CWT to communicate Howies’ ethics on-line

Carter Wong Tomlin has created a website for Howies, the ‘ethical’ clothing brand specialising in skate- and cycle-wear, founded by former adman David Hieatt.

The design of www.howies. co.uk bears out the alignment of Howies’ clothing range and its anti-corporate, environmentally sensitive values. A sidebar expressing Howies’ beliefs means customers can easily switch between the products and the ideas behind them, says CWT’s Craig Thomas, who worked on the project with fellow designer Marcus Taylor.

‘The previous website wasn’t representing the brand as well as its print catalogues, [designed by freelance designer Sy-Jenq Cheng],’ Thomas says. ‘We were asked to redress the balance [and] bring a close association between what Howies thinks and what it does, between its beliefs and its values, into its on-line communications.’

Hieatt adds, ‘The brief was to tell people what we sell and why we do it in our way. The last site didn’t sell what we were about as much and this [revamp] gets the 3D side of the brand across.’

Though the site lacks a fully-fledged on-line shop at present, an e-commerce upgrade is planned in January, Hieatt says. Currently, customers can use a call-back feature on the site, which tells Howies when to call them about a particular product.

The website project reflects CWT’s on-going relationship with Howies. The group won a Design Week Award for its retail concept for the brand earlier this year (DW 20 March). It is currently also working on a packaging brief, due for roll out in the spring.