In yesterday’s blog, we dove deep into Abercrombie’s pool of branding blunders. Today, we will take a look at a variety of brands targeting the tween demographic that are successfully implementing their logo into their garment designs.
It has always been seen as a branding no-no to distort a brand’s logo or ‘bug,’ however, in the case of tween-targeted clothing brands, the funkier you can get with your logo tweaking the better. There are even variations of how the logo will be distorted based on whether the garment is for boys or girls. For the purpose of comparison in this article, we will be focusing on “beachy” brands, since we are just down the street from Fletcher’s Cove in Solana Beach.
Quiksilver & Roxy
Quiksilver has a long history of branding, starting in 1969 at the Rip Curl factory in Australia. Today, they have three international brand families: Quicksilver for men, Roxy for women, and DC Shoes, skate, and snowboarding attire. First, we will look at how Quiksilver incorporates their logo into male apparel.
As shown in the samples to the left, you can see Quiksilver does a lot of variations of their name but keep the bug in tact, although small. If the brand uses the bug as a stand-alone image it is typically prominent and large. However, if the name is present, the bug will be tacked on in tiny form in the corner. The typeface of choice for the Quiksilver name is distressed block letter or a vintage handwritten type.
Roxy is the female line by Quiksilver. The Roxy bug is cleverly put together by two Quiksilver bugs to form the Roxy ‘heart’. Unlike Quiksilver, that uses the name more prominently than the bug, Roxy will use the bug as their front and center graphic on a tee. The bug can come in different variations such as a solid color, pattern, or reversed out on a graphic.
Volcom
Volcom is a brand that heavily uses their bug in their clothing. They use it freely, by design. Some variations are reversed out, distressed, different colors, and/or made into a pattern. Just like Quiksilver, if the name is present, the bug is used in a very small capacity. There are also variations of the bug being completely solid or outlined, but the overall shape still conveys the brand clearly.
Just like the boy’s, the girl’s side of Volcom uses their bug in a more creative and artistic way to appeal slightly more feminine. Volcom girls uses just as many graphic elements, but tend to use a brighter color palette to appeal to women. Although, it is important to note that there is almost no disconnect between font usage, as both men and women lines use either handwritten or block typefaces.
The use of brand names and bugs in garments as a selling point requires the brand to be well established and in demand. The issue that Abercrombie has run in to is that people in the U.S. no longer find the brand of Abercrombie to be as desirable as it once was. However, in the example of Quiksilver, Roxy, and Volcom, tweens recognize the brand as desirable. Therefore, it is a viable option for the brands to leverage their established goodwill and prominently display their brand names and bugs in their clothing. It is a matter of successfully implementing the brand image on clothing and marketing the apparel appropriately. It’s that easy!
