Entrepreneur, designer, and community leader Houston White has built a community hub, retail space and growing apparel and accessories business over the past 13 years under the brand HWMR, or Houston White Men’s Room – his barbershop in North Minneapolis. 10 Thousand Design helped solidify Houston White as a brand unto itself, with distinct product brands supporting it.
Altogether, the project included: A master brand identity that reflects the different collections, and Houston’s sense of community as family and brand as a connecting force; a brand book that evokes the intention, distinction, and spirit of the brand, telling the story of its cultural roots and evolution from a community-building barbershop to a conscious fashion design house; lookbooks that showcase seasonal collections with striking photography alongside the design details for each piece and notes on the cultural ideas that inspired them; a new identity for the New Classic product line that takes cues from vintage formalwear, specifically Black Ivy League styles, and offers new perspectives on traditional forms; an identity for the new Viictory line of sportswear that brings bolder hues and cultural textures with the intention of opening sports like golf and tennis to more players and communities of color; and branding for the Fresh product collection that offers leisure looks for feeling good and living big.
The master brand identity is born of one of the very first sketches Houston himself created to blend the H and W of his name; 10 Thousand Design redesigned the crest to elevate the original symbols of Black excellence and add the tools that the Houston White brand uses to bring people, cultures and communities together.
Creative credits for the branding project include: Executive Design Director Ed Bennett, Managing Director Kristin Woxland, Group Creative Director Sam Soulek, Group Design Director/Brand Experience Patrick Anders, Strategy Director Casie Cook, Associate Design Director Dustin Hackwith, Associate Design Director/Writer Hojo Willenzik, Associate Account Director Mandy Rutherford, Associate Designers Cornel Beard and Sabrina Peitz, and Project Manager Anna Barrick.
