of units, right? Hundreds of thousands of dollars.” That kind of order can propel a brand forward quickly, but it also raises the stakes. Scott points to retailer requirements and chargebacks as areas where brands need to be particularly careful. “Brands can get into trouble really, really quickly if they don't really have a 3PL partner that can handle everything that a retailer is gonna throw at them.” For brands making this transition, a few areas deserve particular attention: Retailer requirements: Every retailer operates a little differently, and understanding those expectations before orders begin moving can prevent expensive mistakes. Inventory planning: A large retail order can consume inventory quickly, especially when ecommerce customers are still ordering from the same product assortment. Order profiles: Shipping individual packages to consumers is very different from preparing cases or pallets for stores and distribution centers. Retail compliance: Labeling, routing, documentation, packaging, and delivery requirements become increasingly important as larger retailers enter the picture. Room for what comes next: One successful retail relationship can quickly lead to another. Your fulfillment operation should be prepared for the business to continue evolving. None of these considerations make landing a retailer any less exciting. They simply illustrate why the fulfillment conversation changes as the opportunity gets bigger. Has Your 3PL Done This Before? When a brand begins evaluating whether its current fulfillment operation can support retail growth, the number of questions can quickly become overwhelming. Technology, locations, capacity, pricing, systems, and capabilities all deserve consideration. Scott recommends starting with something much simpler: “Tell me about some of the customers that are like me.” It is a straightforward question, but the answer can reveal quite a bit about the experience sitting across the table from you. If you are an apparel brand preparing to enter mass retail, has the 3PL supported similar apparel companies? If Walmart is part of your future, does the provider already understand what fulfilling Walmart orders involves? What challenges have similar brands encountered, and what did the 3PL learn from helping them through those situations? More importantly, Scott encourages brands to understand what their own teams need to be prepared for when entering these relationships. A strong 3PL should not simply tell you what it can do. It should help you understand what successful growth will require from your business as well. That is where experience begins to feel less like a credential and more like a resource. “We're as much consultants to a lot of these companies as a fulfillment and 3PL and warehouse provider,” Scott said. “We're solving problems every single day.” When your company is entering unfamiliar territory, having people around the business who have already encountered similar situations can make that next step considerably less daunting. Sometimes Growth Arrives Before You Feel Ready There is a funny thing about growth. Companies spend years pursuing it, but the biggest opportunities rarely arrive at the perfect moment. A sales team lands the account everyone has been chasing. The purchase order comes through. Everyone celebrates. Then someone eventually asks the practical question: How are we going to handle this? Scott has seen that exact scenario play out. “There’s been more than a number of examples where we get a phone call like one of their sales guys just landed a huge PO with Walmart and they're like, ‘My gosh, how are we gonna handle this?’” For Scott and the Barrett team, the response comes from having navigated those situations before. “We got you. Like we'll walk you through it, we'll tell you how to handle it.” There is something reassuring about those words because they capture what a strong fulfillment relationship should provide during a period of change. Your 3PL should not become another problem your team has to solve when a major opportunity arrives. It should be one of the reasons your team feels prepared to pursue that opportunity in the first place. That does not mean every transition will be effortless. Retail introduces complexity, and every brand has its own requirements. What matters is having experienced people who can recognize potential complications early and help your team work through them before they grow into larger problems. The First Retailer May Only Be the Beginning A brand rarely grows in a perfectly straight line. A company might begin by selling exclusively through its own website before adding marketplaces, retail, wholesale, or other channels. One retailer may become several, while the ecommerce side of the business continues growing at the same time. Scott has watched Barrett evolve alongside brands making exactly that transition. What was once a more traditional warehousing business has expanded into a broader omnichannel model capable of supporting direct to consumer orders alongside the very different demands of retail. The idea is to give brands room to grow without forcing them to rethink their fulfillment relationship every time the business reaches another milestone. Scott refers to this as finding a “forever 3PL.” Brands, he explained, “don't wanna start somewhere and then have to find a new 3PL as their business grows and it changes.” That perspective becomes especially relevant after landing a major retailer. The immediate purchase order deserves attention, but so does what might follow it. If another retailer comes calling six months from now, the fulfillment foundation should make that conversation easier, not more intimidating. Be Ready for What Comes Next Landing a major retailer is validation that something is working. Your product has earned attention, new customers are within reach, and the business is stepping into a larger arena. Your fulfillment operation should give you the confidence to enjoy that moment rather than immediately wonder whether you can keep up with it. Scott describes Barrett's role in this stage as helping brands navigate “that switch or that evolution or that level up” as they become more sophisticated omnichannel businesses. That is ultimately what the right fulfillment relationship should make possible. It is not simply about getting one enormous purchase order out the door. It is about creating a foundation that can accommodate the opportunities that follow without losing sight of the customers who helped the brand get there in the first place. So celebrate landing the retailer. It is a big deal. Then make sure your business is ready when the next one calls.

Your Business Grew. Did Your 3PL Grow With It?

By Faith Artieda • September 7, 2026
Outgrowing a 3PL does not always mean something went wrong. Sometimes it means your business did exactly what you hoped it would do. The fulfillment partner that made perfect sense when your brand was smaller may have helped you through years of growth. Orders increased, new products launched, and the business found its footing. Then the opportunities started getting bigger. Retailers entered the conversation. Wholesale became more important. Inventory spread across more channels, and what once felt manageable suddenly required a different level of support. At that point, the question is no longer whether your 3PL can fulfill today's orders. It is whether the partnership still fits the company you are becoming. Mary Glenn , Director of Business Development at Barrett Distribution Centers, hears versions of this story frequently in conversations with growing brands. Since joining Barrett, she has spent much of her time learning what companies are looking for in a 3PL and, perhaps more importantly, what causes them to realize their current setup may no longer be enough. Sometimes You Outgrow a Partnership That Once Worked There is a tendency to assume that changing 3PLs means the previous relationship failed. The reality is usually more nuanced. A brand might begin by fulfilling orders itself before reaching a point where the time, space, and attention required simply become too much. Another company might already have a 3PL that served it well when its business was primarily direct to consumer. Years later, that same company may be selling through several channels with entirely different expectations. As Mary explained, some brands eventually realize they would be “better suited with a partner that can not only support us now, but can also support us long term.” That long term piece deserves attention. Moving inventory from one provider to another takes time and coordination, and it can be disruptive for teams that already have plenty to manage. Most brands do not want to repeat the process every few years because they chose a partner based only on what they needed at that particular moment. A better conversation looks further ahead. Where is the business trying to go, and does the 3PL have the people, experience, technology, locations, and capabilities to continue supporting it when it gets there? DTC Success Can Be the Beginning, Not the Finish Line For many growing brands, one of the biggest shifts happens when direct to consumer fulfillment is no longer the entire story. A company may have spent years mastering its ecommerce business only to find that its next major opportunity lies in retail, wholesale, boutiques, licensing, or a combination of several channels. That is exciting territory, but it introduces requirements that may be unfamiliar to a team accustomed to shipping individual ecommerce orders. Mary sees this transition frequently among brands exploring Barrett. “The biggest change that I see with the brands that come to Barrett is they're really trying to find someone that can help them navigate that switch from, you know, one model to the next,” she explained. Retail in particular can change the conversation quickly. Different retailers have their own compliance expectations and requirements, which means experience becomes increasingly valuable as a brand expands. What worked beautifully for a pure ecommerce business may not translate neatly into the next phase. That does not make the old approach wrong. It simply means the business has become more sophisticated, and fulfillment has to mature alongside it. Choose for Where You Are Going, Not Only Where You Are Growth has a way of making immediate problems feel like the only problems that matter. When warehouse space is tight or a current relationship is no longer working, there is understandable pressure to find an answer quickly. But urgency can narrow the conversation to what needs to be solved today rather than what the business could require two or three years from now. Mary describes some growing brands as reaching a stage where their success begins creating problems they have never encountered before. That is often when the value of a more experienced partner becomes clearer. Brands want room to grow without wondering whether another move will be necessary as soon as the next opportunity arrives.  That is an important part of how Barrett thinks about fit. The goal is not to become the answer for every company. It is to understand whether Barrett's network, people, technology, and experience make sense for where a particular brand is headed. As Mary put it when discussing Barrett's approach, “We don't want to be a fit for everybody.” There is something valuable in that mindset. A lasting partnership should begin with an honest understanding of what both sides need, rather than trying to force every opportunity into the same mold. Price Matters, but It Cannot Tell the Whole Story When companies begin evaluating 3PLs, rates naturally become part of the conversation. They should. Fulfillment has to make financial sense. Mary is quick to acknowledge that reality: “Price matters in any facet of life.” But she also cautions against allowing price to become the entire evaluation. Her analogy is simple. Choosing a 3PL can be a little like buying a home. Two houses might fall within the same general price range, yet provide completely different experiences once you look beyond the number. Location matters. Space matters. The neighborhood matters. What works for your life today may not work several years from now. A 3PL deserves similar consideration. Visibility into inventory might become increasingly important. Access to additional facilities could matter as the customer base changes. Retail experience may become essential. Technology, communication, culture, and the people running the operation can carry considerably more weight once the relationship begins. Mary explained that when brands find a provider that meets most of those needs, “price becomes probably the least interesting part of that evaluation for them.” Not because cost stops mattering, but because the conversation has become bigger than cost alone. Growth Should Open Doors, Not Create Another Ceiling There is a point in many brands' journeys when fulfillment stops being something happening quietly in the background and becomes an important part of what the business can do next. Landing a new retailer should feel like an opportunity, not a problem your operation cannot accommodate. Increasing order volume should be a reason to celebrate, not the moment everyone starts wondering whether the current setup can survive another year. Expanding into new channels should create possibilities rather than expose limitations that have been building unnoticed. That is why choosing a 3PL for the business you are becoming matters so much. At Barrett, many of the brands we work with have already proven that people want what they are selling. They are entering a stage where growth brings more channels, more requirements, and greater expectations. Our role is to understand what that next stage looks like and determine how the operation can support it without asking the brand to leave behind the things that made it successful in the first place. Because sometimes realizing you have outgrown your 3PL is not a sign of failure at all. It is evidence of just how far your business has come.
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