Welcome to Drop School, an eight-week journey in which WePresent will teach you how to build hype around your products as a fashion designer. In episode one, we follow young designer Jordy in his mission to come up with a brand name and logo.
This Episode
The first mission for designers is clear—get people to identify with your brand. Jordy’s not inspired by things that are streetwear; he pulls from the rebellion of Vivienne Westwood, from military styles and young Nigerian designers in London. His mentor, the celebrity stylist Alizé Demange, tells him that he needs to think about a brand story so that people can begin to identify with it, and ultimately buy into it.
Jordy knows he doesn’t want his clothes to be logo-mania, in that way you often see with streetwear. Demange points to Issey Miyake, whose clothes are not based on a logo but the visual language of a design that’s repeated. Jordy names his brand Recall Project because it pays homage to the past.
Through the expert advice of founder Ellis Gilbert, Jordy learns that you need a name and a logo that tells your story without you having to tell everyone what that story is. You shouldn’t try to follow trends, instead be confident in what you’re doing.
Gilbert notes that it’s interesting if you can play with your logo throughout the years, allowing it to grow as the brand grows. The bottom line: be open to evolving your logo—and your brand at large—as and when it needs to evolve.
Tweet thisAlizé Demange
“When you’re young and black, they make you feel what you’re making is streetwear, but it can be whatever you want it to be.”
The Expert
Ellis Gilbert is the co-founder of Soho Yacht Club, the West London brand built by the people, for the people. A force-for-good brand, Soho Yacht Club strives to give back to its community with every drop, which offers up smart and sophisticated street-ready attire.
The Learnings
“Try to avoid thinking about what the customer wants because when you’re trying to follow trends, you’ll always be too late—the next thing will already be happening.”
“There’s never a right time to pop. And a lot of people will say “oh, it happened overnight,” but they weren’t there when you were staying up late at night, they weren’t there when you were waking up early.”
“Try to make it as fun as possible, enjoy the process of trying to figure out what you want to do. It’s like being at a party; you want to be around the guy who’s having a good time, dancing and whatever, busting jokes. You don’t want to be next to the person that’s sitting there uptight.”
