Footasylum's robot warehouse goes live before peak season, its builder says

October 2026 — Footasylum has swapped a manual warehouse for robots in time for its busiest season, its supplier says. Here's what launched, what it cost, and what went wrong.

Cost and outcome (as of Oct. 21, 2026)

Fleet: 85 AutoStore R5 robots across 96,000 bin locations. (RTIH)
Output: "212% of the output" of the previous operation "from fewer than half the picking stations," THG Fulfil says. (Intelligent Retail.tech)
Uptime: 99.8%, THG Fulfil says. (RTIH)
Cost: not disclosed.

What launched

AutoStore and THG Fulfil announced the project on June 30, 2026. It was THG Fulfil's first AutoStore build for an outside retailer, after years running the systems in THG's own warehouses. The plan called for a three-month build, with the first order targeted for September 2026.

The first customer order went through on Aug. 28, and the system went fully live on Sept. 14, according to the October account. THG Fulfil says it finished two months faster than the original plan, with less than six months from contract to first order.

How it works

Robots on top of the grid fetch bins and bring them to 24 carousel ports, where staff pick goods. All of Footasylum's live product range sits in the grid. THG Fulfil's warehouse control system, which it says it developed over five years, decides how bins are sequenced and batched. Before building, the teams ran 80,000 simulations on Footasylum's order history and product data to size the robot fleet and ports.

The site replaced what THG Fulfil calls "a fully manual distribution centre." Its Oct. 21 blog post says Footasylum consolidated several manual sites into one and cut packing benches from 50 to 24.

Why it automated

THG's Oct. 21 blog post says Footasylum moved from manual processes across several sites to a single automated facility. That brought its direct-to-consumer, store-replenishment and wholesale channels under one roof and ended the cost of moving stock between warehouses, the post says.

The first episode of THG Fulfil's documentary series covers why a retailer "running a fully manual distribution centre chose automation over a new-build DC or a third-party logistics provider," according to the October account. THG Fulfil also says it is an authorized AutoStore partner that runs a designated "Red Site" for testing the technology in the UK, which it says informs the software it gives clients.

Who paid, and how

In June, THG Ingenuity COO Tom Killeen said the Robotics-as-a-Service model gave Footasylum "enterprise-grade infrastructure without the capital commitment." By October, the project was described as delivered under "a hybrid commercial model combining elements of capital investment" and Robotics-as-a-Service. Neither version gives a price.

What the companies said

Footasylum, headquartered in Rochdale, has been owned by the investment group AURELIUS since August 2022, when AURELIUS bought it from JD Sports (AURELIUS). Its CEO, Hannah Mercer, called the warehouse "one of the most significant investments we have made in the business in recent times." AutoStore's Russell Holmes said the project shows how its technology helps retailers "build scalable, space-efficient fulfillment operations." THG Fulfil also made a two-part documentary series about the build.

What went wrong

Two funding stories. "Without the capital commitment" in June; partly capital investment in October.
Fuzzy 212%. "212% of the output" in the announcement, "boosted capacity by 212%" in THG's blog teaser. Those differ.
Vendor data. Every figure comes from the companies that sold and built the system.
What we don't know yet: the cost, staffing changes and how the grid handles peak.

Our follow-up question for Footasylum

How much capital did Footasylum put in, and what does it pay THG Fulfil each year?

Sources

AutoStore, “Footasylum Selects AutoStore and THG Fulfil for New Automated Fulfillment System,” June 30, 2026. autostoresystem.com
THG Ingenuity, “THG Fulfil to Deploy First End-to-End AutoStore Build for Footasylum,” June 30, 2026. thgingenuity.com
THG Ingenuity, “Footasylum AutoStore Integration” (case study). thgingenuity.com
RTIH, “Footasylum's AutoStore delivers goods as THG Fulfil wraps first external build ahead of peak season,” Oct. 16, 2026. retailtechinnovationhub.com
Intelligent Retail.tech, “Footasylum's AutoStore delivers more than double manual output as THG Fulfil completes first external build ahead of peak,” Oct. 15, 2026. intelligentretail.tech
FashionNetwork, Nigel Taylor, “Footasylum's new AutoStore system 'more than doubles manual output' via THG Fulfil tech,” Oct. 15, 2026. uk.fashionnetwork.com
THG Ingenuity, “Redefining the Warehouse: Automation & Loyalty,” Oct. 21, 2026. thgingenuity.com
AURELIUS, “AURELIUS closes the acquisition of Footasylum from JD Sports,” Aug. 8, 2022. aurelius-group.com

Disclosure: [not in copy] Editor placeholder