Start-rite's serifs grow tiny feet: a 225-year-old shoe brand's walking-twin logo

Reposition Start-rite as the expert that fits any given pair to the child's foot, radically modernising the brand while returning it to its pioneering roots and the sense of adventure of its 1930s-40s communications.

The twins were redrawn to look like children rather than dolls and deployed across boxes, buildings and shoe soles. Type is black and white with a sky-blue highlight; Fiona Burrage photographs children at play; 'keep exploring' print and digital ads turn product close-ups into abstract landscapes for the twins, with short social films of children moving.

No results reported. A new website, digital and print communications and the 'keep exploring' campaign rolled out from February 2018.

Start-rite, a British children's footwear business with 225 years of history, rebranded in February 2018 through Studio Sutherl&, working alongside brand specialist Jo Graham consulting, on a new strategy that posits the company as an expert able to fit any given pair to the child and let them move freely.

The new logotype captures typographic walking twins inside it, and a bespoke 'Typefeet' font was designed so the serifs become small feet; Bliss serves as the secondary font. The brand's illustrated twin characters — part of Start-rite since the 1930s — were redrawn to look like children instead of dolls, freeing them from the logo lock-up to adventure across the boxes, the building and the soles of the shoes.

Studio Sutherl&'s Jim Sutherland framed the work as radically modernising the brand while returning it closer to its original pioneering roots, when its 1930s and 1940s communications were 'full of a sense of adventure'. A new website, digital and print communications and a 'keep exploring' campaign followed, with product close-ups turned into abstract landscapes for the twins to explore.

The feet-as-serifs move makes the typography itself carry the product's expertise in fit and movement.

Redrawing the twins as real children converts a dated heritage asset into a contemporary story engine.

Anchoring the modernisation in the brand's own adventurous 1940s record lets the CEO call it a return, not a reinvention.

A heritage character can drive modernisation: free the mascot from the logo and it becomes a story engine across every touchpoint.

The rebrand launched in February 2018 with a new website, print and digital ads and short social films in the pipeline. No performance figures were reported.