A personal wardrobe you can step into.
The retail strategy behind a flagship for fast-growing British fashion brand ME+EM, built to carry its modern-luxury identity and famous fit into a considered store experience.
Some brands come to us for strategy alone because they already have talented in-house design teams. What they want is the best possible information to begin a project. Our strategy process is about research and recommendation, discovery and direction.
Going through this process gives the design the best chance of doing more than looking beautiful. It pushes a brand to think hard about how a space actually performs, not just how it appears. We can hand the thinking over and step back, or stay on as a partner to the in-house team, supporting from a strategic perspective so everything is delivered as intended.
We build a clear, evidenced picture of the brand, its customer and its market, then surface the opportunities: where the experience can be elevated, where the brand can differentiate, and what a genuine step forward looks like.
We translate insight into a clear direction the in-house team can design against with confidence, at home and as the brand expands internationally.
“A place you can call your own, a personal wardrobe you can step into, and fully immerse yourself in the ME+EM world.”
A major step forward in retail for a fast-growing British fashion brand founded by Clare Hornby on a simple promise, flattering, functional and forever. We immersed ourselves in the brand and its busy, discerning customer, then set the direction for a flagship that carries ME+EM's modern-luxury identity, its subtly British character and its signature flattering pink into a considered store experience.
What follows is a taste of the thinking. The full paper runs far deeper, and stays between us and our client.
Before a single fixture was drawn, we built an evidenced picture of who ME+EM's customer really is and how she shops, so the flagship could be designed around behaviour, not assumptions.
Lives nearby and shops on her doorstep, seeking a personal connection with the brands around her. Won with a design direction rooted in the neighbourhood and service that feels genuinely personal.
Already knows and loves ME+EM for its fit and quality. Kept engaged with a new experience each visit, fresh storytelling and reasons to explore the ever-evolving collections.
Discovers the store by chance and steps inside intrigued. Immersed in the brand's modern-luxury world and educated on the fit science and the Trouser Lab.
High-powered corporate life; wants confident workwear that transitions season to season, with her own personal flair.
London's creative "it girl"; leads trends and happily invests in design-led brands that align with her values.
Affluent and off the 9-to-5; builds a curated closet of comfortable, elevated basics from trusted brands.
Reinventing an outdated wardrobe; needs kind, judgement-free styling education and pieces made to last.
Chanel's RFID fitting rooms shaped a high-tech, personal try-on, one that arms the styling team with live inventory and online data to tailor every visit.
Modular, reconfigurable fixtures and windows that evolve with every drop, keeping the store fresh without a refit.
One unified ME+EM identity that still reflects the community it sits in, so each store feels of its neighbourhood.
The concept is built around the wardrobe, a warm, luxurious space that celebrates the fit ME+EM is famous for. We heroed the Trouser Lab and the science of fit as the brand's true USP, mapped a customer journey from a friendly meet-and-greet through fitting rooms of the future, and used RFID to connect the physical store to the brand's digital world for personalisation and insight. Just as importantly, the work prepared the brand for expansion into the US, so the thinking travelled with them as they grew, handed over and then supported in partnership with their in-house team.
The best information to start a project, so the design performs, not just impresses.