Dolcis ditches 20/20 redesigns

Dolcis’ new owner Stylo is discarding 20/20’s branding, visual identity and interior design, which were applied in one Dolcis store (pictured) before the shoe brand collapsed in January.

The new branding features the tag line ‘Love shoes, love Dolcis’. It was created last year to give Dolcis a younger, more contemporary look.

Stylo, which bought the brand in February, plans to reinstate Dolcis’ former visual identity, created ten years ago by retail designer John Herbert, founder of the John Herbert Partnership.

‘We are not interested in buying the new branding, since we are not running the shops,’ says Stylo chairman Michael Ziff. ‘We are happy with the old look and intend to run the brand exactly as it was being run before the redesign.’

20/20 says it hasn’t yet received the full fee for the work, and is in legal negotiations with administrator KPMG. ‘Like a lot of people, we are out of pocket, but this isn’t surprising as the company went bust,’ says 20/20 marketing director Mariann Wenckheim. ‘They don’t owe us the full fee,’ she clarifies.

Stylo used the new branding on its website shortly after purchasing the Dolcis brand, but took the logo down when 20/20 complained. The Dolcis website is being redeveloped with the old branding by Stylo’s in-house team of some five digital designers.

Stylo intends to turn the six Dolcis branches it bought into Barratts outlets, one of its other shoe brands. The Dolcis label is being sold within the 180 Barratts outlets.

‘There are many links between Barratts and Dolcis, although it attracts a slightly more sophisticated customer than Barratts,’ says Ziff. ‘There was a lot of overlap between us, and we took out a competitor.’

The shoe sector has been feeling the pinch recently, with falling sales partly blamed on the rise of shoe concessions in fashion stores like Topshop.

Stylo, which also owns shoe brand PriceLess, sold Shelley’s earlier this year to Hong Kong-based Eternal Best Industries.