Sweaty Betty
Founded in London in 1998, Sweaty Betty’s vision is to empower women through fitness by filling a gap in the market for premium active wear designed for women by women. The brand had been acquired by the Wolverine Group in 2023 and was looking to expand beyond it’s UK retail base into International and wholesale markets.
The brief
Sweaty Betty was highly retail led taking it’s creative direction from the sales performance of classic items with their existing consumer base and repeating the formula each season. Our aim was to open up the brand to new and innovative product that brought it’s purpose driven message to life, and to introduce a directional and brand driven approach for the ranges. Over the course of 18 months, we wrote an entirely new creative direction for the brand, starting with consumer and macro trends in health and wellness, and working closely with the brand team, we focused on the idea of the outdoor gym and all it’s holistic mental and physical health benefits, building together the overarching concept of ‘Nature’s Gym’.
Purposeful direction
We researched extensively into macro trends relevant for the Sweaty Betty’s ‘Made Well Mover’ consumer, and followed where she led us. Authenticity and community were the 2 of the most important attributes. Running, studio, adventure and travel were the most important parts of her active lifestyle. From here we started to create the framework that would speak to how she moved through her life.
Re-setting the range
We worked with the product team to change the framework of the ranges. Moving from an item led approach, focused on hero items like the Power legging towards the idea of full outfits and vertical collections. We created consumer facing, product pillars focused on end use, extending the breadth of product for the team to plan and design into. We evened out the balance of performance and lifestyle product to reflect a more modern, blended approach in keeping with how women dress now. so the studio stylists could create outfits for the store windows and website landing pages, and wholesale could create a complete collection for the shop floor.
Telling the story
Together with the brand marketing team, we developed and implemented seasonal and monthly creative concepts. Based around a colour trend, an event, an activity we told the brand stories through product and the brand ambassadors. We created monthly concepts to flow through the seasons aligning style, colour, print and fabrication to the brand narrative, allowing the product to align and flow across the brand touchpoints, bringing consumer connection and story telling to the fore.
Rachel is a pleasure to work with - as well as being a creative genius!
Her ability to build brand led concepts with the consumer at the heart - is a great talent, and one that always delivers results. She did a fantastic job of bringing this to life with the Sweaty Betty team.
Her extensive research and commercial acumen combine to bring an end in mind vision that engages her team, inspires the consumer and delivers for the brand. Her leadership and creative direction was hugely appreciated.
A value add leader, partner and creative mind.
Helen Harding
Chief Product Officer; Sweaty Betty
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