2014 brandbook issuu

IMPS &ELFS SAYS:

We are pleased to meet you

Timeless Innovators When we – at one of those rare moments – sit down and try to reflect on who we are and what we do, it’s always about being a child. What it is like to be new in this world? To open your eyes and see everything for the first time.

Hello World! From sleeping to walking to talking. The intriguing process of becoming a person with moods, talents and preferences.

Sure, we are designers. We make beautiful, high quality gear and lifestyle products. We also like to be ahead of the crowd. Innovative, setting the tone.

And at the same time we see ourselves as timeless romantics: making the world a better place by lightening things up.

Stirring up some laughs, creating a roar.

Life is too special to take it for granted.

Every day feels like a new beginning.

Hello World! Are you ready for us? Cause we are ready for you!

Fons Cohen & Jacqueline Streng

Being Dutch We like to see ourselves as ‘Inter­ nationalists’ but we definitely cannot deny our Dutch genes. A combination of minimalism, Calvinism and a strong sense of irony made Dutch Design a worldwide success. In case of Imps&Elfs it’s the quality of shapes, the specific use of colours and the tone of our voice that makes us undeniably Dutch.

Shape Imps&Elfs wants a child to be a child. Children’s characteristics, like their build, their personality, their imagination, get all the space they need. First you see the child, then what he is wearing. The true quality of the clothes is in the cut. On a hanger, the garment appears straightforward. But on the body, it shows its finesse.

A shifted shoulder seam, a sleeve just a bit tighter than usual. This combination results in a sharp and fashionable silhouette without being too obvious.

Voice

Imps&Elfs has always been fascinated by language. Letters are beautiful forms. abstract at first, slowly forming words and sentences. Learning to talk, to read, to write is like magic. It opens a door to new and exciting worlds.

We have always been ‘wordy’. A brand with a voice. A brand that speaks up. Imps&Elfs says...

Imps&Elfs has always been fascinated by language. Letters are beautiful forms; abstract at first, slowly forming words and sentences. Learning to talk, to read, to write is like magic. It opens a door to new and exciting worlds.

We have always been ‘wordy’. A brand with a voice. A brand that speaks up.

Imps&Elfs says...

Story Imps&Elfs loves to tell stories. It starts with just a notion. That idea gradually materializes into shape, colour and prints. For the ‘Eat This’ collection we worked with the fact that more than half of the world population lives in cities. What does that mean for the good old country life? How do all these city slickers relate to the ingredients of their meals? Do kids from the city still know that potatoes grow under the ground? And what happens when we mix country boys and girls with urban hipsters?

The whole thing really comes to life when we start photographing. In this case we staged a kitchen in which our models were busy stocking up for winter and making a tasty batch of french fries from freshly harvested potatoes. Videos on how to make veggie-animals made it possible for kids all over the world to participate. Eat this! a tasty campaign.

I am a potato

COLOURSEPERATION

COLOURSEPERATION

PRINT: 82Y622 skyline 1 FABRIC : ADK-58 PRINT: 84Y549 milk STYLENR. : 82Y622 FABRIC : ADK-70waterprint A TECHNIQUE: COLOURSEPERATION STYLENR. : 84Y549 TECHNIQUE: layer A: waterprint BODY COLOUR layer B: rubber 479 camp green

BODY COLOUR PRINT COLOUR A 282 midnight blue 171 frost grey PRINT COLOUR AB PRINT COLOUR COLOURSEPERATION

100 white 427pure apple green

PRINT COLOUR PRINT COLOURB C 171frost frostgrey grey 171

BODY COLOUR COLOURSEPERATION

788 licorice

PRINT COLOUR A 778 future pink PRINT COLOUR B 122 sand castle PRINT COLOUR C 328 red in trees

COLOURSEPERATION

100 pure white PRINT COLOUR A PRINT: 84Y549 FABRIC : ADK-70 A STYLENR. : 84Y549 TECHNIQUE: layer A: waterprint layer B: rubber

328 red in trees

PRINT COLOUR B

BODY COLOUR 100 pure white

479 camp green

PRINT COLOUR A

PRINT COLOUR C 122 sand castle PRINT COLOUR B 344 berry red

171 frost grey

PRINT COLOUR D 788 licorice

Let’s grow!

It is astonishing what goes on during the first 14 years of a human life. From a small sleeping ‘bump’ to a rebellious adolescent; a spectacular ride! That is why we named our collections Sleep, Walk, Talk, verbs that express the action of the moment.

Imps&Elfs prefers to work with body size because a good fit is determined by the body’s measurements, not by the age of a child.

Sleep

A newborn baby spends most of the time sleeping, up to 20 hours a day. That is why comfortable, soft clothes that feel good to lie in are important. The colour palette of the collection is subdued. The fabrics are extra soft and stretchy, so that they feel like a second skin. The collection is made up of layers, from thin and soft to the skin, to warm and protective. Buttons and closures are smartly concealed. Finally, the prints, complete the collection. These prints express in one form or other the start of life: ‘Hello World!’.

Walk

A human being takes about million steps in their lifetime.

Now is the A human being takes about twotwo million steps in their lifetime.

Now is the time that time that the first of these two million steps is taken.

Discovering the world. the first of these two million steps is taken. Discovering the world. First crawling on First crawling on allupright. fours, then walking upright.down Hereand I am.

Falling and all fours, then walking Here I am. Falling getting updown again, trying, getting up again, trying, learning.

From inside the house to outside.

This phase learning. From inside the house to outside. This phase calls for a complete collection. for palette a complete Theinspired colour palette materials are inspired by Thecalls colour and collection. materials are by theand different seasons.

Coats, woolly the different seasons.

Coats, woolly hats, socks, sturdy denims that will only hats, socks, sturdy denims that will only improve as time goes on. Dresses are kept improve as time on. Dresses areprints kept short, ease movement. short, allowing easegoes of movement.

The reflectallowing the sense of aofnew, increasingly The prints reflect the sense of a new, increasingly bigger world: ‘Let’s go outside!’ bigger world: ‘Let’s go outside!’.

Talk

The miracle of language. Letters, words, speech, reading, writing…Once we start, we will never stop. Thinking, wanting, doing. But also: what do I like, what do I dislike?

Developing an opinion, taste, voice. The heart of the collection is formed by rocksolid jeans. In addition to a small ‘Never out of Stock’ series, each season will see new washings, models and fits.

Naturally, there are also T-shirts, dresses, sweaters and coats. The tops are easily layered, from lightweight to heavy fabrics and light to dark colours. The colour palette changes with the seasons, but is always based on the jeans. This way, we create a beautiful, tonal look. White and various shades of blue form the basis. The prints in this collection represent an age group that is rebellious, yet involved. ‘From now on, everything will be different’.

Tick tock

Creating products for babies and young kids has a strange side effect. Since the day we started in 1997, every season, life begins again for us. A new collection, new newborn babies. Forever stuck in childhood. We never seem to grow older. Or do we? At the start of Imps&Elfs our own daughters Ovide and Levi modelled. Despite us, they moved on: That was then and this is now. Sleep, walk, talk and beyond.

Home Everybody understands the word ‘house’.

It’s a place where you feel safe and protected from the outside. This is where you sleep. It’s where public becomes private. It’s where you live. It reflects our taste and character. That’s what makes a house a home.

We all grew up in houses we called home. Either happy or unhappy, home is a base, a reference. A place to go back to. At some point we leave that place.

We set off into the world to find a house for ourselves and turn it into a home.

Imps&Elfs embraces the idea of ‘home’.

We develop more and more products and solutions for it.

Winkel

Story/Store Neon

Hello world!

If you want people to buy your products, you’ve got to tell the world about it.

Here’s a selection of retail campaigns we’ve done in the past years.

Show

In 2007 we introduced our jeans collection, an Imps&Elfs dream come true.

We decided to stage a fashion show during Amsterdam Fashion Week. It turned out to be a magical combination of theatre, circus and jeans. History in the making.

Store story A strong identity, great collections and successful communication isn’t enough.

Imps&Elfs is constantly working on, and improving its commercial network of wholesale, shop in shop, high profile brand stores, and an online store.

Here, there

Imps&Elfs is sold at about 500 high quality multi brand boutiques and department stores worldwide. Imps&Elfs has agents and distributors in Belgium, Germany, Italy, Spain, Greece, Poland, USA, Canada, South Korea and Japan, and is sold in major cities as London, New York, Tokyo, Paris and Milan. We have several shop in shops in leading stores. Both in Apparel and Lifestyle.

Every where

At the moment there are two Imps&Elfs stores and an online shop. We call them Imps&Elfs and Friends. In order to create an interesting collection of products for the consumer, we collaborate with befriended brands and products. Imps&Elfs is planning on opening more ‘friends’ stores.

Precious It should not be necessary to talk about this, but as long as sustainability is not on everybody’s lips it’s definitely on ours.

Hi there precious world, don’t give up on us, cause we won’t give up on you.

Care

It’s part of our philosophy to work and produce responsibly. In 2004, Imps&Elfs was one of the first brands to join MADE-BY. The ultimate goal of this organisation is to produce clothes that are 100% child labour free and made from organic cotton.

These days social responsibility is a demand of consumers, also – and maybe even more – towards children’s brands. Young parents are highly aware and critical. They are very engaged with the world in which their child has to grow up and demand this world is handled with care. Sure enough we notice that our customers react positively to our efforts to produce with respect for the world their kids grow up in.

IMPS &ELFS SAYS:

Are we friends yet?