At the end of March 2010, jeanswear brand Levi’s re-launched it’s flagship store in Regent Street, London, with the aim of providing customers with a complete brand experience. Shop Spec finds out more about the ideas behind the store’s design and fit out.
The brief for the refurbished Levi’s store was based on a demonstration of craftsmanship and factory-inspired architectural design. According to Tim Larcombe, general manager, Levi’s Group UK, the store aims to inspire and engage customers as they are taken on a journey through the origins of denim and the brand’s evolution, whilst offering a personalised and unique way to buy jeanswear.
Rather than taking the traditional route of store layout, Levi’s has utilised the available space in a different and engaging way. When entering the store, visitors find themselves in a transitional area called ‘Origin’, which is a light, airy exhibition space, more akin to an art gallery than a jeanswear shop. This room will be used to showcase exclusive product collaborations and art exhibitions, all related to the theme of curation of craft, and will change each month.
The first use of this space when the store opened in March, was to display pieces of art made by 18 different craftspeople, with blown up portraits of the artist alongside them. It also separates customers from the busy, bustling world outside and acts as a membrane to the main store, which is reached through two sets of floor-to-ceiling factory doors.
Inside the store the design is clean and industrial, and mirrors a workshop or factory. Furniture and fixtures are simple, functional and flexible, and can be easily rearranged to create a constantly changing environment. The design of the central floor displays provide a contemporary execution of haberdasher’s counter, yet the materials and method of construction – a metal framework, with a cream stove enamelled finish and Georgian wired glass panels – provide an industrial twist. On the lower level displays are metal palettes, with stacked oak blocks to give the feel of a factory loading bay. These palettes and blocks can be built into a range of matrices to create tiered displays.
Around the perimeter of the room there are rolling racks and shelving display for hanging and folded product, whilst seasonal campaign imagery and duck canvas frames are used to present key products. The duck canvas is a reproduction of the original canvas used by Levi Strauss in the 19th Century.
Throughout the store the observant visitor will notice there are two X’s embedded in the design, from the panelling on the factory doors, to the backlit glass risers with ‘XX’ laser cut into each tread. The ‘XX’ was the original mark representing the highest quality denim produced for Levi’s by the Cone Mills factory, and it has been integrated into the design, further reinforcing the brand’s identity and heritage.
The basement houses the ‘Inspection Room,’ which is designed to ease the jeans buying process. The area is split into zones allowing customers to shop by fit or finish. Key fits and finishes are displayed on tailor’s forms and in illuminated inspection cabinets, with a simple letter and number navigation system taking customers to stock held in adjacent wall ba
ys. To the front of the basement area is a staircase, which spans the width of the store and leads up to the fitting rooms. The changing room doors are scaled versions of the heavyweight industrial doors found at the entrance to the store, continuing the industrial theme.
Levi’s has successfully created a store that simplifies the selection process for customers and offers a user friendly approach, whilst the design and detailing gives a nod to the company’s substantial heritage. The palette of materials throughout the store is robust and functional and connects with the essence of a workplace. Included in the palette is brick, concrete, wood, wired glass and raw steel, together with pale indigo oak doors with purposeful hand-crafted door furniture and cream enameled metals which were inspired by industrial sewing machines, ovens and dryers.
Tim Larcombe commented: “Levi’s has created a place where craftsmanship and authenticity deliver the most genuine experience of the brand in Europe. The store’s prime position on Regent Street, one of the pivotal and premiere shopping destinations in the UK, will provide Londoners and the capital’s visitors with the ultimate opportunity to an engage with Levi’s in a unique way.”