Brand creation and retail design for a multi-brand kids' clothing brand

Kids Headquarters is a leading designer, marketer and seller of young men's and children’s apparel in the U.S. Kids HQ sought Base Creative's assistance in introducing the brand to the increasingly sophisticated consumers in China's Tier-1 cities.

Kids HQ is positioned as a premium children’s store selling quality but value-for-money products with a wide appeal to families. The products and store appearance are designed to generate an authentic upmarket perception among the target consumers.

The luxury children’s wear market is still in its infancy in China, where research indicates that international brands are widely perceived as of higher quality than local mass-market brands, and consequently command a higher price. We helped Kids HQ to engage kids and families in a fun and highly refined environment, reinforcing the upscale positioning of the brand.

We needed to ensure the design concept is not only applicable to the market, but also to variations in shop sizes. Each store should stand out from the more generic style of competitors, and have the feel of a boutique rather than an impersonal supermarket. The spacious layout and uncluttered appearance of the larger stores needs to reflect their premium positioning, as compared to the more cramped look of many mass-market stores in China.

Working closely with Kids HQ, Base Creative came up with a highly differentiated and personalized design concept that met both the highest standards of China’s retail landscape and our client’s own expectations. Taking inspiration from urban design and building sites, we created a unique retail concept incorporating finishes of wood, grass, concrete and upcycled materials. Influenced by international visual trends, we also created a unique identity system, which includes an industrial typeface, logo design, renaming and a slogan that would create an upscale perception of the brand, positioning it in the higher market segment.

Many retail designs assume a routine customer’s journey in which a customer would follow a short and linear process. Base Creative looked beyond this to leverage on a flexible design system that allows the store to be rapidly deployed in order to stay unique and fresh, accompanied by fun, virtual experiences.