Medium: Retail Store Environment

Client: Levi Strauss & Co.

Agency: Zimmermann Crowe Design

Role: Concept, design and layout of overall store; design of some key fixtures; material specifications; art direction of illustrations; design of product locators; installation consultation; art direction of store portfolio photography

Date: February 1999

Original Levi’s Store

Levi Strauss & Co. had operated some of its own stores in malls around the country in the 1990s called Original Levi’s Stores. This project was an experiment to rejuvenate them so that they were more appealing to the youth market, and not a cluttered stuffy store that sold “your father’s jeans.”

This was primarily a reskinning project. Large sliding doors were added to hide the floor-to-ceiling walls of jeans, and the number of floor fixtures was reduced to decrease clutter. More contemporary floor fixtures and mannequins were designed and customized.

Sliding door panels were covered with monochromatic illustrations, giving fashion and lifestyle cues to the consumer while reducing the visual noise of stacked blue jeans in the store.

A lounge was added in front of the large video wall which played music videos. The lounge was outfitted with retro—yet modern—furniture, rug and hip magazines.