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Nobody wants to talk about it anymore for obvious reasons, but COVID-19 was a turning point for as many professionals as well as businesses themselves. Consider Kari Ihle and EVEREVE among them. The current senior director of construction, store design, and sustainability at the trendy women’s fashion retailer decided to double down on the retail experience at a time when many were wondering if there was any future for shopping in person.
“We have always believed that the in-store experience was extremely important for our customers,” Ihle says. “The environment we create for our customers, the styling we provide; I think a lot of people around us were starting to think that the idea of brick-and-mortar stores was just going to go away. But we’ve built a community with our customers, our store team members, and our stylists. We decided it was time to invest in our store environments differently.”
Ihle’s team has pushed through several generations of store prototypes—moving from what she calls 1.0 to 3.0 and now a refined 3.5 version—with plans to begin work on a 4.0 iteration in 2027. Each prototype cycle is treated as a learning lab, with design changes assessed for aesthetics and how well they keep product and stylist interaction as the “heroes” of the experience (while still inviting customers to return again and again).
“Our product and our stylists are such main ingredients of our stores,” Ihle says. “So we want the physical space to continue to be as supportive of that as possible.”
A New Employee Experience
EVEREVE’s home office in Edina, Minnesota, one long known for its airy, warehouse-like feel and people-first design, has entered its own next iteration under Ihle’s direction. The company has expanded from its original seventh-floor hub, roughly 24,000 square feet, to also take over the sixth floor in the same building, effectively doubling the footprint to support the brand’s growth and creative ambitions.
Instead of simply replicating workstations, Ihle and her team conducted a floor-by-floor listening tour. Every team was asked how they really work, what they lack, and which cross-functional partners they need to sit closest to move faster and collaborate better. Those conversations are now materializing into tailored workrooms, new collaboration spaces, and an updated seventh floor, all organized around EVEREVE’s core belief in cross-team connection.
The literal centerpiece of the expanded headquarters is an internal staircase tying the sixth and seventh floors together. The stair becomes a kind of three-dimensional brand statement, lined with the same burnt wood that serves as a focal material in EVEREVE stores and accented with recycled denim panels made from cutoffs supplied by one of the company’s denim partners.
Behind the scenes, Ihle’s vision has also extended into EVEREVE’s warehouse strategy as the brand’s e-commerce and omnichannel operations have grown. In the past six years, her team has led multiple warehouse projects, culminating in the company’s most ambitious online warehouse yet, now more than 40,000 square feet and equipped with more traditional automation and racking systems than EVEREVE had used previously.
For Ihle, the warehouse buildout was a new kind of design challenge, requiring her team to translate their sense of spatial problem-solving into flow, efficiency, and technology integration rather than customer-facing finishes. The result is a facility designed to streamline online order fulfillment and support the brand’s nationwide footprint of more than 100 stores that continue to emphasize warm, denim-centered styling that has the same feel as the home office.
ESG as a Quiet but Deliberate Process
If the physical expansions are easy to see, Ihle’s sustainability work is more intentionally understated. In stores, front and back of house have both been reworked. Plastic hangers that once broke frequently have been replaced with recycled-plastic versions, with developing processes to ensure broken hangers are recycled. Traditional plastic water bottles have given way to bottle-filling stations for customers and store teams, part of a broader push to normalize reusable bottles and cut single-use waste.
Energy and water use are part of the same ESG fabric. New, renovated, and relocated stores are built with LED lighting as the default, and Ihle’s team has been working to convert older locations to LEDs, while also standardizing low-flow faucets and dual-flush toilets to reduce water consumption. Packaging has been adjusted as well to fully recyclable bags, reusable bags, compostable tissue and a reduction in sticker and tissue use.
Her group also keeps a close eye on evolving legislation, which dovetails with EVEREVE’s commitment to move its denim assortment toward fully sustainable standards.
A Long-Tenured Leader
Over nearly twelve years in her current track, Ihle has layered on responsibilities piece by piece, helping to design many of the processes her department now relies on and guiding a growing team through EVEREVE’s scaling.
“I believe in hiring people who are very good at what they do, stepping back, and letting them shine,” the senior director says. “I maintain that same relationship with our vendor partners who number, I’d say, somewhere around 100 at this point.”
If there is a calling card for Ihle, it’s to let her work do the talking. One gets the feeling that she’d rather focus on the execution than the explanation, though her leadership tenure denotes someone who’s obviously great at orchestrating communication cross-functionally.
“Kari is a passionate designer, project manager and leader who leverages her experience to blend sustainability, design and construction management into every project,” says Michelle Anderson, account executive at Bentley Mills. “I’ve seen Kari work to achieve a more circular economy with ethics and a corporate responsibility through every aspect of Evereve’s store design, and we’ve been fortunate to partner with her for several years to help advance this mission.”
That sentiment is echoed across EVEREVE’s vendor network, where Ihle’s approach to partnership carries the same trust-first philosophy she applies internally.
“Kari’s leadership style—hiring great people and letting them shine—mirrors the trust she places in her partners,” says Mike Pankey, Founder, Landmark Architectural Signs. “She knows we’re committed to supporting her vision by delivering quality signage solutions. That mutual trust makes for exceptional results. It’s a privilege to work with a leader like Kari.”
Ihle’s impact is unmistakable, as is her humility. And she seems genuinely excited about whatever the next iteration of EVEREVE may be.
Bentley Mills has been partnering with Evereve for several years, placing carpet in 50 stores and counting due to our shared commitment to sustainability, design and service. Prima Vista is our signature brand of artisan wool flooring ranging from handmade custom area rugs to machine made broadloom. All Prima Vista products feature 100% New Zealand wool, known for its purity, durability and sustainability which make them a beautiful and reliable solution for retail environments. Evereve stores feature Bentley Prima Vista wool rugs in their dressing rooms to maintain the experience of high quality and comfort underfoot for guests.
Our relationship with Kari is built on trust, dependability and consistent quality. She and her team at Evereve are clear with their expectations and timelines. As their national retail footprint grows, Kari knows we’ll deliver the interior and exterior signage to standards they need. As partners, we’re always innovating to find solutions to challenging problems. We’re proud to grow alongside Kari and the Evereve team.
Look Walls partnership with EVEREVE—guided by Kari Ihle—has been a true collaboration rooted in brand experience and real-world performance. Together, we’ve produced custom wallcovering for EVEREVE stores that adds warmth, texture, and visual consistency across locations while still feeling tailored to each space. At Look Walls, we specialize in design-forward wallcovering with customization in scale, color, and material—helping retail teams translate a vision into durable, beautifully printed surfaces that elevate the in-store journey.
