Rebranding a European fabric manufacturer into an African fashion house? Designing and furnishing a flagship store in Africa? There’s a first time for everything. Vlisco needed a new image and we were more than eager to help them out. From roughly polished logo and elegant corporate identity to a dashing flagship store concept, POS materials and website... not a single detail escaped the makeover madness. A story about a centuries-old brand and brand new traditions on the west side of the African continent.

Vlisco is hot in Africa, to say the least. West-Africa has been the biggest outlet market for the Dutch fabric manufacturer for over fifteen decades. Right up until the market started flooding with Chinese counterfeit fabrics in recent years. Vlisco swung into action and decided to completely turn around their brand strategy. They wanted to position themselves as a European-African fashion house and, at the same time, launch a prêt-à-porter accessory collection. The assignment of Creneau International was to shake the African retailmarket to its foundations and lift the brand Vlisco back up to a lifestyle experience.

The Vlisco fabrics are exclusive in their design, quality and price tag. The old Vlisco image did not reflect this exclusivity at all. That’s why we created a new logo, a new corporate identity, website and POS materials.

Elegant gold and royal dark blue became the logo’s new principal colors. The beaming Vlisco sun became the centrail icon for all branding.

Finally, the tagline ‘VERITABLE QUALITÉ HOLLANDAIS – SINCE 1846’ claims the authenticity and rich history of the brand.

IMAGE IS
EVERYTHING

The first thing that catches your eye in the 215 square meter store is the recurrent theme of fluent lines, archs and curves. Almost all corners are curved and the mannequins are placed on perfectly circular platforms. The checkouts and accompanying folding table – all elliptical in shape – follow a soft, invisible curve.

FLAGSHIP
STORE
BENIN

Hundreds of Vlisco fabrics in one space, that’s an explosion of color. To have them be fully appreciated, a calm and uniform backdrop was a must. For the same reason all furniture was manufactured from the same dark ebony. Visitors experience a feel of security in a cocoon of luxury, while the fabrics are free to draw all the attention toward them.

Every pattern on every Vlisco fabric is a reference to an important event, occasion or region. Collection after collection, African stories and legends unfold within the colours, drawings and names of the fabrics. The space in which these fabrics are presented is therefore interpreted as a library. Big reading tables are placed in the center of the store, so that fabrics may be displayed upon them. Classic reading lamps add the extra light that allows the patterns and colors to be fully appreciated. In a huge ‘bookcase’ against the back wall all fabrics can be displayed neatly in a vertical direction, sorted by color, just like they were books.