About State ministry retail chain

This is a large civilian clothing retail chain, present in every major city in its country and often with several stores per city. The chain belongs to a state ministry and was loss-making; the task was to make it profitable and competitive on a modern fashion market where it looked badly out of date. Wave built a full sub-brand architecture: a souvenir line, an everyday clothing line spanning mass-market and budget segments, and a premium line. Each sub-brand got its own brand platform and identity — distinct styling, typography and color — united by one shared logo, so the lines could appear together in a single store or stand alone in a single-line boutique. For the two clothing lines Wave also designed concept stores and pop-ups. Deliverables ran from garment labels, tags and paper bags to display stands, in-store equipment, façades and the fit-out of existing and new stores, plus a distinctive utilitarian aesthetic — practical and workwear-inspired, but modern and current. The branded pattern series is built from angular line drawings of technical silhouettes and utilitarian shapes; it comes in grey and warm taupe versions and runs across jacket linings, paper bags, merch and store interiors, and its shapes also appear as raised 3D forms in store displays. The rebrand repositioned an old-fashioned, loss-making retailer as a competitive contemporary fashion offer.