Footwear Brand

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Company Background

Over a century ago, Christen Meldgaard Andersen opened a shoe shop in Herning, Denmark, where he made the first pairs of Sanita clogs for local masons, farmers, and bakers. Today, Sanita continues this strong European workwear tradition designing clogs in their native Denmark and handcrafting them in their factory in Poland. Sanita remains deeply rooted in history and maintains the same principles that went into making their first clog all those years ago: simple, ergonomic design and quality you can count on. Sanita works.

Our Work

As the makers of the original Danish clog, Sanita is widely known for supporting generations of hardworking professionals through simple, smart design. Through a brand expansion and website migration, we were faced with the challenge of revitalizing a beloved legacy brand while preserving its roots in a crowded and competitive marketplace.

Sanita wanted a more captivating user experience for its website that both encouraged brand loyalty and supported the customer’s understanding of the quality and character of the products. We provided a staged approach in Sanita’s migration to Shopify, first pointing customers to wholesale and later bringing products online. We then revamped the updated site with a brand buildout that aimed to shine a more thoughtful light on the company’s handcrafted heritage.

Given the foundational identity of the Sanita brand, we felt a great responsibility to protect their story during the process of expansion. We needed to stay true to the design of their recognizable logo featuring a signature black and red color palette while, at the same time, make way for a fresh perspective. We did this by broadening the palette to include blue and gray accents hinting toward materials like wood and leather, which ultimately complemented, softened, and modernized the existing red, white, and black palette.

Mirroring Sanita’s ancestry, our typography was influenced by Danish font styles, incorporating a mix of Serif and Sans Serif fonts. During this process, our mood board pulled inspiration from Knud Valdemar Engelhardt’s Danish street signs circa 1923 that are still used today. We had a lot of fun coming up with innovative takes on patterns and iconography influenced by Danish folk art and striking just the right balance between the bold and gritty qualities of the brand.

Through a Shopify migration, brand expansion, site development, and redesign, we were able to successfully support Sanita in their pursuit of building an audience strategically and capturing it quickly, resulting in a fully considered shoppable experience. In addition we supported them in the rollout of a blog with the goal of sharing stories of working professionals who wear Sanitas in their daily lives.

Following the successful rollout of their premium site, they engaged us to develop their​“seconds” site, Sanita Outlet. Using a stripped-down version of our refreshed branding, the design will continue to speak to Sanita’s high-quality craftsmanship but will stand apart from their premium site.

The Takeaway

We took a well-known European brand and gave it a strong U.S. presence with an expanded brand that shows through in everything Sanita does.

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Sanita