Jean is CK's New Store Design Gene

Jeans 2015” is the idea that dominates the new store design concept of CK. The 2500 sq ft store introduced the concept in India for the first time most imaginably at one of the most popular malls of India, Select Citywalk in Delhi. Under the global store design concept that was ideated in 2015, this is India's first store and second in the world after Hong Kong.

Talking on the perspective, Vishal Anand, Retail Head, Calvin Klein, Premium Garments Wholesale Trading Pvt Ltd (a JV between PVH Corp and Arvind Brands & Retail Ltd), explained, "Earlier, the store design did not revolve around one particular idea. As a result, though we had beautiful stores all over the world, we did not have a story to tell. CK as a brand, relates and is related a lot to Denim. It is also one of the textiles that has been present for the longest time possible in the history of fashion. Hence, when one element that had to be focal point of the store, CK chose denim. In the new store design, starting from floors to ceilings to suspended wall panels are running inside the store giving an illusion of a ribbon depicting one singular idea.” The whole store is divided in four sections - men's, women's, denim and innerwear - all defined by related visuals. "Jeans is associated with roughness and rigidness. We have used concrete panels along with both wooden and metal elements throughout the store. We have associated metal elements with men's section, while women's section has all wooden elements. We also introduced something called an "accessories wall” that increased our sale by 10% already. In the existing VM concept, we used to stack our accessories in between the apparel sections,” informed Krishna RDM, Manager- Projects, Premium Garments wholesale Trading pvt Ltd.

Upon entering the store, one can see a "strong table” that would showcase the entire collection at any given season. CK also introduced a video wall as store façade which are now followed by many retailers to offer a sneak-peek of ongoing season's merchandises. Striking a comparison between existing store elements and new ones, Krishna said, "Our existing store design used lot of stainless steel fixtures and slat walls while the denim section has wood and veneer. Now, we have moved on to more rustic and powder-coated materials. Three elements that rule the entire new concept design are stailess steel, mild steel and woodand veneer. We have opted for closed ceiling than the earlier open one to render an illusion of more space. Our trial room area uses more metal frame structures combining a material called cotton steel. Our premium price range somewhere lacked to comply with the store design that we have. With the new design, we hope to bridge the gap.”

The store embodies the roughness of design using rough store design elements in tiles, walls and wall panels. Responsible for end-to-end elements, VSSK Prasad R, Director, Storefit India, said "To comply with the design concept, we had to design and import elements like cotton steel or a special variety of tiles that compresses actual jeans materials.”