VISUAL STRATEGY GUIDE
VISUAL STRATEGY GUIDE
TABLE OF CONTENTS
WHERE WE HAVE BEEN 11
Introduction 19
Timeline 25
What We Are About
WHERE WE ARE GOING 31
Competition 39
Visual Style 49
Audience 59
Moving Forward
WHERE WE HAVE BEEN
11
Introduction 19
Timeline 25
What We Are About
INTRODUCTION After a rapid growth since launching in 1997, American Apparel became the largest apparel manufacturer in the North America in 2007.
BRAND HISTORY American Apparel was a vertically integrated North American apparels company that has made many headlines over the years for all the wrong reasons. American Apparel was started by its flamboyant founder Dov Charney in Montreal in 1989. In 1997 company moved to LA and eventually grew to peak at having 250+ stores worldwide in 2011. The company embraced “Made in the USA,� mentality and publicly condemned usage of sweatshops. American Apparel is mostly known for its provocative and controversial advertising campaigns. The company designs, creates and prints its own advertisements. Since 2017, American Apparel is owned by Gildan and one can see the drastic shift in the marketing and the overall mood and tone of the brand. Today, the company has closed all physical stores and sells its products through online only.
WHERE WE HAVE BEEN
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“Let me be clear who ma It is a collaboration betw people and Non-Americ I don’t think supporting negatively on my brand it look like We’re a respo —Dov Charney, Founder of American Apparel
akes our clothes. ween American-born can-born people. g immigration reflects d, and in fact, it makes onsible business.�
OUR KEYWORDS
ETHICAL We are all out against unfair labor practices. Companies should be supporting underprivileged workers, not exploiting them for profit.
SPIRIT We believe everyone should have an opportunity to work hard and thrive to have a better life. Energetic and highly driven leaders can really shape the future for the better for everyone.
EMPOWERMENT We want the audience to know that they can make differences in issues that they care about by supporting the right companies. We want to empower our employees because we believe in them.
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KEY MOMENTS IN THE HISTORY OF US 1989/1990
1997
2000
After selling custom made T-shirts out of his dorm room in Tufts University, Charney drops out in his junior year to sell his apparels full time in South Carolina.
Dov Charney sets up the first shop in LA. All business operations relocate to Southern California as well.
American Apparel moves into the downtown LA. This new sites serves as its manufacturing center and company headquarters for years to come.
2011
2014
Following an $86 million loss in 2010, a group of Canadian investors agrees to provide up to $45 million investment to American Apparel to help avoid bankruptcy.
American Apparel fires Dov Charney as the CEO. He is again fired as a company consultant in the same year. Paula Schneider is named CEO.
2003
2006
2005
2009
American Apparel launches its first retail stores in LA, Montreal and New York. In the coming years, retail location expand globally.
After a $280-million merger deal with Endeavor Acquisition Corp., American Apparel becomes a publicly traded company. It opens shops in numerous countries in Europe, Asia and Latin America.
Several former employees sue Charney for sexual harassment. For years to come, Charney continues to be the subject of additional lawsuits and accusations related to alleged sexual misconduct.
American Apparel receives an $80-million investment from British investment firm Lion Capital to pay off debt. Same year, a government inspection reveals that 1,600 of its workers are illegal workers. American Apparel terminates about 1,500 employees.
2016
2017-NOW
American Apparel files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and enters into a proposed agreement to be acquired by Gildan Activewear for $66 million.
Gildan wins a bankruptcy auction for American Apparel after raising its bid to $88 million.
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“Anything we want to do, we can do. If we can dream it, it can be done” —Dov Charney
WHAT WE ARE ABOUT
American apparel mission is to support fair employment practices and provide better opportunities for all working people.
VISUAL GUIDE
VISUAL STANDARDS GUIDE
25
WHERE WE ARE GOING
31
Competition 39
Visual Style 49
Audience 59
Moving Forward
COMPETITION
We have researched and analyzed current, adjacent, and future competitors of our brand to see what the full potential of American Apparel can be. We want to know if our brand can stand above competition.
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CURRENT COMPETITION
American Apparel’s current competitors are large fast fashion retailers. There are some current competitors that also focus on fair trade, ethical and sustainable manufacturing of their products.
Reformation is a 100% eco-friendly brand with a factory located in the downtown Los Angeles. They also have two stores in NYC and one in LA.
The Madewell is a clothing brand that has been around since 1937. In 2006 J. Crew bought Madewell and reopen the store. The company declared a new mission that it would deliver “real honest women’s clothes” for 20-30 years old.
Everlane is an ethical retail brand that produces high quality clothing for an affordable price. Everlane has differentiated itself with a refreshing concept of telling the customers the full price breakdown of how much it costs to make each product.
Alternative offers wardrobe staples and other everyday basics with modern silhouettes. The brand does good job balancing simplicity and style. Alternative design is rooted in sustainable and eco-friendly practices.
UNIQLO is an apparel company, which was originally founded in Yamaguchi, Japan in 1949 as a textiles manufacturer. Now it is a global brand with over 1000 stores around the world.
GAP is an apparel company which offers clothes, accessories and personal care product for men, women and children. The Gap conglomerate include brands the Gap, Banana Republic, Old Navy, Athleta and Intermix.
Zara is a Spanish clothing retailer based in Galicia, Spain. Founded by Amancio Ortega in 1975, it is the flagship chain store of the Inditex group, the world’s largest apparel retailer.
H&M is a Swedish multinational clothing-retail company known for its fast-fashion clothing. H&M is one of the largest fashion retailers in the world. H&M has over 4,400 stores in 72 countries around the world.
Urban Outfitters is a lifestyle specialty retail company. The Company operates through two segments: Wholesale and retail. Most of are probably familiar with the retail side of the business. The Company’s Retail segment consists of its Urban Outfitters, Anthropologie, Free People, Terrain and Bhldn brands.
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ADJACENT COMPETITION
These companies may not be directly competing with American Apparel but they all do sell apparels and some of them support ethical and sustainable manufacturing of their products.
Allbirds is a New Zealand-American footwear company which uses a direct-to-consumer approach to aim designing environmentally friendly footwear.
Patagonia is an American clothing company that markets and sells outdoor clothing. The company was founded by Yvon Chouinard in 1973 and is based in Ventura, California.
TOMS Shoes is a footwear brand that is credited with popularizing the “one-for-one” selling format. TOMS has expanded their reach tremendously from where it started. Today they give shoes to children in over 70 countries, totaling over 60 million pairs of shoes donated.
Columbia was founded in 1938 and the brand is known for its authentic outdoor apparel and footwear. Brand is known for innovation, quality and functional gear suited for all seasons, activities, and locations.
New Balance is an American multinational corporation based in the Boston, Massachusetts . The company was founded in 1906 as the “New Balance Arch Support Company” and is one of the world’s major sports footwear and apparel manufacturers.
Nike is an American multinational company that is engaged in the design, development, manufacturing, and worldwide marketing and sales of footwear and apparel. It is the world’s largest supplier of athletic shoes and apparel and a major manufacturer of sports equipment.
Outdoor Voices is an active lifestyle brand that makes technical apparel for recreation. The company is headquartered in Austin, Texas, United States
Apple Inc. is an American multinational technology company headquartered in Cupertino, California. The company designs, develops, and sells consumer electronics, computer software, and online services.
Whole Foods Market Inc. is an American multinational supermarket chain headquartered in Austin, Texas. In 2019 Whole Foods has 500 stores in North America and the United Kingdom. Since 2017, Whole Foods has been operating under Amazon.
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FUTURE COMPETITION
These are the companies that American Apparel tries to become. Here, we have some companies that have a large scale workforce that provide exceptional benefits and working environments. Some of these companies also provide educational opportunities for the qualified workers.
Abobe is an American multinational computer software company. It has historically focused on the creation of multimedia and creativity software products. Recently, the company has made a rapid growth with its digital marketing software.
Netflix is the world’s leading internet entertainment service with 158 million paid memberships in over 190 countries enjoying TV series, documentaries and feature films across a wide variety of genres and languages.
Spotify is a DRM-based music streaming service offering streaming of selected music from a wide range of major and independent record labels, including Sony, EMI, Warner Music Group, and Universal.
IKEA is a European multinational group that designs and sells ready-to-assemble furniture, kitchen appliances and home accessories.
Costco is a membership based warehouse style wholesale dedicated to bring the best possible prices on quality brandname merchandises. With hundreds of locations worldwide, Costco provides a wide selection of products.
Target is an American mass-market retailer operating large-scale food and general-merchandise. It is one of the largest discount retailers in the United States.
Starbucks Corporation is the leading roaster, retailer, and marketer of specialty coffee in the world. Its operation includes upwards of 7,300 coffee shops and kiosks in the United States, and nearly 3,000 in 34 other countries.
Trader Joe’s Company operates a chain of unique grocery stores that have been described as a hybrid combination of discount warehouse club, natural foods store, specialty grocer, and neighborhood store.
Ben & Jerry’s is an American company that manufactures ice cream, frozen yogurt, and sorbet. It operates globally as a fully owned subsidiary of Unilever.
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THE OLD VISUAL STYLE
The old American Apparel’s visual representations were all about being flashy and controversial. Many of the visual campaigns were focused on individuality. WHERE WE ARE GOING
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THE NEW VISUAL STYLE
The new American Apparel’s visual representations attempts to reinforce the brand’s core notions of ethical, empowerment and spirit.
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AUDIENCE
In order to better cater towards our future consumers, we came up with eight fictional profiles as our personas.
Attempting to revive a brand that has gone out of favor from the general public is a no easy feat. We need to get back to the drawing board and start thinking about from the very basic: the consumer. For this rebranded and revamped company to succeed, it must deliver the products and corresponding messages that will resonate with its target audience. For that matter, detailed analysis of eight personas that will have medium to significant relevance for the company’s success.
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AN ASPIRING STUDENT
MELISSA JENKINS 24 YEARS OLD FEMALE COLLEGE STUDENT
Melissa is a Scottish international student who goes to Parsons University in NYC because she believes that NYC is the place to be for her to launch her career. Melissa considers herself to be an artsy and a major hipster. She is especially always on the look out for apparels and other products that are launched by female entrepreneurs. Due to her aspiration to become a true artist, she tries her best not to get overwhelmed by following the crowd with trends. Melissa is reluctant to commit to anyone yet. She believes men have no influence on the way she dresses or carries herself around.
She is constantly in search of creating a look that is unique. She secretly wants to low-key stand out. She is very outgoing and drawn to concerts and music festivals. She frequently attends all the major music shows and constantly seeks out for new indie or underground artist shows. She loves her lifestyle in America much more than her lifestyle in her home country. So she is desperately looking for a work or internship opportunity here. Because she wants to rush to join a sorority and she is currently extremely sensitive about her appearance.
THE MIGRANT WORKER SUPPORTER
SAMUEL GONZALES 30 YEARS OLD MALE HAIR STYLIST
Gonzales is a second generation Puertorican American who works as a senior hair stylist at a busy salon in West Hollywood, LA. Gonzales had a huge struggle with his coming out during high school years mostly due to his parents. His appearance is distinctively different before and after he came out. He goes out to party with his boyfriend almost every weekend. He is extremely drawn to the nightlife in LA.
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He supports illegal aliens because his parents were illegal aliens as well. He doesn’t want to admit it but he is very behind with fashion trends and does not know too many brands. When he goes shopping, he is not very sensitive to the price as long as they are not luxury products. For him, it’s perfectly okay to pay $50 for a T-shirt if he really likes it. He relies on few social media influencers to check the authenticity and popularity of products he is interested.
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A LEADER IN THE NON PROFIT WORLD
JANE WONG 28 YEARS OLD FEMALE CASE MANAGER AT A NON PROFIT ORGANIZATION
Jane is a first generation Cantonese immigrant who was originally born and raised in Hong Kong but moved to the United States with her family seeking a better opportunity. She gets excited to work on cases that involves fighting against child traďŹƒcking because she feels like she is making a difference. She comes from a relatively conservative family who placed a huge restriction on how she dresses while growing up. Jane is very old school when it comes to shopping because she hates buying things online. Especially for clothes, she enjoys the whole experience of visiting, interacting and trying out different clothes before making decisions.
She uses her social media mostly for just surfing around because she is bit of an introvert. Because she is a perfectionist, she cares about the quality of the product that she purchases. She tries to live her life with the mentality that less is more because her parents are extremely humble. And they had huge influence on who she is today.
A WELL INFORMES CEO
LUCA BRUNETTI 45 YEARS OLD MALE EXECUTIVE AT A STARTUP COMPANY
Because he works with so many young people at his company, he is always trying to keep up with the trend.
He really keeps up with the news. He is constantly on his laptop or phone because he has a little bit of FOMO issue.
He is constantly seeking opportunities to try something new because he has a little more time on his hand now than during his younger years.
He is constantly dreaming about starting his own company because he gets so much aspirations from other successful CEO’s who really made their mark.
He still lives with a strict schedule where he wakes up at 5 am everyday. He bikes to work and just loves following his routine on working days. He believes this was the foundation of his success.
He consistently donates to nonprofit and various local organizations because he believes in giving back to his community.
He has recently gotten into playing Fornite with his younger coworkers because he was curious about why his kids were spending so much time on it.
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AN ONLINE EDITORIAL MANAGER
FADY NAEIM 33 YEARS OLD MALE EDITORIAL MANAGER AT AN ONLINE PUBLISHER
Fady is from a small town in the Mid West. Ever since he graduated from college, he has not returned to live in his hometown because he has always had fascination with the big city life. Due to the nature of his job, he tries to constantly watch what is happening around the world on both major news and social media. He is not a fan of fast fashion because he views shopping for clothes and accessories as investments. He basically hates most of the large fashion retailers for being greedy and profit first. He lives by the philosophy “less is more,” because he has been fascinated with Japanese culture since he was a teenager.
One of his favorite thing to do is spending time at the high end gym that he is subscribed to because he is a willing spender for superior products and services. He doesn’t understand the hype with many streetwears today. To him, it makes no sense in overpaying for these trendy products. Instead he appreciates thrift store shopping because it feels better. He fixes old vintage clothes for him to wear as well. Most of his free time is spent on surfing through his Instagram because he is fascinated with how people portray themselves on social media.
AN ACTIVIST OF HUMAN RIGHTS
AALIYAH JACKSON 35 YEARS OLD FEMALE CREATIVE DIRECTOR AT AN ADVERTISING AGENCY
WHERE WE ARE GOING
She is a strong supporter of the Black Lives Matter movement because she believes in equality for all human races. She is very selective with the kind of brand she wears because she wants what she wears to properly reflect the image that she wants to portray. Although she is offered many different products to sponsor for pay, she is reluctant to accept them all due to the fact that she cares about being authentic.
VISUAL STRATEGY GUIDE
She always willingly shares information or products that she believes is benefiting the world. She believes she is making a difference using her large reach in audience. She enjoys going to thrift shops and vintage stores because she loves to wear things that have history or good story to them. Since she is a highly educated individual with an expert level of insight in how things are moving in fashion, she rarely gets influenced by celebrity hype or trend.
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THE COLLABORATOR
JUSTIN LEE 31 YEARS OLD MALE STOCK BROKER
Justin graduated from a very prestigious prep school and wrapped up his undergrad at a very renounced college as well. Because of his educational background, he is a little overconfident about himself.
When he is not in his usual suit or business casual, he really values being comfortable. At the same time, Justin is very self conscious about his appearance.
He wears a lot of suit and business casual because of the nature of this job.
He likes all the luxury goods because he believes that wearing expensive things will present himself as being successful.
He doesn’t like to go to physical store because he believes online shopping is much more efficient.
Due to his high stress job and inconsistent sleep schedule, Justin’s health is deteriorating very fast for his age.
A MOTHER ENTREPRENEUR
NANCY MCLEAN 44 YEARS OLD FEMALE COFFEE SHOP OWNER
She has intimate relationship with her daughter because she is a single mom. She has experience working with illegal immigrant workers because she has hired few before. For that matter, she has a strong opinion about this issue. Because she did not grow up with online shopping, she is very much influenced by her daughter when it comes to shopping things online.
Her favorite thing to do on the weekend is to go to the local farmers market because she likes the idea of supporting her own community. Not like in her younger days, styling herself is not a priority for her anymore because she thinks she is old and doesn’t need to impress anyone.
She is really chill and doesn’t really care about what her daughter wears as long as her daughter is happy. For example, she doesn’t scold her daughter for wearing revealing clothes because she was like that too when she was younger.
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MOVING FORWARD American Apparel will prioritize providing opportunities for sustainable future for workers. American Apparel stands for protection of workers before profit.
American Apparel started and grew rapidly with an extraordinary mission: selling goods made in America via ethical labor practices. American Apparel’s provacative and activism driven operational tactics could not survive the paradigm shift in the global fashion industry. The new American Apparel will not only be better positioned to take on the declining fast fashion industry, but it aims to achieve so much more than just selling ethically produced quality American goods. Minus the provactive marketing schemes, the new American Apparel will continue embracing the original core foundation as an activism-driven brand. The new American Apparel will first foucsing on the providing career and educatinoal opportunities for people under the umbrella of American Apparel brand. But our activism-driven business model will use various partnerships and social media channels to expand our brand mission beyond our just our own.
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TYPOGRAPHY
This book is typeset in Favorit Typeface in various weights and sizes.
PHOTOGRAPHY unsplash.com pxhere.com
DISCLAIMER
This is a student project only, produce for a class assignment. No part of this book or any other part of the project was produced for commercial use.