Rebuilding a luxury fashion brand to become a modern classic
In the beginning…
Psamathe. A luxury fashion brand inspired by the low-lying island of Mykonos. Their Portuguese linen shirts and weekender bags were rugged, high-quality and tonally apt for the Cycladic spirit that formed the basis of their style.
The problem? Their brand just wasn't reflecting this. Psamathe's image, TOV, positioning and multi-channel marketing was weak, and they came looking to KIND for change.
James and Alexi needed a digital agency that could realign them; rebrand them. They weren’t just looking to get their products off the ground, but in fact needed to position themselves as ideal for the warm crowds of Mykonos.
Our initial conversations with Psamathe took us through their core values. We came to understand where they sourced their materials. Why Greece's Cycladic heart was important to them. What opportunities they had to become more sustainable.
We quickly realised that Psamathe was in need of a thorough brand workshop. Something to evolve what they had already established. A process that would dissect their voice and visual languages, criticise, improve, and build back to create an all-new, modernised and truer-to-form identity that officially aligned with who they wanted to become.
Expanding on a philosophy
We embarked on a full-day workshop, touring through messaging and brand personality—pushing and pulling the boundaries of their identity.
KIND Tip: Brand workshops are a superb way to really get to the core meaning of a brand and why they exist. It's not just there to make decisions on a logo, or whether you'd call your brand an 'explorer' or 'protector'. It's about understanding motive. What are the key differentiators? What makes this brand special? In fact, choosing your TOV and image should be finalised much later. At the workshop stage, your role as a copywriter, designer, or brand builder is to explore ideas. To test the limitations of a brand. Remember to think: what's going to make this work in the real world, and what angles are emerging as we talk?
As we chatted one thing became very clear. Psamathe were Epicureans. Their vision of fashion was not just about the 'look'. It was designed to enhance the lifestyle of its key audience—young professionals that care about the 'good life'. It was about time with friends. Moderated indulgence. Aspiration, transformation. Sun by the sea and embodying holiday spirit, wherever you go.
KIND Tip: Come prepared to a brand workshop with ideas, by all means. But the moment you let a preconceived 'favourite' approach cloud judgement in the workshop space, you'll lose clarity and direction. It might sound harsh, but you've gotta leave your darlings at the door. Keep an open mind and you might just land on the next big thing...
After the brand workshop, our team began building Psamathe’s brand bible. It included all-new messaging angles, refreshed approaches to logo use, new colours. Everything that could be needed to inform how Psamathe should market itself going forward.
On that note, we also created guidelines demonstrating our plans to implement their new style across multiple channels. This helped James and Alexi understand how the macro vision of their brand worked on a micro level; how it worked in practice, not just in theory.
As part of rolling out the new brand guidelines throughout their channels, we got to work migrating their old site to Shopify and building out a more accessible eCommerce experience.
Psamathe bought our full-service branding and marketing package, which meant we reviewed pricing, UX, SEO and helped to begin the content management journey for the two Founders. Managing eCommerce also meant writing emotive product descriptions—again, all SE Optimised.
A little later down the line we arranged a studio shoot, and even advised on sustainable packaging choices. It was important to capture products being worn by the target audience and to fulfil Psamathe's desire to become a more sustainable business. We wrote their first blog post too, positioned on their site to mark their brand values (or morals as we came to call them).
Out with the old, in with the new?
In a brand workshop, it can be tempting to start afresh. To chuck away everything that existed before, and totally reinvent.
One key part of Psamathe was their association with Greek mythology. After all, 'Psamathe' was the goddess of the beach. Their logo? The 'Psi' symbol.
Unfortunately, this was making the brand look a bit dusty. Dated, too traditional—perhaps even out of touch with their target audience.
So, together, we were faced with a decision. Cut the god-like inspiration in favour of something more modern, or reframe the mythology? What would feel right with their Mykonian love affair?
What was landed on was effectively a brand 'philosophy'—drawing inspiration from ancient Greece, but without the naff undertones.
With subtle language changes, we were able to keep the godly feel of their clothing, the Greek spirit. We reframed their messaging by using Epicurus’ philosophy to justify and legitimise their brand. It acted as a timeless backbone to all their creative decisions.