Brunt Workwear

A new brand in any category has to work especially hard to prove its place, and if that place is in the labor trades category, the work has to be actual hard work.

Building a working class brand

Having realized massive success with a digitally native Italian shoe company, our client wanted to apply their experience and skill to the professional work boot market. They knew how to make and sell high quality footwear and had firsthand, intimate connections to workers in the labor trades. They were confident that they could build boots, but first they wanted to build their brand.

Finding out what customers really want

Drawing on the client’s extensive network of labor tradespeople, we talked to workers about what they really wanted out of their boots, what they looked for in a brand (if anything), and what would keep them coming back for more. While we were gathering clues for brand elements, the client was using our findings to inform the actual design of the boots—product and brand emerging as one.

Creative at work

Overwhelmingly, we found that the relationship between workers and their boots is purely transactional; it’s an average nine-month marriage. Boots work until they don’t, then they get tossed and replaced. They told us that boots are tools, so that’s what we’re telling them—starting with the name, Brunt, and carrying that pragmatic, energetic message from website through social media.