ASSOS Boutique London

Client: ASSOS of Switzerland

Location: Regent Street, London

Year: 2016

 

Brief: To design a retail showcase that celebrates ASSOS’ range of high performance cycling-wear, taking inspiration from the unique selling points of the brand’s iconic identity. The site was to be the first flagship store and retail venture outside of Switzerland.

In response to this brief we populated the shop with bespoke fittings inspired by the engineering and mechanics of bicycles and the passion for precision, craft and tenacity that goes into their design, reminding people why they cycle and where their bike could take them.

We worked with the brand’s established monochromatic identity, enriching it through materiality and imagery within a series of dynamic, large format environment scaled devices.

On entering the store the visitor is greeted by 6 revolving double height, fibre-glass hoops displaying key pieces of the current ASSOS range. Running across the whole width of the store, the back wall holds a continuous hanging rail containing graphics and displaying garments, its form inspired by the famous ASSOS bike frame. Black steels support white shelves and along with a black rubber floor work to deconstruct the black and white of the brand logo so customers feel they have truly stepped inside the ASSOS world.

Two giant rotating panel billboards either side of the shop entrance show images of people cycling in ASSOS across different landscapes and, to immerse customers further, communication towers tell inspirational stories – from tales of the cycling heroes who have won in ASSOS, to updates of the latest technical advances that can be found in their cycle wear.

At the very back of the store is the ellipse – a living embodiment of the iconic logo -that contains all stock for the shop displayed like precious objects in a museum. The space, with its back lit ceiling, mirrored changing room doors and mounted fixed test bike in pride of place, invites you to try on and test out any item in the store, helping you to imagine how the high functioning garments will perform out on the road.

The first floor offers an intimate environment – more showroom than shop – that can be used for special events. Up here a timeline explores the history of the brand and celebrates its key contributions to the cycling world such as the invention of the carbon fibre bicycle and lycra cycling shorts.