BRANDING STRATEGY
Kates
apparel
Oct 2019
Kates Apparel is a cultural fashion retail store that sells apparel directly to customers. They tailor their products towards customers from the Caribbean, who are culturally invested in their countries and heritage. Kates Apparel began in the early 2000's. They sell Caribbean inspired fashion apparels in a representation and celebration of the Caribbean independent and rich heritage. They believe it is their mission to inspire and inform individuals of the importance of Independence to Caribbean countries through fashion.
Duration
4 WEEKS
Role
IDENTITY DESIGN
Designing the project had us consuming mass media around Caribbean heritage, and independent of the different Caribbean countries, but importantly also aiming to understand and participate in the conversation of ‘why people are inspired by fashion’.
Challanges
Designing this product had us evaluating minimalism and the road it plays in the fashion industry. As people of the Caribbean, we were already partially informed of the heritage and the cultural impact, the Caribbean has had on larger archipelago around the world. Unfortunately, we were not as versed in the fashion industry, and that remained our biggest challenge, we explored many avenues, aiming for one that resembled and maintained a synchronicity to the project and expectations of the client.
Goals
Our goal was to design a logo that represent unison in design, and in gender. As most fashion stores are tailored towards women – we chose to congregate on a design that command simplicity, unison and hierarchy and structure, as with independence, so comes stability, else there will be nothing but chaos.
As a fore mentioned, we danced around many design options and decisions, before choosing one that functionally agreed with all of the adjectives we consulted on. In a resemblance to unison, simplicity, structure and hierarchy.
Our decision to go with this design was very much intentional, it not only represents how Caribbean people, black people have been feeling about themselves, kings and Queen of culture, but also, unison, simplicity and structure.
