The Superdry brand was originally started in 2003 by Jamie Dunkerton, owner of the SuperBrands company and the highstreet fashion reseller Cult Clothing.
What began as a niche brand in some trendy London Denim boutiques has mushroomed into one of the most recognisable and sought after brands for the young and trend conscious, battling it out at the top with Jack Wills and All Saints for the ever increasing pound in the pockets of the nation’s youth.
The concept, for those of you who have been living under a rock, is a British take on a Japanese pastiche of American denim. Got that?
The result is block print tee’s, rugged and durable denims and super heavy weight sweatshirts, in a product range that is being added to all the time with luggage, leathers and the lumberjack shirt/sweat bottom combo that no self respecting home counties teen would be seen without.
What is it that has made it so successful? Well, getting the product on trend, good quality and in front of people is the first thing. A bit of luck didn’t go amiss either – David Beckham being pictured first in the now famous Osaka T-shirt, then the Brad leather jacket certainly nudged things in the right direction. See also Jude law, Kate Moss, so on….
For my money though, Superdry is simply a perfect bit of brand design.
Part of their goal is to offer unique twists on classic products, which it does brilliantly with thumb holes in sweatshirts, stitching details in Denim and consistency across product prints and decals.
Another part of the goal is to offer them at realistic prices. This is the key difference. For once a brand not adding a premium to a quality product, but offering 20% better quality at 10% lower price than most competitors. Sure, you’ll find a sweatshirt at the same price, but it will be thin and disappointing. You’ll find a pair of jeans of the same quality, but you’ll pay up to twice as much.
The brand identity design itself is a lesson in clean, clear and concise, combining a Helvetica-like font with the dynamism of Japanese script. Wrapped around a bright orange shopper, there is no other bag to be seen with if stylish quality denim is on your shopping list.
It is when you see the brand on its own turf – in one of its brilliantly designed stores – that you really begin to see the whole picture. The brand, which has a retail store design resource in-house – has expanded rapidly in line with its popularity, and is now opening standalone stores across Europe. In November they opened their first store on Broadway – one of the largest single brand stores on the entire stretch on the famous Manhattan Avenue.
The first thing you notice is the wood. Rough cut oak panels are at the core of the concept, set against brickwork – the perfect symbiosis of Japanese and American industrial aesthetic. Clever lighting features and a stripped back but perfectly finished shell of a building that typifies the brand: an industrial look but done very cleanly, with very neat finish and an eye for details.
Artificial reclaimed fittings are two a penny these days, but where some brands have fallen into a pastiche of themselves, the Superdry retail design subtly incorporates oil splattered gas station signage of a false heritage that would – and doubtlessly does – fool the passing eye.
Fitting room design is a hot topic in retail design these days, and many retailers commit no investment at all to their changing facilities; thereby losing the attention of customers when they are most likely to respond to service, advice and upselling. Whilst simple, the Superdry fitting rooms function well because they are functioning extension of the shopfloor. There is no dusty backroom to explore, just a clean, spacious oak box and camo curtain, opening out into a huge mirror area with lighting design that would make anyone look good.
More and more, this is what customers have come to expect from the retail experience. It simply isn’t enough to have a logo above the door and everything inside painted one colour. The modern consumer buys into the entire experience, and how they identify with a store, how it reflects upon the product and brand they are buying into and perhaps intangibly, how it makes them feel, are now part of the basic requirement for success in retail.
If a store is a home for a brand, I doubt Superdry will be moving any time soon.
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Once customers feel the buzz they will want to return to repeat the experience.
Windows also need to be efficient and cost effective, easy to change and update by staff. Any fixturising should reinforce your brand values and the creativity of your brand.
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