When Tara Miller began designing Boot Barn’s new headquarters in Irvine, California, she knew it had to speak to the Western wear retailer’s customers: people who work outdoors, or those who just like to dress the part.
“Traditional office design incorporates a lot of white walls and smooth surfaces,” Miller, founder of The Heartland Interior Design, said in an email to CoStar News. “Boot Barn wanted no two spaces to be alike, so we specified hundreds more finishes than a regular office project.”
The result is a 118,000-square-foot headquarters that includes several nods to the American West, from an indoor waterfall — where actual water flows down plastic panels spanning four floors — and a lobby floor patterned with a stampede of wild mustangs made from inlaid stone.
The space tells a visitor exactly who Boot Barn is, said Ted Heisler, vice president of interior architecture and design at Los Angeles-based Ware Malcomb, the project's architect: “There is an instant connection with the brand and identity.”
Publicly traded Boot Barn is among the latest companies across the country to build out a new office with perks and upgrades — from CBRE's Uptown Dallas digs to Bain & Co.'s Los Angeles penthouse — to attract and retain workers. The firm, which declined to comment on the cost or other aspects of the project, was willing to create "an amazing space because they understood that people cost ten times more than space," Heisler said.
The project comes as Boot Barn is stepping up its retail expansion alongside climbing sales and benefiting from a surge in popularity of Western-inspired fashion, thanks to hit television shows including "Yellowstone" and music tours from Taylor Swift to Beyoncé that brought fans dressed in cowboy boots and denim.
Making work matter
The headquarters spans an entire building within Irvine Co.'s Spectrum Terrace — a campus known for walking trails, cafes and an Olympic-size pool.
“Amenities and interaction spaces elevate that in-office experience,” Heisler said. “It’s about making people want to be there.”
Each of the four floors centers on a different element: stone, leather, iron and timber.
“This tactile experience connects the workforce back to the end user of their products on a daily basis because Boot Barn’s customer works out in the elements,” Miller said.
The interior design abandons corporate monotony for rich textures and handcrafted details.
“Their previous workspace was monochromatic and dull — light gray walls, gray cubicles, dark gray carpet,” Miller said. “Now they have colorful walls, floors, and ceilings, with a combination of acoustic beams and spray overhead because the client said, 'no ceiling tiles.'"
The team sourced 9-foot-tall vintage chandeliers from France, while some walls are covered in merlot drapery, others in leather. Additional materials featured in the space include shou sugi ban planks — high-end wood paneling — and burnished brass.
“They wanted drama and sparkle," Miller said. "Bringing in these materials makes the whole space feel like it has a soul."
From concept to move-in, the process spanned roughly a year and a half. The result is both workplace and brand statement, Heisler said.
“When design reflects the soul of a company, it inspires the people who work there,” he said.