One of the giant St. Louis companies, that employs quite a number of local creatives, announced last week that it was rebranding itself – ditching the name brown shoe & the ribbon logo and going for a more refined approach with a latin word that means "passionate, to glow" – Caleres.
From the in-depth STL Today Article:
“Brown Shoe doesn’t conjure up the image of who we are today,” Brown Shoe’s CEO, president and chairwoman Diane Sullivan said in an interview. “Our name has to be more than a name — it must be managed as a brand. It’s hard to be emotional about a brown shoe.”
Old logo & name
Cali-based Lexicon Branding developed the new name.
NY-based Collins designed the new logo.
Several Collins employees traveled to Clayton last year and spent several days combing through company archives to find inspiration and uncovered Brown Shoe’s Star-Five-Star mark that was used in company advertising dating to 1885.
The mark – a number 5 with a star on either side – was once stamped on the bottom of the company’s shoes, and Brown Shoe advertised that if the mark wore off before the shoes did, it would refund the customer $5.
While we are partial to a name that reflected a true St. Louis success story, it's gotta be hard to represent yourself as a 2.6 billion dollar entity called "Brown Shoe" – like Sullivan says, it doesn't exactly conjure up stunning visual imagery or passionate feelings.
The new mark works for us, paying tribute to the earlier days of Brown with the *5* while instituting a heavy-serifed face (which itself is fairly interesting in blending a Roman-Classical feel with aggressive triangular serifs) that works in communicating fashion, history and authority.
What's your take on the new name and logo?
Let us know in the comments.
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Related article from the archives:
"Brown Shoe Company Branding Explained & Sneak Preview"
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