Revitalising Arrow Uniforms

Arrow Uniforms approached Tailwind to refine and improve their branding, marketing, and language, which had grown disparate over the years and was not reflective of just how awesome this industry-leading nationwide company is!

“It has been gratifying seeing how much better Arrow Uniforms looks after all the work we’ve done with Tailwind across all areas of our business. We are in the best position to compete at the top of our industry with design and presentation that reflects the Arrow Uniforms capability and points-of-difference.”

— Arrow Uniforms

Brand Assessment and Refresh

We started Arrow Uniforms’ brand refresh with a big-picture assessment of their business. How well did their current visual identity align with their long-term objectives of innovation and high-quality manufacturing? The short answer: their branding had good foundations, but needed a refresh to future-proof their business’ presentation.

We suggested a range of options going forward, from a ‘light’ approach (‘sharpen’ the logotype and logo mark without deviating greatly from the core assets) right through to new logo concepts.

In taking a ‘light’ approach, we have made ‘small’ but significant decisions that have markedly improved the visual identity.

A key problem with the logotype was the mismatch of weights in the logotype (the ‘A’ and ‘RROW’ are different weights). We indirectly resolved this by choosing Neulis Sans as the new brand font. Neulis Sans is the ideal blend of pragmatic and personable, better reflecting Arrow’s brand values and reinforcing their messaging.

The new primary logo has improved hierarchy, with ‘ARROW’ being the most prominent and important word of the two. By adding the stacked variation and retaining the logomark the set provides greater flexibility.

It was essential to retain the red interior triangle options for visual distinction and memorability — we did however replace the ‘hesitant’ red for a bolder hue, providing an eye-catching counterpart to Arrow’s signature navy.

Typographic treatment of logo — click to enlarge

Flyers, swing tags, labels, notepads, packaging, and social media templates emphasise Arrow Uniforms’ high-quality yet pragmatic positioning.

Arrow Sub-brands

We were asked to create four additional logos for Arrow’s pre-existing range of sub-brands:

ArrowBranding™: Arrow’s in-house embroidery service which provides branded uniform customisations for clients such as Unichem Pharmacy (Green Cross).
SizeUp: Arrow’s in-person fitting service — one of their key customer touchpoints.
AROUND®: Arrow’s unique circular uniform programme, pioneered by Arrow Uniforms to reduce end-of-life uniform waste.
myArrow™: Arrow’s online uniform management platform which enables employers to monitor stock and place new uniform orders.

New visual identities for Arrow Uniforms’ in-house embroidery service, **ArrowBranding™**, and fitting service, **SizeUp**.

New visual identities for **AROUND®**and **myArrow™**.

AROUND®’s previous logo was delicate to a fault , which made it challenging to use in small-scale applications. The new logo resolves this issue with thicker strokes and a simpler overall silhouette. AROUND®’s new typography aligns more closely with Arrow’s core branding, while its organic brushstrokes symbolise the hands-on process behind the initiative.

The previous branding for myArrow™ featured an awkward blend of typography — script and sans serif joined in an uncomfortable ligature, with ‘my’ largely dwarfing the more important company name. Our new logo for myArrow™ reverses this power dynamic by scaling down the ‘my’ and using the company’s new primary font, Neulis Sans, for improved cohesiveness. myArrow™ now feels like a natural extension of Arrow’s in-person customer service, implying a more seamless multichannel customer experience.

**AROUND®** visual assets — click to enlarge. The team at Arrow Uniforms is particularly passionate about their unique circular uniform programme.

Brand Book

The Brand Book is a key business asset for Arrow. Tailwind was tasked with collating and designing the Brand Book to better reflect the business. It is the consolidation of all the work Tailwind have done for Arrow Uniforms and it is a key source for all their brand assets.

We worked alongside copywriter extraordinaire Dan Moth to ensure that every detail, from visual to linguistic, reflects the tone, messaging and values of the business.

Arrow hired photographer Alex Wallace to supply new photos of Arrow’s fitting service, warehouse operations, apparel design workshops, and everything in between. This new imagery has been incredibly useful to reinforce Arrow’s improved brand — the new Brand Book is a great example of application.

Campaigns

We were excited to assist Arrow in promoting their recent collaboration with Māori fashion designer Adrienne Whitewood. Together, they produced a collection of scrubs featuring two custom-designed patterns, He Kākano and Te Kahikatea, each with a unique meaning.

We were tasked with creating a set of bespoke labels to enhance the unboxing experience for customers purchasing from this collection. The labels are crafted from premium 600gsm paper and truly feel like standalone artifacts, featuring the patterns’ origin stories.

We also created an flyer and a set of social media tiles, of which a few examples are pictured below.

Garment labels and social media tiles accompany the Arrow x Adrienne Whitewood collection launch.

Client Presentations

We have proudly created a range of client presentations with custom-created content for the a diverse range of target clients. Our closest collaboration moments with Arrow Uniforms have been during the creation of these presentations. We respond quickly to tight turnaround times, and go above and beyond to make sure Arrow is represented precisely and accurately to align with their prospective clients.

Design of a digital client presentation with impactful layouts and custom graphics.
*Note: Parts of this content have been removed or blurred for confidentiality purposes.*

Design of a printed client presentation with impactful layouts and custom graphics.
*Note: Parts of this content have been removed or blurred for confidentiality purposes.*

“After moving into our brand-new head office and distribution centre, and focused on growing the company, we only needed to look to our backyard for a local, well-regarded brand and design agency to level up the Arrow Uniforms brand strategy and presentation.

We engaged Tailwind to undergo an assessment of our branding and marketing and came away with a clear understanding of our strengths and weaknesses. Tailwind quickly got to work refreshing our brand and before long became embedded amongst our team and has been working closely with us ever since.

The expertise of the Tailwind team has been invaluable to Arrow. They took the time to understand our business and demonstrated care for achieving the best possible results at all times. Often we only needed to provide a brief outline of our requirements or a project idea and the Tailwind team would get to work making strong design decisions and coming back to us with finished ideas.

Whenever we had urgent requirements, such as for a client presentation or trade show, Tailwind would drop everything to help make sure we got everything across the line on time and to a high standard.

It has been gratifying seeing how much better Arrow Uniforms looks after all the work we’ve done with Tailwind across all areas of our business — brand design, brand identity and language, sales material, stationery, print material, garment labels, social media templates and strategy, event design, and much more. We are in the best position to compete at the top of our industry with design and presentation that reflects the Arrow Uniforms capability and points-of-difference.

We highly recommend Tailwind as a branding and design partner for your company, no matter the size.”