Stutterheim is a premium fashion brand founded in Stockholm in 2010 with the vision to create high-quality, beautiful yet functional, rain and outerwear. Today, North America is its biggest market.
Stutterheim
Industry Fashion
Geography Global
Impact A category-expanding brand identity revamp
Lynxeye developed a visual identity worthy a world-famous product, the Original Premium Raincoat, that will let Stutterheim expand into new categories.
Challenge
With both new owners and new management in place, the Stutterheim team had taken a step back to assess its brand. It became clear that it was time to clarify where it came from and set a distinct direction for the future.
Stutterheim had successfully established itself on the North American market, leading with its hero product, the Original Premium Raincoat. Growth had been fueled further by celebrity collaborations. But there’s always a risk of a hero product becoming a limitation when wanting to stretch the brand into new categories. Successful lifestyle brands offer something beyond product features.
The brief for Lynxeye was to build a more comprehensive brand world, that reached beyond the founding story of harsh weather conditions in the Swedish archipelago. It should spur relevance for urban life. And it should elevate the premium experience of the brand.
“The team at Lynxeye understood both our high-level ambitions and our detailed aesthetic preferences. We now have a refined selection of visual assets to create a unified expression across channels and collections.”
Lee Cotter, Creative Director and CEO at Stutterheim
Response
An initial visual audit pointed to both weaknesses and strengths in Stutterheim’s brand expression. Some assets needed to be brought up to the same level of fine craftsmanship that is brought into the products. Some deserved a touch of personality in order to express a direction for the future. Others didn’t exist and needed to be added to the identity.
The Lynxeye team developed a visual identity where the core visual assets create a rigid yet playful canvas, where spiritual and temporary expressions can be added. The new design system is adaptive to endless formats and needs, through grids and clear information hierarchy.
New guidelines supply the toolbox that Stutterheim will need to create brand consistency over time and point out a clear future direction.
Deliverables
–Brand audit
–Visual identity
–Guidelines
Process
It was a close collaborative process where the teams from Stutterheim and Lynxeye worked together from day one, even aligning on details of the brief. In the later stages, this e.g. helped secure that the identity was optimized for e-commerce and lower funnel marketing activities, and how their performance can be evaluated.
Multiple design directions were initially explored, the team moving within a space from Swedish landscape melancholy to youthful city energy. The final visual identity is rich in ink and soil. Designed in Stockholm but relevant to the entire world.
“Branding in fashion starts with the name and ends with the name. The brand name for a fashion label carries more influence than in other industries. It becomes personal because you literally wear it. That’s why designing the name into a logotype is such a delicate matter.”
Carl Johan Näs, Executive Creative Director at Lynxeye
Impact
Stutterheim started rolling out its new visual identity in the spring of 2024 and made a full launch with the Autumn/Winter 2024 collection. The new identity solves a well-known challenge for fashion brands: staying fresh while building awareness and recognition across seasons.
Stutterheim’s vision has always been to create high-quality products that both look great and offer great functionality. Each product is carefully handmade, reflecting fine craftsmanship with quality materials. The design is characterized by simplicity, practicality, and timeless aesthetics.
