Rockport recognized that two of their shoe brands, Aravon and Dunham, needed a bit of TLC and a brand refresh, so they recently engaged NYC-based branding agency Beardwood & Co to make that happen.

For Aravon, Beardwood created an elegant new look for their line of comfort shoes for the “78 percent of women who will develop a foot problem during their lifetime.” Rather than position the brand within the stodgy comfort shoe realm, they focused the new logo, branding, photography, in-store materials and website on Aravon’s unique combination of foot health, fashion and higher level of service, under the new tagline “Comfort without compromise.”

The packaging uses gold foil as a premium cue. The tagline is reinforced visually with the softer lavender and grey to suggest the brand’s duality of femininity and performance, while the continuous and consistent pattern of the monogram implies stability and security, which is one of the key benefits of the brand.

For Dunham, which offers a line of rugged but comfort-focused boots, Beardwood refreshed a previous logo to build upon the company’s 131-year heritage as a Vermont boot maker. The logo design, branding, and new tagline “Dunham gets it done” help reinvigorate its brand equity and reposition it to appeal to a largely male target audience.

The “Boot Makers Since 1885” logo lockup is featured prominently to reinforce credibility and tie back to Dunham’s heritage. Opening the box to find a strong visual hit of forest green links directly back to the brand’s Vermont heritage and origin story.