Knickerbox rebrands to drive sales

Knickerbox will get a new brand identity and logo and undergo an overhaul of its product offering, as parent Ann Summers seeks to revive the iconic brand. The relaunched brand will target 18- to 35-year-old women, offering ranges that marketing and business development director Julian Baker described as “primarily fashionable, but practical and with a classic twist”.

The relaunched brand and new ranges will launch initially on July 21 on a new-look web site and in its existing 120 concessions, which are almost all in Ann Summers stores.

Baker added that opening standalone Knickerbox stores again was “definitely an option”. The chain had standalone stores from its inception in 1986, many in airports and train stations, but almost all have been closed.

Ann Summers bought Knickerbox in 2000, but Baker admitted that it had played second fiddle as the business concentrated on reviving the parent brand.

“We’ve been focused on Ann Summers for the past couple of years and have got it into good shape, but Knickerbox has always been the secondary brand. It’s got a great heritage and people remember Knickerbox, but they don’t have a distinct view of what it means today,” he said.

Baker said the company began introducing elements of the relaunch in January and that, since then, Knickerbox has achieved a 50 per cent rise on last year’s figures, which gave him confidence that the brand could double its sales by 2010 with the right product and brand in place.

A team comprising people from across the business has been put in place to oversee the relaunch, working alongside creative design agency The One Off.

The new product ranges fall into three themed areas: Flirty Fashion, Pure Glamour and Decadent Nightwear.