Strategic retail design agency, Green Room, worked closely with leading outdoor apparel and accessories brand The North Face (TNF) on their global retail definition strategy, culminating in the redesign of the flagship Milan store. The on-going project has seen the two companies work closely together on the new retail strategy, complete with refined store principles with a refreshed look and feel for all The North Face stores, supported by the brand mission of “Never Stop Exploring” that underpins all activity.

The new store design concept is the first in an international roll-out; defined by Green Room’s new principals. Green Room’s key objective was to use retail and consumer insights to deliver an engaging, interactive and unique retail concept driven by experience, ensuring that each customer leaves the store empowered to “Never Stop Exploring”. The new generation of TNF stores begins with the redesign of the Milan flagship, creating a ‘base camp’ for weekend warriors and hard-core explorers to plan their next adventure. The three-storey, 280spm retail space offers the best of The North Face’s SS14 collection.

By focusing on community, engagement, and digital integration, this new store concept seen in Milan encourages shoppers to delve deeper into the TNF brand, the explorer community, and the new Spring Summer 2014 collection. By humanising the TNF athletes – including climbers Simone Moro and Herve Barmasse – creating community boards, integrating localised design and through hero product placement, the new strategy encourages The North Face customers to use retail as a community hub where they can engage with like-minded explorers.

Green Room used in-store zoning principals, striking shop windows, category focal points, and interactive elements to deliver a retail strategy that has transformed The North Face’s Milan flagship. Originally opened in 2008, The North Face store in Milan reopened after a thorough make over that fits inside the pan-European brand campaign #LongerDays. Born to welcome the summer and encourage consumers into the outdoors, the message of the campaign was the focus of the store reopening and subsequent retail and marketing ventures.

Green Room’s Creative Director, Mike Roberts, says: “It’s been a real pleasure working with such an exciting brand and a forward thinking client. We hope the refresh work created for Milan will set the benchmark for consumer experiences across the entire TNF estate.” Eric Pansier, The North Face VP Marketing EMEA says: “The North Face is excited to introduce its concept store in Milan completely renovated. This is the first step on a journey to discover the brand, born from the desire to involve our customers in an exciting exploration experience that revolves around our shop. Market research conducted worldwide have allowed us to kick off this project, which communicates to the best of our philosophy: Never Stop Exploring.”

Green Room are continuing their work with The North Face to bring this global retail definition strategy to life across additional stores and touchpoints. This project follows on from a long term partnership between the two brands that has seen the agency design and deliver a number of exciting retail design elements such as window displays.