Pantherella is a British sock manufacturer based in the midlands town of Leicester who have been in business since 1937. They have built an unparalleled reputation for the quality and luxury of their product – either under their own name, or by ‘white-labelling’ their product to retailers such as Harrods and fashion brands such as Vivienne Westwood.
They approached us to help better promote their brand name in their own right, and find a way to build on their brand’s heritage.
Many of the early discussions revolved around their extraordinary wordmark which had essentially remained untouched for half a century. Together we assessed other heritage brands, and advised Pantherella to find a way to evolve and update their branding style – without losing its character – and develop a powerful design toolkit around it.
We immediately began experimenting with new ways to write and design their name, investigating multiple options from historical to modern.
Eventually, we began to see that a form of stylized ‘signature’ best suited the word and seemed to exude the individuality and style that we were looking for. With the help of lettering artist Rob Clarke we began to craft the final version, shown above.
The signature can be used in a far more powerful way across images, packaging and merchandise. We also amended their descriptor/strapline to a simpler and more definitive statement: ‘The Finest English Socks’.
Once we had the ‘nod’ from the Pantherella team we began investigating how this would work across a whole raft of applications, introducing revised support typefaces, refreshed colours and new ideas for their art direction approach.
As the new brand rolls out, we’re advising Pantherella’s in-house design team on a whole raft of applications, from simple sock labels through to ribbons, brochures, merchandise and exhibitions.
And as an added extra – and a nod to the re-design – Pantherella have even introduced a new sock range in our honour (named ‘Johnson’). We’re told they are very popular…
Credits
Hand lettering: Rob Clarke