Behind-the-Scenes of Lamb & Flag

Thursday night, members and friends of the Retail Design Institute came together to get a behind-the-scenes tour at the new Lamb & Flag fashion apparel concept from Kellwood brands. Gray Winston, Vice President of Kellwood Brands, spoke of the brand’s inception and how it was translated from a concept into the bricks and mortar environment. The event was attended by key retailers, designers, consultants, and suppliers. Aside from  great entertainment and networking opportunities, the event was a great opportunity to learn more about the brand.

“The most important thing was to create 4 main filters for all design - product, marketings, smell, sound, music through to the store design...everything  you see in very intentional” Gary continued in his presentation to the group.

1. Age - While this proof-of-concept is proving to appeal to a much broader demographic, their core target is age 18-24 college graduates.
2. Style - Referred to as ‘Casual Beauty with an Edge’ demonstrated through a meticulous attention to detail. “We would spend time on 10 tiny things but the customer might only notice 1 of those, so in the store we had to create over 100 to ensure this comes across sufficiently, yet subtly enough for the customer to take away with them”. A tour of the store highlighted this wherever you looked and even areas you couldn’t see. A restroom in the back of house area includes their logo spelt out in the floor where only ‘brand reps’ would see it. On the customer facing side, wood floors are recycled from an old military base - a concrete infill plugging the cracks - delivering a unique experience in the dressing rooms where again the branding is featured on the floor, with multiple lighting effects that can be controlled by the shopper while streaming multi media on the embedded screens. 
3. Aesthetic - This speaks to the store design’s 'Wrecked Elegance’ which could be seen in their use of beautiful wallpaper that's been ripped and torn, or the beautiful chandelier that's slightly aged, through to rough plaster walls that show water stains. It’s something ‘Beautiful with a Twist' referred to as ‘perfect imperfection!’
4. Emotional - The most important differentiator to the store design team. “It’s not as tangible as the others but equally important to the experience. The smell, the way the ‘brand reps’ interact with you, the complimentary bracelet or box of water offered when you're in the dressing room... a lot of our time was spent defining what the emotion filters should be” continued Winston. “The brand menu on the front of store defines 'beautiful' in our eyes, the beauty of not conforming.”

To read more about the event click here.