Sewn on the Street

Logo and branding for the Slow Clothes Movement

The purpose of this project was to create a logo and brand for textile artists Rebecca Layton and Monika Jakubiak’s instillation at the 2012 Fusebox festival in Austin, TX. Rebecca and Monika founded Rekh and Datta, a slow clothing company, and work to shed light on the unethical treatment of factory workers in industrial clothing manufacture plants. The instillation consisted of a 10x10 tent, standing banners, flyers, postcards, posters, and stickers to be implemented around Austin, TX and at the Fusebox festival.

Team

Peter Silkouski

Logo

The logo is inspired by large clothing brands like Forever 21, Uniqlo, and H&M. The bright red of the logo and type treatment is meant to be reminiscent of sale banners and ads that exist in and around these types of clothing stores. By copying the style of these “fast fashion” companies, we hoped to catch the eye of their typical customer.

The logo also begins a narrative between the consumer and the factory worker in the large manufacturing plants. Though the color pallet is similar to that seen in fast fashion stores and the primary visual is an acronym for Sewn On the Street while the secondary visual is of the distress call “SOS.” This gives a voice to the factory workers and begins the conversation between them and the consumer.

Printed materials

In most applications, the logo was repeated to create and eye catching pattern as well as represent the chorus of factory workers’ voices calling for help.

The postcards that were distributed to promoted the installation were made to resemble coupon flyers usually received in the mail. The type treatment emphasized numbers and percentages used to indicate the amount of sale. However, we utilized the treatment to show facts about factory workers and the unethical treatment by most fast fashion manufacturers. The tagline “What is the true cost of what you’re wearing?” further connects the conversation between consumer and factory worker.

Tent

Rebecca and Monika were using a 10’X10’ aluminum frame tent as their instillation space. Within the tent, they set up sewing machines and encouraged participants to sew their own fabric wash cloths and cloth bags. Their intent was to create a “sweat shop” inside the tent, utilizing the heat of summer in central Texas. On the outside of the tent, we continued the design language of “sale” to attract participants. Once inside, the design remained similar, but the language used changed to show information about people working in real factories in developing countries around the world.