Cutter & Buck Opens New Texas Distribution Center, Expanding Strategic Automation Partnership with Kardex
New Grand Prairie facility builds on years of collaboration and proven AutoStore experience to support Cutter & Buck’s continued growth.
GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas, October 12, 2026 – Cutter & Buck officially opened its new distribution center in Grand Prairie, Texas, on Friday October 9th, marking a significant expansion of its North American fulfillment network and the next chapter in its strategic automation partnership with Kardex.
The new facility builds on a relationship that began with Cutter & Buck’s first Kardex-deployed AutoStore™ system in Renton, Washington. It has since grown from an initial implementation to system expansion and now a second automated distribution operation in Texas.
Rather than simply replicating the original system, Cutter & Buck and Kardex used years of operating experience, performance data, and shared knowledge to help shape the new facility around Cutter & Buck’s evolving fulfillment requirements and long-term growth plans.
“The opening of this facility represents much more than additional capacity – it reflects how Cutter & Buck is preparing our distribution network for the next stage of growth,” said Joel Freet, CEO of Cutter & Buck. “Our experience in Renton gave us a clear understanding of what automation can make possible for our operation and our customers. With Kardex, we’ve been able to take what we’ve learned and apply it to a new facility designed around where our business is going next.”
Building on a proven automation strategy
Cutter & Buck’s relationship with Kardex began with the transformation of its Renton distribution operation. The original AutoStore system was designed to maximize available storage capacity within its existing distribution center, increasing efficiency, accuracy and order throughput, while reducing reliance on seasonal labor. The Renton system went live in July 2023 with more than 34,000 storage bins, 54 robots, and Kardex FulfillX supporting the automated operation.
As Cutter & Buck continued to grow, the system proved capable of evolving with the business. Rapid growth and the need to accommodate additional SKUs led to an expansion of the Renton AutoStore, adding 9,962 storage bins, additional ports, and infrastructure to support future growth and greater throughput flexibility.
That progression – from initial implementation to expansion – gave Cutter & Buck and Kardex years of real-world operating experience to draw upon when developing the new Texas facility.
Taking proven experience from Washington to Texas
At the heart of the new Grand Prairie facility is a second AutoStore goods-to-person system designed and integrated by Kardex. Designed around Cutter & Buck’s next stage of growth, the system includes 50,502 storage bins, 32 AutoStore R5 Pro robots and 13 ports, with Kardex FulfillX warehouse execution software orchestrating AutoStore operations and coordinating fulfillment workflows.
The system was designed for a target of 1,256 bin presentations per hour, with AutoStore simulation averaging 1,284 bin presentations per hour. Its modular architecture also gives Cutter & Buck the ability to expand robots and ports independently as demand evolves.
The automation strategy extends beyond the AutoStore grid. Kardex also developed an integrated conveyor solution connecting AutoStore output with downstream fulfillment processes, including embroidery, routing, Print & Apply and shipping. The result is a connected flow designed around Cutter & Buck’s mix of blank and decorated apparel orders and the broader requirements of the new distribution operation.
“What makes Texas exciting is that we weren’t starting from assumptions,” said Scott Sumpter, Executive Director, Distribution, Enhancement & Logistics at Cutter & Buck. “We had years of experience operating AutoStore in Renton, WA, and a much better understanding of how the system supports our people, our processes, and our customers. That experience allowed us to work with Kardex to take what we had learned, build on what worked, and design the Texas facility around what we’ll need as the business continues to grow.”
A partnership designed to evolve
The Grand Prairie, TX, opening represents the latest chapter in a relationship that has progressed from the original Renton, WA, AutoStore implementation, through expansion of that system, to the development of a second automated distribution operation.
With each phase, Cutter & Buck and Kardex have gained additional operating data, process knowledge, and practical experience that can be carried forward into the next design decision. The result is a partnership increasingly focused not on a single automation project, but on how technology, software, and fulfillment strategy can evolve alongside Cutter & Buck’s business.
“What makes this milestone particularly meaningful is everything that led to it,” said Fred Fox Jr., President of Kardex AS Solutions Americas. “We started by working with Cutter & Buck to solve a specific fulfillment challenge in Renton. As their business grew, we expanded that system together. Now we’re taking years of shared experience and applying it to an entirely new operation in Texas. That’s what a strategic automation partnership should look like – continuing to evolve the solution as the customer’s business evolves.”
The Grand Prairie facility provides Cutter & Buck with a scalable foundation for its continued growth, while marking another step in the company’s broader fulfillment and automation strategy, and its partnership with Kardex.
ENDS
About Kardex
Kardex is a leading global partner for intralogistics solutions in an attractive and growing market. The Group offers premium automated products, standardized systems, and life cycle services that guarantee high availability and low total cost of ownership. Kardex provides an intelligent entry into automation with its dynamic storage and retrieval systems, offers integrated material handling systems, small parts storage systems including multi-shuttle technology, and automated high-bay warehouses. Additionally, Kardex acts as a global AutoStore™ partner, offering flexible and modular storage and order fulfillment solutions. The Group employs around 2,900 people in over 30 countries. Kardex Holding AG has been listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange since 1989. For more information, please visit www.kardex.com.
