Shellys tries Love Branding for size

Shellys Shoes is to overhaul the look and feel of its 11-strong estate with a refocus on the brand’s London heritage and a concept store in Birmingham, all designed by Love Branding.

The consultancy won a three-way pitch before Christmas to refresh the identity and ‘retail principles’ of Shellys’ Oxford Circus store in London. It was then commissioned in March to develop the concept store, which opens next month, says founding partner Douglas James.

‘Shellys wants to communicate [its] creativity in shoe design and to get back to its roots as a London brand,’ he says.

The brand’s original blue colouring is reinstated and the handwritten logo has been redrawn, with the addition of the word London.

‘[The colour palette] went through a brown and cream phase at Oxford Circus, but we have returned to the original blue, adding a brand texture,’ explains Shellys marketing manager Fay Carrick. ‘This texture can be created with different elements – material, lighting and so on.’

The identity was applied to the Regent Street outlet in London this month and will be adapted for shops around the country.

The blue branding will give the group’s stores consistency, says Carrick. ‘The concept store in Birmingham, for example, will not look the same as the Oxford Circus store, but the blue will be used and a different texture added.’

Carrick says the most significant branding change is a return to a focus on London. ‘We’re about London fashion. There is still a time difference between [styles] reaching London and the rest of the country.’

Photography, also by Love Branding, depicts Shellys’ products in scenes around the capital and will act as in-store advertising.