When it comes to sustainability, fashion is fascinating. And complicated. Simply put, it's something that revolves around beauty, but is made in a way that often is quite the opposite.
It's no secret that the negative eco-sociological impact of the global fashion industry is massive. At the same time, fashion itself isn't really taken seriously — it's easily belittled as superficial, vain, not important.
We don't want to know. And fashion houses definitely don't want you to know.
That — together with the engineered mystique that a lot of fashion brands have to masquerade behind to gloss over the glaring absence of deeper values — creates the perfect foundation for a stunning overall lack of transparency.
In most cases, we don't know how the garments we wear are made. And let's be honest, most of us don't really want to know. And most definitely, most fashion houses don't want you to know.
A New Legislation Landscape
But supply chain transparency is no longer a niche concern of a few ethical fashion labels.
Thanks to new legislation like Germany's Lieferkettengesetz, soon-to-be-implemented EU-wide mandates, and similar discussions in the U.S., even the biggest fashion houses are now required to rethink their supply chains. Thankfully, compliance is no longer a choice but becomes an obligation. And one that brings its own set of challenges.
This new political context provided both opportunity and a challenge.
When technology company Retraced requested for Very Good Looking to support them with a strategic rebrand, the above was the bigger context of the ask.
Retraced, a SaaS leader enabling fashion brands to digitize, trace, and analyze their supply chains, had originally been built with smaller-scale, eco-focused companies in mind: Brands driven by their intrinsic sustainability goals used to be the primary target audience.
But with this new political context, the SaaS provider faced both a big opportunity and a daunting challenge.
So, the big question at the beginning of our shared quest was:
How could Retraced appeal to an audience of higher-up decision-makers in the industry, running companies less driven by a lofty mission, but pressured into compliance?
A Rebranding Process Built on Strategy
For us, Retraced's rebrand had to be driven by two key seismic shifts:
- A changing audience: With transparency becoming an industry-wide mandate, Retraced had the solutions bigger fashion houses were now in dire need of.
- A need for a different brand perception: With the industry's decision-makers looking for professional partners to help them with their new compliance needs, Retraced's brand image had to evolve. The goal was to appeal to managers and their C-suite superiors by emanating trustworthiness, professionalism and calming clarity.
At the same time, the rebrand needed to strike a delicate balance between the company's heritage and the changed market landscape. Retraced's updated brand identity had to retain an air of innovation as the cutting-edge tech solution AND stay relatable to purpose-driven sustainability managers — often the ones lobbying internally for the tools and companies they believe in.
The Process
Phase 1: Research and Analysis
We began with a deep dive into Retraced's evolving market. We analyzed how competitors positioned themselves and identified a big opportunity to combine credible tech innovation with professionalism to serve this emerging new audience. But how would this translate into design?
Phase 2: Design Strategy Workshop
To figure that out, we collaborated with Retraced's leadership and team in an in-depth design strategy workshop. Together, we:
- Validated our analysis of Retraced's current position.
- Aligned on how to address its new audience effectively.
- Refined the goals for the rebrand.
This process ensured that the rebrand would reflect Retraced's ambitions and help the team resonate with its new target audience.
Phase 3: Execution and Design
The visual identity took shape with these key updates:
- A subtle logo lift maintained brand recognition while aligning with a more mature typography and color palette.
- A striking turquoise accent introduced freshness and tech-savviness, complemented by earthy tones for the brand's sustainability roots and a professional, soothing dark blue.
- Typography updates ensured a more grown-up approach, as well as compatibility with global expansion, including the Chinese market.
The result is a brand identity that's says innovative and approachable and that strikes a balance between business goals and mission alignment.
15 Million Bucks Say It Worked
Fast forward 12 months, and we're happy to learn that recently, Retraced closed a €15 million Series A funding round.
First off, we're excited that this overdue legislation will bring more transparency to the fashion industry as a whole and that Retraced has earned the ongoing trust of investors to keep innovating on making the accompanying process more seamless.
Also, I think it seems fair to say that this new round of investment is a testament to the brand's strong positioning and appeal — and I for one would like to claim a couple of percentage points of this success for the rebranding work we were lucky to do for them.
Another success for us here at Very Good Looking was witnessing how the brand design has been successfully put to use by other fellow creatives (i.E. our colleagues at digital agency heed from Portugal), for assets they created for the brand without any additional input from our side.
We claim at least a couple of percentage points of this success for the rebrand.
When something resonates with both internal and external stakeholders, and fellow creatives can deliver on-brand with ease, you know you built something that just works.
Reflections and Looking Ahead
Looking back today in light of these recent wins, this rebrand feels like a collaborative success that we're really proud of.
Retraced now has the tools to thrive in a market that demands trust and adaptability, and design-wise, we successfully bridged the gap from where they were to where they needed to be to reach their goals in this new landscape.
I tried my best to outline the process in this newsletter, but if you're curious about a certain detail, have other questions, or want to discuss similar challenges — hit me up in the comments. I'd love to chat!
Oh, and you can see the full Retraced showcase on our website now!
Peace and Transparency,
Eric
Creative Director: Tina Tenkmann
Brand Strategy & Copywriting: Eric Mirbach
Brand Strategy & Project Management: Laura Sinnhuber
Art Direction: Zuzanna Zamorska-Wegner, Mikołaj Sałek / workshop91
Motion Design: Denis Obmaichin, Dara Amin
Illustrations / Iconography: Paulina Wiczanowska / workshop91
Design Intern: Shuairen Wang
A big thank you to the whole Retraced team, and especially to project owner Vanessa Besler de Castro for your trust. An additional huge thank you to Jasmin Feinkohl for the invaluable assistance, support and planning skills.
