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Banana Republic
Apparel retailer Banana Republic was founded in California by Mel and Patricia Ziegler in 1978. The original Banana Republic stores were themed and embraced exuberant safari and traveling-based aesthetic and design references, framed with interesting garments that were found on the founders' travels. The company was bought by GAP in 1983.
- Typeface
- Banana, Banana Text
- Comissioner
- Decade, New York
- Year
- 2021
- Styles
- 4 Styles Banana, Banana Italic, Banana Text, Banana Text Italic
- Coverage
- Adobe Latin-3
- Classification
- Serif
- URL
- bananarepublic.com
- decadenewyork.com
Starting the rebrand in 2020, Banana Republic began remodeling its customer experience through updated apparel design, digital transformations and in-store upgrades alongside a new brand identity. Working closely alongside creative team Decade in New York, Colophon created a custom brand typeface for Banana Republic that would embody the equity within its heritage while simultaneously allowing for the development of the brand in the future.
Decade distilled and built upon the famous illustrated catalogues and unisex styling of safari pieces and classic workwear staples, and utilised this brand history throughout the refreshed identity. A stripped back library of assets, with a bespoke type family at its heart, enabled Banana Republic to connect its past with its future. The typeface was created in four styles — Regular, Italic, Bold and Bold Italic — drawing reference from the original set in Walter Diethelm’s Arrow yet building its own equity by folding in various photostat references from VGC (Visual Graphics Corporation) and other sources.
By mixing both Italics and UPPERCASE styles throughout the brand, Decade was able to create a varied texture and hierarchy within punchy copy or when setting type in a singular point size. The typographic system is the stable scaffolding that supports a rich brand world with the spirit of adventure at the heart of Banana Republic.
Banana Republic and Decade launched the new brand identity in September 2021, with custom typeface ‘Banana’ rolled out across marketing, advertising, retail, social, signage, packaging, and brand codes.
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