Reinventing Sportsgirl as "A Beacon of Beauty"
The iconic Sportsgirl approached global design studio Landini Associates to help reinvent their physical formats. The Australian retailer had recently extended their offer with new reasons to visit - cosmetics, accessories, and gifting are fast growing categories alongside their clothing business, were poorly defined in-store.
Like most fashion retailers, Sportsgirl were failing Landini Associates’ “’Blindfold Test” - a measure of whether your store design has a differentiated visual personality or simply merges into the herd.” Even Sportsgirl's biggest visual asset -
The brief was to better articulate these offers, creating destinations of clarity, To distinguish Sportsgirlfrom the increasingly “beige mass” of mass-market fashion retailing. It’s easy to design a fashion store with minimal merchandise. It’s a far harder challenge to frame density as “controlled volume” and present it well.
Applying their guiding design principle, “Reinventing Normal” Landini Associates’ new retail format for Sportsgirl reinvents its category. The new design articulates the brand offer with calm clarity whilst losing no stock density and delivering operational efficiency. Departments have been created; makeup, gifting and accessories have become distinguishable destinations, reasons to visit, whilst clothing is now ordered into collections defined by Sportsgirl’s brand colours.
Reimagining Sportsgirl’s Iconic Colour System as Signage
Landini Associates’ new design emphasises Sportsgirl’s distinctive colour system as signage, reimagining this unique asset into an unmistakable “Beacon of Beauty.” The bold use of colour creates visual recognition and draws customers in with greater visibility across the shopping centre. Now passing Landini's “Blindfold Test”, the store becomes the sign.
Laying out an “Open Invitation”
The storefront is completely open at the entrance with full height double glazing on the side. An open invitation to customers, reinforcing the approachable essence of the brand.
“Wardrobe” Navigation for an Enjoyable Shopping Experience
Challenging traditional display methods, wardrobe-like units create a clean, minimalist environment – a marked contrast to the chaotic clutter common of the mass-market fashion category.
A Unique and Centrally Efficient Operating Model
The new store layout provides a more enjoyable shopping experience and delivers a unique operating model. The new units effectively frame individual collections, allowing the retailer to style “looks” within each “wardrobe”, whilst losing no stock density. Visual merchandising is now centrally efficient – it can be planned by head-office, designed to fit the store, and implemented with minimal fuss, whilst keeping front-facing collections together.
Combined, Landini Associates’ new design drives customer affinity, sales success, and helps articulate to landlord partners why Sportsgirl should be present in the best centres, in the best locations.
