Case Studies : Reinventing an Apparel Brand

Challenge
Fifteen years after this well-known brand first hit the global fashion scene, times had changed and a rebranding project was clearly needed. The client was looking for a roadmap and a framework for evaluation that would ensure that the creative director’s worldview would continue to be communicated effectively to customers and could also be translated smoothly into new product lines.

Solution
To support the rebranding process, id10 japan spent two months conducting interviews and focus groups at client locations in several
countries. After thoroughly assessing the current position of the brand and rediscovering the brand’s uniqueness and distinctive appeal, id10 japan created a report to guide the formulation of a new brand structure and help with the naming considerations that were already underway, proposing a comprehensive roadmap for the process. The report was provided in both English and Japanese.

Results
By participating in the process leading up to the id10 japan report and reviewing the id10 japan proposal, the creative, production, management, and retail teams at the client came together around a new shared vision for the brand. They agreed on the obstacles to overcome and the issues that had to be addressed to make their vision a reality. With id10 japan’s help, they were able to build a common framework for answering vital strategic questions and unite around new solutions. Finally, id10 japan helped the client apply the brand-building perspective to the brand name changes that were being considered. After deciding the new brand names, the client confidently embarked on the new business development process.

Client comment
“One of the greatest benefits we gained through this project was a new sense of unity and common understanding among top management and the various department heads. Fashion brands like ours have an intangible emotional component. Emotion is an essential part of our business, but it also makes identifying issues and agreeing on goals a real challenge. id10 japan helped us see that we can’t convey the unique identity of our brand to the world any better than we understand it ourselves, let alone succeed in creating new fashion trends. The report we received clearly demonstrated id10 japan’s brand-building expertise. In the apparel industry, we have people driven primarily by logic and others who rely mostly on intuition. id10 japan’s genius was the ability to get us all on the same page. Thanks to the report, we are now working as a team to plan our future business strategy.”