Storeage, the Amsterdam-based retail design agency, has been selected to provide retail brand strategy support for Onitsuka Tiger for the EMEA region. Onitsuka Tiger is an international Japanese sports lifestyle brand. Storeage’s task was to create a retail campaign that reaches all of Onitsuka Tiger’s target groups, while underscoring the brand’s authentic Japanese appeal and its love of the sports lifestyle. Focusing on product launches, POS and exhibits and tradeshows, Storeage is creating a new 3-dimensional look for this lifestyle brand.

“Storeage’s design concepts for Onitsuka Tiger focus on the craft of movement and Japanese design sensibility” said Jason Steere, partner and co-founder at Storeage. “They celebrate the innovative,
quirky and imaginative, and focus on capturing every detail, accentuating Onitsukasan’s reputation of craftsmanship and unique designs.” To celebrate the relaunch of Onitsuka Tiger’s iconic Corsair sneaker – originally launched in 1969 – Storeage created a “Corsair Museum” in platinum-level boutique shops in major cities like Paris, London and Barcelona.

Drawing on the concept of movement, a gold “thread” runs from the text “1969” and weaves through the museum ending in a silhouette of the original Corsair shoe. The Corsair shoe is displayed in a
shrine, and on the walls, bold gold text details the shoe’s heritage. Coinciding with Onitsuka’s reintroduction this spring of authentic running styles as lifestyle products, Storeage also reinterpreted the brand’s retro-inspired ‘Run, Tiger, Run’ slogan, emphasizing the craft of movement.

To create an impression of motion and set the tone for a series of intentionally ‘lo-fi’ techniques and executions, Storeage developed a moiré-effect pattern – a stripy backdrop graphic that simulates a moving shoe. This graphic appears in everything from large-scale window installations to smaller collateral items such as concertina-folded table cards and a flipbook catalogue where the shoes animate when flicked through.

Storeage also created Onitsuka Tiger’s current Spring ‘13 windows and its Bread & Butter booth in Berlin, which was recognized as “Best of Bread & Butter” by retaildesignblog. Based on the success of these campaigns, Onitsuka Tiger continues to entrust Storeage with implementing its retail brand strategy. Stay tuned for more innovative retail initiatives in the coming seasons.