Fashion shooting in the sun: 1.5 tonnes of exclusive fashion highlights

Special Speed Logistics meet Fashion: The dazzling world of fashion is always on the move. If you want to score points with your community with current trends, you have to be fast. OTTO is one of the most successful online retailers in Europe and is therefore always among the first to pick up on new fashion highlights. For the planned seasonal shoot, the person responsible for photo sample logistics recently approached us with a complex request: A number of transport boxes with samples of the latest collection and photo equipment, which were still unknown at that time, were to be transported to the Balearic Islands for the closely timed shoot. For the planning, we knew when the equipment had to be at its destination – but the exact shipment volume would not be known until the day of pickup.

OTTO only presents its customers with the latest trends and therefore decided on a large part of the outfits just before the shooting. The recordings were to take place on several days and at different locations, which meant that we knew when and where the respective consignments had to arrive – but how many boxes had to be transported was not clear by the day of the respective pick-up.

But no problem for time:matters. Since punctual delivery in the cargo area was not possible, our team of experts planned several personally accompanied door-to-door transports with variable baggage volumes. The first photos should take place on Ibiza, from the second day on the photo team would shoot parallel on Ibiza and the neighbouring island Formentera. The order was therefore divided into three transport routes and implemented by one onboard courier each. Our unique determined the optimal routing and the suitable courier for the respective order in less than a minute. Lothar, Junaid and Adam were selected on the basis of various criteria such as language skills, current location and availability – all three confirmed the order immediately by app, because none of them wanted to miss such an exciting mission.

Day 1, 4 pm – Pick-up in Hamburg and drive to Munich
Shortly before pick-up, it was clear that the first consignment to Ibiza would consist of 19 transport boxes. OTTO’s initial assessment was that it had originally planned to have around 10 boxes, which is why our team of experts reviewed the planned routing once again using the airmates platform. However, the higher number of suitcases did not require any adjustment of the flight connection. The shipment was therefore picked up as planned at 4 pm from OTTO’s headquarters in Hamburg and transported directly to Munich Airport (MUC).

Day 2, 7 am – Handover in Munich and flight to Ibiza
The next morning, our courier Lothar received the 495 kg packages punctually at 7 am at Munich Airport. He took care of all the necessary formalities and, with his three fully loaded baggage carts, took the flight to Ibiza (IBZ), where he landed at 3:20 pm with the help of several taxis to the shooting team’s hotel. At 5:15 pm the valuable pieces were handed over to the responsible production manager in Ibiza City.

Day 3, 4 pm – Pick-up in Hamburg and drive to Frankfurt
The next day OTTO had put together the remaining outfits and we were able to pick them up in Hamburg at 4 pm. This time there were even more packages than the day before: The 32 boxes went directly to Hesse because the safest connection started from Frankfurt Airport (FRA).

Day 4, 7 am – Handover in Frankfurt and delivery to Ibiza & Formentera
Our two couriers Junaid and Adam were already waiting in Frankfurt to receive the 861 kg collection. At 9:35 am the plane took off for Ibiza and landed about two hours later on the Spanish holiday island. Since shootings at various locations were planned for the coming days, the two young men divided the boxes at the airport. Adam accompanied 18 packages by taxi to a small beach town and finished his mission already at 13:57 o’clock. The local shooting team received the shipment on time and was able to start as planned.

For Junaid the journey went even further, as the remaining 14 packages were to be brought to the neighbouring island of Formentera. With the help of a rented truck he drove to the ferry port in Ibiza City and transferred to the neighbouring island. Thanks to the smooth process, the courier could even take a ferry earlier than planned and hand over his shipment to the local photo team at 5:05 pm instead of 9 pm.

Despite the variable shipment volume and the tight time frame, our team of experts put together a suitable transport solution. As always, our long-standing customer OTTO Hamburg was satisfied: “At time:matters, we particularly appreciate the combination of speed, reliability and flexibility”, says the person responsible for photo sample logistics, “Thanks to the airmates platform, a tailor-made service can be developed within the shortest possible time, from which our customers in fast-moving industries such as fashion naturally benefit.”