Size? Brand DNA Publication by Lily Lewendon

INTRO

Size? was founded in 2000 and is a brand specialising in supplying the UK and Europe with the finest products from footwear and apparel brands. In the twenty years since Size? was founded its industry has grown exponentially. Size? is a brand that cares about its community and connects with its consumers through a multitude of both digital and physical channels. The concept of the Size? Revive campaign is inspired by Size?’s pillars of sustainability and inclusivity.

It will be a new section within the Size? app which offers users a new platform to shop for authentic, second-hand sneakers which will be sourced from donations from the Size? community who will be able to donate used trainers for reward points. The donated sneakers will then be either refurbished or recycled depending on their quality. The sneakers will be sold for affordable prices ensuring that they are accessible to those within the Size? community who have a lower income.

The recycling and refurbishment of these trainers will also aid in reducing the numbers of trainers in landfill and encouraging customers to be have a more circular consumption habit. Revive will be partnered with I:CO, a leading recycling solutions provider within the textiles industry, meaning that all trainers not in sellable condition will be recycled properly.1 1

I:CO. 2021. Homepage - I:CO. [online] Available at: <https://www.ico-spirit.com/en/> [Accessed 1 February 2021].

CUSTOMER ANALYSIS Size? is a part of the JD Group, however their customer demographic differs vastly from that of the namesake brand JD Sports. While JD focusses on appealing to the mass market, Size? curates more unique and exclusive pieces which gives it an edge to your typical highstreet sneaker store and this edge is what has made the brand so successful allowing it to expand across the UK and Europe. Size?’s target market or “community” within the UK is large and they have a very strong connection with it, “none more so than the creative and student” segment.1 1

LinkedIn. 2021. About Size. [online] Available at: <https://www.linkedin.com/company/size-/posts/?feedView=all> [Accessed 6 February 2021].

The placement of Size? Stores across the UK is mainly within towns and cities with large student populations as well as big music and nightlife cultures, which may explain how Size? became so popular with the main two segments of its demographic. The demographic of Size? is becoming more and more concerned with sustainability with many turning to secondhand shopping sites such as Depop and social media users encouraging their followers to be more conscious in their shopping habits.

DEPOP

Depop has changed the way that second-hand shopping is seen by consumers and has made it trendy with gen-z. It is an app that allows users to buy and sell second-hand shoes, clothes and accessories thus allowing for these products to have a second life.

The sheer number of different sellers also means that the quality of products is varied, and it is often hard to know which sellers are trustworthy. It can also be difficult to tell if products are authentic or not as there is no way to authenticate products securely.

This is also good as it decreases the amount going to charity shops which often have far too much donated to them. Although the concept of Depop is great it can make for a stressful shopping experience as all of the photography is different due to the thousands of different sellers making it difficult to remain engaged in the browsing experience.

Due to the nature of Depop, the packaging that products varies from seller-to-seller and often come in is unsustainable, singleuse plastic mail bags which almost seems to take away from the sustainable elements of the platform.

Size? Revive will combat these drawbacks by authenticating the sneakers before expertly cleaning and repairing them ready to be sold to the Size? community. This will both ensure that buyers have a trusted platform to shop for authentic second-hand trainers and also that the quality is consistent. Revive will further enhance the second-hand shopping experience by professionally photographing products allowing for consumers to have a much more pleasant journey. 1 1

Depop. 2021. About. [online] Available at: <https:// www.depop.com/about/> [Accessed 1 February 2021].

RESELLFRIDGES

There are retailers already RESELLFRIDGES branching into the second-hand market with Selfridges launching its second-hand buying scheme – RESELLFRIDGES. This was created as part of Selfridges Project Earth (Selfridge’s sustainability and ethos plan) which is an exploration into how Selfridges can change the way that consumers shop by 2025.1 Selfridges believe that by encouraging a transition to more sustainable materials and exploring new types of business models they can help to create a more sustainable future for the fashion retail industry. RESELLFRIDGES is a new luxury shopping avenue which allows people to sell their old bags to be re-sold by RESELLFRIDGES2 as well as 1 Selfridges.com. 2021. OUR COMMITMENTS | Project-Earth | Selfridges. [online] Available at: <https://www. selfridges.com/GB/en/features/project-earth/commitments/> [Accessed 2 February 2021].

Resellfridges.com. 2021. Resellfridges | Sell Your Pre-Loved Accessories with Selfridges. [online] Available at: <https://www.resellfridges.com> [Accessed 2 February 2021].

This initiative helps to cut back on waste within the luxury fashion market which is one of the most renowned sectors for burning unsold items in order to reduce the risk of them becoming less exclusive. In 2017 Burberry reported that it destroyed $36.8 million worth of its own merchandise to preserve its reputation and RESELLFRIDGES could help to prevent brands from feeling inclined to do this as it gives them a platform to sell the expired collections in an established, luxury department store. Although there are differences in the products offered Size? Revive will offer customers a similar concept of having the ability to shop for authentic, branded sneakers second-hand through a trusted outlet.

ROUTE ONE

Brands are now more than every encouraging their customers to become more aware of the impact of their consumption habits. Route One is an independent British skate store offering products in both skate and street fashion and stores acting as hubs for their local skate scene.1 Founded in Bristol in 1989, Route One has expanded across cities in the south of England and Scotland over the past three decades. It is also popular within the same demographic as Size? and its seven stores are located in the same student-populated cities as some of Size?s’ stores. 1 Route One. 2021. About Us. [online] Available at: <https://

www.routeone.co.uk/pages/about-us footnote 2> [Accessed 1 February 2021].

Route One is very much focused on sustainability and as well as using 100% recyclable paper bags for both in-store and online purchases, they have a sustainable range of products including garments, skateboards and trainers which encourages their customers to make more sustainable purchases.

This further encourages their community to be more sustainably minded and helps to reduce the number of skateboards in landfill sites. This is a great concept to look at in regard to rewarding consumers for more sustainable consumption habits which is what Size? Revive proposes.

To further this encouragement of sustainability within its consumers, Route One set up their “Deckable Scheme”, after finding out that approximately 350,000 skateboards end up in landfill each year, which offers customers £5 to take their old or broken boards into stores to be recycled.

However, there could be a slight issue with immediately offering monetary rewards as it could see people abusing the system so a points system resulting in either monetary vouchers or discounts would be much effective and give people a bigger reason to donate more.

BRAND ARCHITECTURE

To understand Size? completely we must look at its parent company JD Group, there are currently twenty different brands within the JD group catering to sports, fashion and outdoor activities like climbing and hiking with a mixture of high-street and luxury/aspirational stores selling a vast variety of brands. Within the group Size?s’ twentyfive stores sit mainly within the UK market which accounted for 43% of their total 2020 revenue of “£6,110.8 million” with the USA and Europe each contributing to 26% and 5% from the rest of the world.1 The JD Group is an international company with a whopping total of 2600 stores across 20 1Jdplc.com. 2021. Key Facts* - JD Group. [online] Available at: <https://www.jdplc.com/key-facts> [Accessed 5 February 2021].

International expansion of the JD Group began in 2010 (with Size?’s first international store in 2012) and over the past eleven years they have continued to expand at a rapid pace. Most recently the JD Group “acquired Shoe Palace, a retailer of branded sports footwear and apparel based on the West Coast of the U.S.” which has 167 stores mainly within California with a “strong connection with Hispanic and Latino communities”.1 This acquisition of the JD Group displays how globalised the company is becoming and that it is acknowledging the connection between its international stores with the communities that they are within. 1 Jdplc.com. 2021. Our History - JD Group. [online] Available at: <https://www.jdplc.com/our-history> [Accessed 5 February 2021].

BRAND PERSONSLITY The concept of community runs from the top of the JD Group and continues into its many brands. One of Size?’s USPs is its sense of community and although they don’t have a particular mission statement, in this digital age their Instagram biography could easily be seen as one. The tagline of “The authentic community sneaker store since 2000.”1 really defines how they want to be perceived by consumers. It is the perfect sentence to concisely describe who they are and what they stand for.

The Size? pillar of “youth development” also stems from the JD Group who have a charity named The JD Foundation which “aims to support charities working with disadvantaged young people in the UK. The JD Foundation works with a number of youth charity partners, including mental health and homeless charities.1 The Size? Revive campaign will be splitting its profits with half going to charities of the Size? communities’ choice and the other being invested back into Revive.

The use of the word ‘community’ is very important within this tagline as it infers that Size? want to positively contribute towards society which is reflected within three of their brand pillars:

This will allow for different charities to benefit and the community to feel involved and included within the decision making thus adding another element to Size?’s community

Instagram. 2021. sizeofficial. [online] Available at: <https://www.instagram.com/sizeofficial/> [Accessed 2 February 2021].

Jdplc.com. 2021. The JD Foundation. [online] Available at: <https://www.jdplc.com/jd-foundation> [Accessed 5 February 2021].

THE MARKET Within its UK market, Size? is positioned in a fairly central location. It is in a relatively empty part of the market with it being a high-street brand whilst still stocking exclusive and limited pieces. It is in a relatively spacious section of the market meaning that there is plenty of room for Size? to grow. One of the ways in which it can do this is to

market as there is also a gap in the market within this sector for something like Size? Revive, a trusted second hand sneaker store, and refurbisher, run by an established footwear supplier. This ability to appeal to and reach both the second-hand and primary markets would give Size? an edge over its competitors and make it a leader within the market.

VISUAL SYSTEMS Size?s’ branding is extremely clear and coherent across all of its platforms. Starting off, the name Size? is very unique especially as the punctuation is actually a part of the name. The distinctness of the name fits with their exclusive product range and further differentiates them from other trainer stores which seem to have similar sounding names such as Footlocker and Foot Asylum. The colour orange is used for the logo and also features throughout the multiple channels that Size? has, not only is this a bright, attention grabbing colour, but its namesake is also a fruit that is divided into many parts just like Size?. From the perspective of colour psychology, orange is a warm colour which can evoke “feelings of warmth and comfort”1 which 1

Cherry, K., 2021. How Does Orange Influence Your Moods?. [online] Verywell Mind. Available at: <https://www. verywellmind.com/the-color-psychology-of-orange-2795818> [Accessed 5 February 2021].

further plays on that sense of community amongst the Size? brand and their consumers. Nearly all typeface used throughout Size?’s channels is bold, clear and sans-serif giving it a very contemporary feel. This style of typography is also very minimalistic and that design style is carried through in the brands imagery and tagline too. I t will be important to continue these elements and stylistic choices within the Size? Revive campaign as the two should flow together well however, having a more “hand-made” and less sleek look will ensure that Revive is set apart from the main Size? brand. This will allow it to have its own identity.

CHANNELS

Size? has a multitude of digital platforms which all flow together well. This multi-channel approach is one of the reasons that the brand is successful, according to the JD Group Size? has the greatest levels of online sales. This infers that Size?’s demographic shop mainly online and by actively using different social channels it will draw in customers to the online shop.

This blog gives a platform to both small and large creatives and encourages the sense of community that is a vital part of the Size? brand. The Size?Sessions are a series of DJ sets by artists from a range of different genres, they are featured on the Size?Blog and are also published on Size?TV which is the brands YouTube channel.

The Size?Blog is an extension of the Size? website and offers users content such as: Size?Sessions, exclusive interviews with musicians, artists and designers, history lessons on music genres such as Grime and Garage, news about upcoming drops and much more.

This multi-channel feature helps to connect the brands social channels to their website and by airing the sets on YouTube reaches a far wider audience than just current Size? customers thus allowing the sets to act as advertisement for the brand as it is likely that people who enjoy the sets on YouTube are within Size?’s demographic.

SOC IAL PLATFORM S

Size?s’ Instagram account has a huge following of one-million and continues the minimal style of the blog with a range of simple content consisting of flat-lays, videos and some e-commerce images.

The main source of advertising that Revive will use is Instagram adverts as, according to a survey of Size?’s demographic, 84.5% said that the platform where they would pay the most attention to adverts is Instagram.

This account is far more product focussed than the YouTube account which is great because Instagram is mainly used for product placement and advertisements nowadays.

Revive will use more illustrative content to set it apart from Size?’s main posts and also play homage to the different creatives that Size? celebrates through its blog.

Size? Revive will use Size?’s main account to promote itself rather than creating a secondary account as this will allow it to reach all of the pre-existing followers that Size? has.

The use of illustration will also make it feel more home-made and less commercial than Size? thus giving it its own identity with followers.

SOCIAL PLATFORM S

On the contrary of these two well performing channels, the Size? TikTok account has extremely low engagement levels. TikTok is a relatively new channel with plenty of room for growth and an algorithm that can help you to reach millions of people around the world. Size?’s content on TikTok needs to be less product/advertisement orientated and more organic as that is what the apps users like to see and interact with more. Revive will not be running a TikTok campaign as it wouldn’t get paid attention to enough to justify it. In the future, posts by the community and by Size?’s TikTok account could be a good way to promote the campaign as many users on TikTok post about “thrifting” and Depop but it is not the right platform to launch Revive with.

Twitter and Facebook both also have lower engagement levels too however they are mainly used now for customer service and advertising by most brands so this is a common trend in most brands that use these two social media platforms. Twitter has a slight edge over Facebook as it allows posts to be seen on peoples feeds even if they aren’t following them so posts may have a wider reach. However, according to a survey conducted by me the majority of Size?’s demographic doesn’t tend to use Facebook and Twitter often with 41% rarely using Twitter and 30% rarely using Facebook. Rather than creating a Facebook and Twitter specific campaign there is an option for both of these platforms to repost Instagram content so this would be the best option to announce Size? Revive on these channels.

CONCLUSION conclusion

From looking at the secondhand market, it is clear that there is a gap in the market for Size? Revive which will further set Size? apart from its competitors and aid in the journey for Size? to become more sustainable. Revive aims to encourage consumers to consider a more sustainable and circular consumption habit, although Depop is already doing this it is not as trustworthy or consistent as products are uploaded by individual users as opposed to going through a central system. This is what will make Size? Revive unique and a trusted place to purchase second-hand trainers from. The campaign embodies two of Size?’s pillars, inclusivity and sustainability,

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