Harriet Exton I Word Count - 2,200
N0733000
CONTENTS 4 Who We Are 6 Brand History 8 Brand Vision 9 Brand Mission 10 Brand Values 13 Brand Platform 14 Brand Positioning 16 Brand Guidelines 18 Logo 20 Font 22 Colour 23 Image Guidelines 24 Tone of Voice
26 Store Requirements 28 Products 34 Our Consumer 36 Sustainability 40 Communication Guidelines
WHO WE ARE Free People has more to offer than meets the eye. We have created a brand that sells clothing as well as an experience each step of the way. Our exclusive and desirable customer relationships are an imperative part of constructing the community we yearn to grow. At the heart of our products remains the livelihood of our ‘girls’ by promoting self-love, making our products mirror confidence and personality.
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Purchasing with us is a journey no one will be able to overlook in a hurry.
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OUR HISTORY 2
The store grew in popularity somewhat instantaneously. Dick felt the high demand called for a rebrand, Free People became Urban Outfitters.
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With demand soaring, they set up a wholesale line. Dick and Meg gave the brand multiple personalities including: Anthropologie (as we know it today), Bulldog, Ecote and Cooperative.
1970’S
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Dick Hayne founded Free People - the brand which supplied the teens of Western Philadelphia, Pennsylvania a glance of freedom in their clothing choices.
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Urban Outfitters was prospering vastly. Dick needed support, he called for his wife Meg. She helped to create brand exclusives for Urban Outfitters.
We recognised that Free People was a brand which reflected our true values of our ‘girl’, these being: femininity, courage and spirit.
2001 1984
The year where we became a fully flourished brand.
The juventistic clothing was detached from the brand to reveal a more sophisticated appearance. This transition became considerably appealing to the market of women in their 20’s, who strive for clothing which displays a well-informed, innovative and adventurous personality
We currently have 4 wholesale showrooms, located across the globe in: New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and London.
freepeople.com The launch of our online store for our US consumers
Our UK site was unveiled
2004 2002
We opened our first boutique in Paramus, New Jersey.
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2012
2007
Our blog website BLDG/25 was created
2018 2014
Chinese site launched
At present our lines are approximately being sold in 1,400 speciality stores, such as department stores.
BRAND VISION We have a great devotion for multiculturalism and at Free People we wish to create more global collaborations with both established and up and coming designers which allows us to have a niche in a crowded market by providing apparel which is totally exclusive to us.
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BRAND MISSION Lifestyle merchandising is our business and our passion. The goal for our brand is to build a strong emotional bond with the customer . To do this we must build lifestyle environments that appeal emotionally, and offer fashion correct products on a timely basis. Our customers are the reason and inspiration for everything we do.
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BRAND VALUES Our customers are at the forefront of what we do. Freedom is a fundamental component of our DNA; as we crave the happiness of our customers, inspiring us to continue doing what we love.
spirit
By putting our into our clothing and showing our true devotion to our girls, it supports our statement of putting customers voices first. It also facilitates remarkable brand loyalty. By providing exclusive goods at a reasonable price, we have a promise to provide an outstanding service.
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BRAND PLATFORM Unique Contemporary Confident Bohemian Lifestyle Comforting Fun Free 13
BRAND POSITIONING High Price Point
Low Quality
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High Quality
Low Price Point
The apparel market is becoming remarkably saturated in this day and age. However, we are marketing ourselves as a brand which offers freedom, contemporary and fun. Our niche products and services make us distinctive between our competitors as each item and experience we sell are all to a quality specification which aren’t offered by our opponents. As we have such a unique appeal, it is justifiable for us to have a high price point for certain items; although our clothing does range from a reasonable and inexpensive £20 up to an exclusive, premium £2,000. Our main competitors include: Anthropologie, For Love and Lemons and Kiss the Sky as they have a similar scope of products all aimed at a similar price point; however our unique selling point is the experience we offer as well as the high standard of production.
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BRAND GUIDELINES Free People’s brand’s intention is to provide a
UNIQUE
SPIRITED EXCLUSIVE
experience to help exhibit our brand to the public. Our logo embodies all that we stand for with such elegant and relaxed writing, keeping us grounded. This following brand guidelines have been constructed to outline what has been chosen and why we need to continue using this protocol and alter it when necessary.
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LOGO
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With our laid-back approach and exclusivity, our logo was hand drawn in order to be completely unique. Its flowing design, is an ease to the eye and doesn’t have any harsh lines or letters which distorts our aesthetics. The girl behind our fantastic logo is Alistair...she mirrored our brand into a logo, by using a casual and free approach. Just like us. Her inspirations derive from the past, she has a taste for old books, travel diaries and hand painted signs, which comes across clearly in her typography.
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FONT At Free People, the font used on our website changes accordingly with the seasons and how we want the aesthetics to appear. Our principal typefaces for our main website are: Lust Slim and Pepi Thin. The font we have chosen to use, helps to provide clarity and is fresh and slim to offer a contemporary aesthetic. The fonts are used on different products to convey different messages.
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COLOUR C = 0, M = 48, Y=22, K=0 C = 0, M = 100, Y=0, K=0 C = 8, M = 26, Y=65, K=1
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At Free People, we do not have a specific colouring scheme as our hues change depending on the seasons. However, our website has a continued usage of these 3 colours as well as white. The pinks are linked with our close connection with our consumers and the neutral orange is a link with the environment.
IMAGE GUIDELINES
The guidelines we offer are very limited, as long as they are there to convey a message and express our brand essence in a clear manner. High quality images are used on the website to display the clothes we sell. On our
brochure on the other hand, we like to display a ‘vintage’ edge by using a montage of polaroids.
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TONE OF VOICE Free People’s tone of voice has a friendly tone in order to create a close relationship with our consumers. Our tone should reflect our brand essence and values - which is giving happiness to our customers through purchases as well as experiences. The language we chose to use is very friendly in order to give back a positive experience and to show our passion for the business. By having this ‘tone’ it helps to build them longing customer relationships which many businesses crave.
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SELF CONFIDENCE
UNWAVERING BOND 25
STORE REQUIREMENTS A single foot into our store and you’re transformed elsewhere. The store aesthetic is stripped back, raw beauty. There is a common thread of ‘handmade appreciation’ throughout our exclusive boutique to highlight our close touch to home. This is the place where we create the close-knit relationship with our customers; therefore we need it to display all of our values.
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As we frequently appear in wholesalers such as department stores we have to ensure that each one of these appearances maintains our image. Therefore each and every one of our pop-ups have a friendly atmosphere with the same thread amongst all.
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We have lots of wooden accessories bringing us closer to nature, as well as our floral displays which have a prominent place in our stores. There are a range of textures in our stores to create a natural feel. Additionally to keep a contemporary feel to our stores we have glass entrances which has connotations of transparency, therefore showing that we are open to everyone.
PRODUCTS exclusivity
We scream Every
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stitch, every style, every hue is unique to our girls.
From each individual seam to the vintage edged inserts, these unique details will make them fall in love with us more and more. Our inspiration is re-making the past into the future; to design apparel that makes our girls feel free and unprecedented. We frequently produce exclusive hues and perform various techniques on products to provide each item with a “coveted modern edge� to have a cutting edge amongst other retailers.
Free People offer our girls countless options within our collection; even if she takes her best friend shopping, they will leave the store with diverse pieces. beams throughout our collection, highlighting our niche selection.
COLOUR
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KNITS JACKETS
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DENIM
DRESSES
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INTIMATES JEWELLERY
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HOME SHOES
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MOVEMENT
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OUR GIRL INTELLIGENT CREATIVE CONFIDENT PUSHES LIMITS STRONG SPIRITED FEMININE AND COOL ONE OF A KIND
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OUR CONSUMER Our girl is 26 years old. She has all the attributes that anyone would be immensely appreciative of; smart, creative, confident and comfortable in all aspects of her life. Always aspiring for freedom and adventures; that charming yet tenacious personality. Our girl takes any chance she gets, she is fearless. Has a lust for traveling and being surrounded by those she loves.
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SUSTAINABILITY The environment is a key concern of ours. In all operations of Free People and URBN, we endeavour to discover new and innovative ways of helping the environment around us.
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REUSING AND RENEWABLE Firstly, we hate to see any iconic buildings and memories go to waste so we seize each opportunity to utilise the spaces we have been given. Simply by combining the established with the cutting edge, to combine two great things.
Secondly. Restoring. Refurbishing. Reusing. Using everything to its advantage.
Thirdly, why only have one use for one thing? What a waste. At Free People, we have worked our miracles and have eradicated all threatening plastic bags and have turned our heads to lightweight, fabric tote bags. These tote bags can be reused as many times as possible and for many occasion. They are the our answer to saving the
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ENERGY In our stores we are introducing LED lighting which are more energy efficient than the usual bulbs, meaning they last 10 times longer and 4 times more efficient. Transportation of goods has a major impact on the environment, so we decided to join forces with transporting providers who have qualified by “The Smartway Programme�. This programme will help improve fuel efficiency - a little goes a long way and to help reduce transportation emissions such as the deadly greenhouse gases.
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RECYCLING
W E L O V E
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R E C Y C L I N G
As the business grows, so do our recycling efforts. - We recycle paper, cardboard, plastics ranging from 1-7 and also newly introduced collection points for old mobile phones and batteries. With the surge of online shopping our packaging and recycling methods have become a main concern as we do not want to use unnecessary packaging to cause more damage to the environment. At our stores we also use many recycling techniques which coincide with the regulations provided by governments and also we have a programme for disposing lamps which aren’t needed in our stores.
COMMUNICATION GUIDELINES Instagram - freepeopleuk
Our instagram is our communication hub. We use it to create conversations and connections amongst our Free People community. Likes and followers aren’t a main concern of ours, as long as those who are liking and following our page love us, that’s what we care about. We incorporate many pictures of our customers on our instagram who are wearing our products. We like to encourage our customers to include our unique hashtags on their photos such as #fpgirl, #fpmovement and #fpme which help to promote our products. By including our customers wearing our clothing, it acts as another example of what it looks like on or how to style it. On our instagram, we have made it so much easier for everyone to purchase from us by using the #taptoshop which enables customers to tap an item they like on their instagram page and purchase it in a matter of taps.
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Twitter - @freepeople
Our Twitter is an online space where we share images which inspire us daily and hope to inspire our customers. The pictures we like to include are natural just like us, avoiding ‘studio’ esque images as we like to keep it as raw as possible.
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App
The App is the platform which has multiple purposes. Browsing, Inspiring, Sharing, Purchasing. Our app helps us to create brand awareness and encourage customer engagement. We have tried our very hardest to replicate the same experience our customers have in-store, online. Also as our target market are constantly on their phones, this is a perfect addition to the Free People social family.
Blog - BLDG/25
Our blog is a means for us to let everyone in. We have created an online space which has combined all our interests into one. It covers subjects ranging from: fashion, music, beauty, inspiration, DIY, movement, food and shopping. Its purpose to create inspiration and add a little something to the readers lives.