Case Study
Challenge: OshKosh B'gosh felt they had lost their way and wanted to return to their roots. Originally a quality denim-focused company specializing in overalls, it had become a low-end discount retailer in outlet malls over time. They were looking for someone with experience working with brands that embrace heritage and nostalgia to refresh their stores and product lines.
Outcome: Because of my experience in leveraging company heritage to build brand loyalty and reach new audiences, I was hired as a design consultant to work with the OshKosh B'gosh creative team involved in the brand refresh. Over a nine-month period, we worked to take a brand that was stuck in discount outlet malls to a premium brand with stores in high-end malls.
Roles: Creative Direction, Art Direction, Senior Designer
OshKosh B’gosh was founded in 1895 in Oshkosh, Wisconsin as a manufacturer of hickory-striped denim bib overalls for railroad workers and farmers. It was the brilliant idea of designing a pint-size version for the children of these customers that gave OshKosh B’gosh its true meaning and purpose.
Our rebrand moved away from the garish colors, generic fonts, and text-heavy promotions used in the past to an aesthetic focusing on emotionally engaging lifestyle photography, the classic colors used in the original 100-year-old branding, and vintage-inspired typography.
Taking inspiration from the original tag used on OshKosh B'gosh's men's clothing from the early 20th century, we modernized the design while keeping a strong link to its roots.
One of the primary changes the creative team implemented was to focus on lifestyle photography to create an emotional connection to the brand.
As part of the rebrand initiative, style guides and lookbooks we created to communicate the new vision across all departments in ATL and NYC.
Our team worked closely with the store design and merchandise display teams to maintain a cohesive brand story across all consumer touchpoints.
Having a background as a senior print graphic designer, one of my more hands-on tasks was producing seasonal promotional product catalogs and promotional mailings. From directing all of the laydown photography to designing the "catazine," I worked closely with Senior Creative Directors and Project Managers to produce a 36-page catalog on time and on budget.
Because of my graphic design background with nostalgic brands and my hand-lettering skills, I was also tasked with developing a product packaging system. The system included tags and labels for various OshKosh B'gosh lines.
The brand style guides also included directions for online store product photography, typography, and graphic assets examples.
