Responses by Oliver Ellis, creative director, Dalziel & Pow.
Background: Canada-based fashion brand RW&CO. initially approached us to create a new store design. However, this project quickly evolved into a much broader project: to transform its entire brand platform and visual identity. With a more-than-20 year heritage and more than 80 stores, RW&CO. already had an established and loyal following. We wanted to engage a new generation of fashion-conscious consumers, elevate RW&CO.’s position as a leading fashion authority and increase its brand presence within a competitive market.
Design thinking: We developed a new positioning based on the idea of “The Lifestyle Collective.” This was built on RW&CO.’s commitment to empowering a creative fashion community and inspiring curated looks for daily living. A key consideration was RW&CO’s dual-gender offerings: it was important that the new brand platform and visual identity supported both its male and female fashion lines.
The new identity needed to reflect the brand’s personality: confident, considered and precise. A significant part of the approach involved creating an identity that enabled RW&CO. to effectively tell engaging stories, from highlighting new collections and collaborations to communicating the high level of quality and detail that goes into every piece of clothing.
Brand consistency was also crucial. We developed the new identity to give a single, cohesive visual language across all its touchpoints and collections.
Challenges: RW&CO. is a well-loved and well-known brand, and evolving such a brand always presents challenges. Our goal was to create an identity that would be suitable for the brand’s future while staying true to its roots. We worked closely with the client team, looking not just at RW&CO. today but identifying the ambitions for the brand tomorrow.
Balancing consistency with flexibility was also a big consideration. The new identity needed to establish a consistent brand language, yet also offer adaptability for different media, dialed-up moments of brand expression and future developments in their fashion offerings.
Favorite details: It was a fantastic collaboration with the RW&CO. client team. They really embraced the process and were excited about the change, so it was a delight to partner on this together. This project was a complete reinvention of the brand; the new platform influences the future direction of the business both internally and externally, and we are proud to have worked with them on such an impactful venture.
It’s always exciting to see a brand come to life in the real world. As part of this project, we also developed a new store concept. We’re really proud of how the new identity translates into a 3-D environment not just through use of messaging and marketing materials but also on a deeper level, looking at the role of the store for RW&CO. and how it can better connect with its customers. We’re excited for the retail environment project to be rolled out in the coming months.
Visual influences: Street-style photography was a big influence for the new approach to art direction. We developed a new tone of voice that reflected this, enabling RW&CO. to talk about outfits and style in an authentic, engaging way.
Color also plays an important role in the new identity. We developed a palette of muted neutrals with strong accents to create tension between refined simplicity and bold expression. The palette brings energy and distinction to brand communications at every level.
Specific project demands: When working with a long established brand, small changes have a huge impact on reality. RW&CO. has a large physical retail presence and supply chain. Deciding to make changes to core brand elements like the logo have huge knock-on effects across many touchpoints so any change, even minor adjustments, have to be carefully considered.
The new logo had to work well across a huge amount of different applications, from large-scale store signage to online channels, right down to small-scale clothing labels. Creating something that can be equally strong on both a storefront and physically sewn into a small label was a creative and technical challenge, one that we loved to take on.
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