BRAND & DESIGN SYSTEM
Brief
After a number of controversies the iconic clothing brand American Apparel saw a swift fall of from grace in the mid 2010’s and filed for bankruptcy. The intellectual property was bought by Gildan and prepped for a relaunch in 2019.
We were asked to create brand identity that acknowledged the iconic status of the brand but brought it up to date for a more ethically conscious consumer base for both it’s retail and warehouse operations.
Solution
After an extensive brand audit we concluded that the essence of American Apparel as an icon lay in it’s authentic and candid approach to photography, the unfussy yet all American tone of it’s art direction, and the witty celebration of individuality in it’s copy.
We kept those building blocks for the brand, built messaging around the idea American Apparel provides “Basics For Life” (clothes that formed the bedrock of a personal look suitable to a social and adventurous lifestyle) refocussed the photography around authentic self expression and created a design system that built on the original, clean design but added an expanded colour paletted designed to compliment that found in the clothes. This was topped with a witty approach to typography anchored in the idea of “basics elevated”. We basically, physically elevated the word basics. We thought it was funny and it looked good too.