Who are Filling Pieces?
Filling Pieces are pioneers of luxury streetwear. For over 10 years they’ve been bridging the gap between streetwear and high fashion. Streetwear has never felt so luxurious!
However, as Alberto Lopez, the brand’s Marketing Manager says:
“More and more high fashion brands are entering the market —it’s booming. We need to ensure we stay unique. We’re doing this with our responsibility programme and by striving to become sustainable. “
And what else helps Filling Pieces stand out against the competition?
You guessed it. Their visual content. ✨
“The visual aspect of our marketing is really important. That is why, in the last month, we’ve hired more Graphic Designers and an Art Director to help create new content and plan campaigns. In fact, I’d say 80% of our content at the moment is images. ”
The problem: Filling Pieces couldn’t grow with Google Drive
Filling Pieces have big plans. They already own a store in Amsterdam (their hometown) and they work with selected wholesalers around the globe.
However, when Alberto joined in 2021, there was something holding them back. The team had done exceptionally well to get the brand to where it is. But it was clear that the systems in place weren’t sustainable for the future.
Because, guess what? They were using Google Drive to store and manage their visual content. ❌
For anyone who uses Google Drive, you know it's great for sharing and collaborating on documents. But what’s it not great for is searching, finding and sharing images. It’s just not what it’s been designed for. And it makes working with resellers more difficult than it should be.
“Before, when we were using Google Drive, there were no naming conventions. There were too many people uploading content at the same time. I decided it was time for a completely new system with a really good UX. I wanted to be able to type in the product name, see results and order by category. Google Drive is just not very visual. It’s messy.”
That’s where Dash comes in! 🙌
(Btw, if you're currently using Drive to store your visual content, take a read of our article that examines Google Drive as a digital asset management tool.)
The solution: Finding a digital asset management system that could grow with the brand
Alberto had worked with a digital asset management system in his previous company, so he already knew the benefits of digital asset management. But his previous solution was expensive and aimed at big companies needing an enterprise DAM solution. Not ideal for Filling Pieces. He wanted something that was suitable for smaller businesses.
So, he chose Dash. ✨
“There’s three things that I instantly liked about Dash. Price, support and scalability. The support was really good and it wasn’t super pushy. It’s also very scalable - you can implement different features as you go. The month-by-month contract also means I can cancel whenever I need to. There’s no big commitment from our side.”
But Alberto isn’t planning to cancel any time soon. 😇
Here are some of the ways Dash helps FIlling pieces grow:
1. Using folders to organise product images
Both the marketing and sales team use Dash to manage and share product and promotional images. And both teams have different ways of searching for those images.
“The way we sort and search for content can be a bit complex. So we might have campaign photography and ecommerce photography. And within that we have different products, different model shots etc. Being able to clearly see the folder structures is helpful for all our teams.”
So when a team member types in the name of the product, they see that product image organised by folder and category.
What’s more, when someone goes to download an image they can crop it depending on the social media channel it’s getting deployed to.
“Anyone producing content, like the social team, are able to download specific sizes without relying on a graphic designer. For example, IGTV and Pinterest. It’s very convenient.”
2. Giving partners a premium experience
Aside from marketing and sales, we’ve already mentioned that Filling Pieces work with selected wholesalers to sell their products around the world. 🌍 As Alberto says:
“We have a showroom in January and June. These are to show our partners the upcoming seasons and they’ll then decide which product lines they’d like to buy. It’s really important that we support them with content. The more content they have, the easier it is for them to sell, which means they’ll come back and buy more.”
Alberto uses Portals to help do just that. It’s like the Filling Piece’s Dash account, but with extra permissions and with no need for a log in. Partners can simply head to the portal, search for different products, scroll through folders and download the images they need. Easy!
What’s more, Portals can be customised to look and feel like your brand (just like a full Dash account).
“When you land into our Portal, everything is branded and looks really neat. It gives it more of a premium feel. We are mirroring some of the content we have in the Dash Filling Pieces. It’s really convenient.”
To wrap things up, Alberto says Dash has had nothing but positive feedback from the rest of the team.
“Everyone is so ‘wowed’ by Dash. After coming from Google Drive, everything about it is a big improvement. We’re so happy with it” ✨