Client:
Obedience Department
Type:
Brand Strategy & Positioning
Identity & Guidelines
Copy & Tone
Shopify Build
Email (Klaviyo) & CRM
Launch Playbook
Vendor/fulfillment coordination
Product & Merch Direction
Product photoshoot
Talent management
Social media strategy
Credits:
Daniel Caballero, Zach Huntting, Shena Bannick, Emily Markus, Isabella Gaule
About:
Challenge
Launch a from-scratch fashion label with a point of view sharp enough to cut through TikTok-speed culture, then translate that POV into a shoppable, scalable DTC experience — from naming and brand system to product drops, email, and fulfillment workflows.
Insight
In a world where brands over-therapize and irony feels tired, people still want to belong to something that truly “gets” them. The opportunity was to design a label that reads like private thoughts or texts you shouldn’t have sent — then make the shopping motion feel like being let inside.
What We Did
1) Brand Identity & Voice
Built a flexible identity system using Times New Roman Condensed and Helvetica Neue Bold — stretched, lower-cased, and rule-breaking to land an anti-design attitude that matches the brand’s memetic DNA.
Defined tone, archetype, competitors, and “how we write” to keep every caption, product description, and drop note on-voice.
2) Commerce & Launch Stack
Stood up a Shopify storefront and launch infrastructure, including customer accounts and a pre-order/pre-production policy to enable limited drops and reservation-driven demand. (Email threads confirm Shopify setup, pre-order model, and fulfillment/vendor coordination.)
Connected growth levers: Klaviyo (flows + list build), Google Merchant Center, and social pixeling for performance visibility and paid lift at drop. (From email planning and setup notes.)
3) Product & Merch Direction
Translated the brand’s “emotionally loaded clothing” promise into a first wave of SKUs (graphic tees, tanks, accessories) with texture cues (acid wash, boxy fits) and label placement conventions that feel premium and a little subversive.
4) Content System
Created a visual direction and color hierarchy (white/smoke/off-black frames; high-impact pink/red accents) that lets memes and copy carry the punch while keeping product pages clean.
Documented “How We Write A/B,” drop structure, and release cadence so the team can ship consistently across site, email, and socials.
Why It Works
Cultural fluency baked in: We positioned OBD among fashion-meme natives (Praying, Online Ceramics, Heaven by MJ), but with a colder, choosier persona — the tastemaker you follow without question.
Owned-channel flywheel: Drop architecture + Klaviyo flows turn “being chosen” into ongoing list growth and repeat purchase energy (pre-orders, restock alerts, and early access). (Supported by email setup notes.)
Design that sells: Anti-design typography/voice sparks scroll-stopping posts while keeping the shop legible and fast to buy.
Early Outcomes
Brand system, site, and launch ops are live/ready with a documented playbook for content, drops, and email — setting up a repeatable “drop → waitlist → sell-through” rhythm. (Launch KPIs in progress; pre-order and list-growth mechanisms implemented.)
Services
Brand Strategy & Positioning, Identity & Guidelines, Copy & Tone, Shopify Build, Email (Klaviyo) & CRM, Launch Playbook, Vendor/fulfillment coordination, Product & Merch Direction.
Launch a from-scratch fashion label with a point of view sharp enough to cut through TikTok-speed culture, then translate that POV into a shoppable, scalable DTC experience — from naming and brand system to product drops, email, and fulfillment workflows.
Insight
In a world where brands over-therapize and irony feels tired, people still want to belong to something that truly “gets” them. The opportunity was to design a label that reads like private thoughts or texts you shouldn’t have sent — then make the shopping motion feel like being let inside.
What We Did
1) Brand Identity & Voice
Built a flexible identity system using Times New Roman Condensed and Helvetica Neue Bold — stretched, lower-cased, and rule-breaking to land an anti-design attitude that matches the brand’s memetic DNA.
Defined tone, archetype, competitors, and “how we write” to keep every caption, product description, and drop note on-voice.
2) Commerce & Launch Stack
Stood up a Shopify storefront and launch infrastructure, including customer accounts and a pre-order/pre-production policy to enable limited drops and reservation-driven demand. (Email threads confirm Shopify setup, pre-order model, and fulfillment/vendor coordination.)
Connected growth levers: Klaviyo (flows + list build), Google Merchant Center, and social pixeling for performance visibility and paid lift at drop. (From email planning and setup notes.)
3) Product & Merch Direction
Translated the brand’s “emotionally loaded clothing” promise into a first wave of SKUs (graphic tees, tanks, accessories) with texture cues (acid wash, boxy fits) and label placement conventions that feel premium and a little subversive.
4) Content System
Created a visual direction and color hierarchy (white/smoke/off-black frames; high-impact pink/red accents) that lets memes and copy carry the punch while keeping product pages clean.
Documented “How We Write A/B,” drop structure, and release cadence so the team can ship consistently across site, email, and socials.
Why It Works
Cultural fluency baked in: We positioned OBD among fashion-meme natives (Praying, Online Ceramics, Heaven by MJ), but with a colder, choosier persona — the tastemaker you follow without question.
Owned-channel flywheel: Drop architecture + Klaviyo flows turn “being chosen” into ongoing list growth and repeat purchase energy (pre-orders, restock alerts, and early access). (Supported by email setup notes.)
Design that sells: Anti-design typography/voice sparks scroll-stopping posts while keeping the shop legible and fast to buy.
Early Outcomes
Brand system, site, and launch ops are live/ready with a documented playbook for content, drops, and email — setting up a repeatable “drop → waitlist → sell-through” rhythm. (Launch KPIs in progress; pre-order and list-growth mechanisms implemented.)
Services
Brand Strategy & Positioning, Identity & Guidelines, Copy & Tone, Shopify Build, Email (Klaviyo) & CRM, Launch Playbook, Vendor/fulfillment coordination, Product & Merch Direction.
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