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CloseAllen Edmonds has been making men's luxury footwear and accessories for 85 years, its loyal fan base consisting largely of older, functionally minded businessmen. To reach a younger market, Allen Edmonds' parent company Goldner-Hawn approached IDEO to redefine brand vision and enrich the customer experience. The outcome was a deeper understanding of the target audience, the definition of brand equities, and new trajectories for product lines, communications, and retail spaces.
With this framework established, IDEO and Allen Edmonds began to prototype ways to re-launch the brand while deepening the existing customer relationship. This included recommendations for the discontinuing of "off brand" product extensions, the creation of product lines to appeal to a new audience, creative messaging, and a new retail experience.
IDEO planned spaces that would elevate the significance of the product through storytelling and service gestures. Prototypes for several sites took into account differing locations, retail adjacencies, and footprints. The essence of the experience remained consistent across the range of sites, but responded to significant local contexts and opportunities. Allen Edmonds plans to launch twenty new IDEO-inspired stores over the next two years, expanding its company-owned retail presence by nearly 80%.
Reinvigorating a menswear brand through space and experience.
Allen Edmonds, an 85-year-old luxury men’s brand known for handcrafted footwear, approached IDEO to connect to a younger audience and reinvent the men’s shoe-buying experience. IDEO examined the Allen Edmonds brand through four lenses— the customer, the organization, the journey, and the experience. The results combined a redefined brand vision, a prototype for a new retail spatial experience that created deeper customer connections, and a more engaging expression of brand elements.
[+]In 2007, total sales for the U.S. footwear market (combined fashion and athletic footwear) totaled $44.4 billion. (The NPD Group)
Awards
Finalist, Environments
In the Press
"A Tradionalist Walks a Fine Line"
The Wall Street Journal, May 31, 2007
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Shoemaker Allen Edmonds Aims to Reach Younger Men by Touting Old-school Quality... [Read about how IDEO helped Allen Edmonds attract a younger following on WSJ.com]
Inspiration & Influence
The team was inspired by the recent resurgence and recovery of vinyl by youth culture – not just for DJ-ing, but for recreational listening.
