The New DTC Rebranding Playbook

Business of Fashion

13 hours ago

Last week on Outdoor Voices' Instagram, it might have been 2013 again.
On Wednesday, Ty Haney, the activewear label's founder who was ousted in 2020, appeared on Instagram Live just days after announcing her return to the brand. But while she might have been a familiar face to those who fell in love with Outdoor Voices' colour-coordinated workout sets 12 odd years ago, the product she presented in the video was different. She showed off polished a-line dresses, cotton poplin button ups and cotton cashmere cardigans designed to be layered over the brand's sports bras and skorts, a shift from a previous overemphasis on technical compression fabrics.
'I'm really expanding this recreational style beyond what you wear to sweat in, to include things you can add a bit more dimension and style with,' Haney told fans during the livestream.
More than a return to form, it was a 180-degree pivot that tapped into what today's consumer wants: an interchangeable wardrobe of dressy and casual options. Put differently, it was a rebrand.
Luxury houses are notorious for overhauling everything from design to marketing when a new creative director rotates in. But for the DTC brands that emerged in the 2010s and were mostly founded by savvy entrepreneurs, undergoing a creative refresh — including new products, logos and slogans — is relatively uncharted territory. As a new generation of shoppers gravitate to labels with a clear narrative behind products that would otherwise blend into an endless stream of identical goods, many of these former direct-to-consumer darlings are being forced to sharpen their vision beyond the DTC premise alone.
A few are bringing in leaders from established brands to help create a distinct identity that appeals to new audiences. Shoemaker Rothy's hired Jenny Ming in 2024 from Gap and Old Navy who turned it into a Gen-Z fashion girl's go-to for ballet flats; and that same year, Everlane brought Alfred Chang from Fear of God and PacSun to realise its dreams of being considered an affordable luxury label. Others are updating their storytelling: skincare label Hero Cosmetics crystallised its brand image with campaigns that emphasised how its acne patches helped customers 'reveal the hero within' prior to selling its company to consumer goods firm Church & Dwight in 2022; while sustainable womenswear label Pact is rolling out a new tagline 'Dress Yourself Well,' as it chases an 80 percent year-over-year increase in sales in the next year.
For several of these companies, however, a rebrand is as much a lifeline as a marketing exercise: Outdoor Voices was on the brink of bankruptcy when it was acquired by investment firm Consortium Brand Partners in 2024; and Rothy's and Everlane's sales declined before their respective new leaders arrived. All three are optimistic their strategies will catapult them into a new phase of growth.
A rebrand is just the first step in a long process, and there's no guarantee of success. Rothy's shift from making unassuming, commuter-friendly ballet flats to trendy styles like Mary Janes and clogs led to a 17 percent year-over-year sales jump in 2024, but Outdoor Voices and Everlane still have more to prove. Haney said Outdoor Voices is aiming to surpass $100 million in annual sales in the 12-18 months (its full-year revenue previously peaked at $90 million in 2020), while Everlane is hoping to hit $260 million in annual sales by 2027, from its current $200 million.
For any creative refresh to land with consumers and generate longer term growth, companies have to build on their original mission, make necessary improvements to their products and find the smoothest and most compelling ways to communicate those changes to new and existing customers.
'The success in which we speak to our consumer is directly correlated towards the sales that we're able to have,' said Jack Briger, founder of creative and brand strategy agency Lemon. Brands have 'to communicate that through our branding even better than we're currently doing.' Subtle Changes
Rebrands can range from complete teardowns — think of Abercrombie's complete product and image overhaul and shift in target demographics — to less aggressive renovations, a la Burberry unveiling a new logo.
For DTC startups that were built on having a direct connection with their customers, much of their original messaging was rooted in the benefits of that model, conveyed to consumers through social media ads. They have to update that messaging, but it's critical that they find ways to inject new energy without alienating the longtime consumers that initially helped them grow, said Scott Markman, founder and president at branding agency MonogramGroup.
'You're going to have to push your way into somebody's awareness, consideration and purchase patterns that you didn't really have to worry about before,' Markman said. 'At the same time, you have to make sure you're not contradicting yourself to the loyal customer that you've served for so long, in the interest of expanding.'
Outdoor Voices, for instance, is introducing dressier silhouettes embroidered with a flashy new logo in cursive spelling to hook Gen-Z shoppers, but is appealing to its Millennial loyalists by bringing back its popular 'doing things' slogan, which is also printed on some of its new gear. The brand also still offers workout clothes in its signature geometric patterns, along with several of its original hero items, such as its compression leggings and sports bras.
'It's really the same mission around this vision of a recreational world, but it certainly needed a new coat of paint,' Haney told The Business of Fashion.
Applying that new coat of paint means the core brand proposition should remain, but should evolve based on how that applies to today's customer — and be told in new, more engaging ways.
At Pact, former Crocs executive Michelle Poole was hired this month with a remit to build a narrative that wearing the company's organic materials is a form of wellness, starting with a new tagline: 'dress yourself well.' To disseminate that message, Pact will start advertising across Gen-Z-centric shows on 'Call Her Daddy' host Alex Cooper's podcast network, Unwell, in the coming weeks. Pact's strategy supports its aims to grow annual sales 80 percent year over year to $270 million in 2026, said Brendan Synnott, the company's founder and chief executive.
'You have to reach out to new people with new messages and new priorities and new value propositions,' said Emily Heyward, co-founder and chief brand officer of creative agency Red Antler. 'How to do that while still staying true to the essence of the brand is very hard. You need a leader that's excited to navigate that tension.' Form Follows Function
For some labels, a rebrand means not just refreshing marketing, but also adjusting product, especially if their wares have contributed to a dip in momentum. That can include creating new styles it's never carried before or simply updating its materials.
'A rebrand is not going to fix all your problems if you need to work on your product a bit more or you need to rethink how you're communicating over socials, or you need to strengthen your in-house team,' said Briger, who likened the strategy of improving products during a rebrand to 'form following function.'
Everlane, for instance, has been slowly updating its basics-driven offering to include fashion-forward silhouettes like barrel-leg pants and funnel-neck tops, and is planning to introduce more silk and viscose into its upcoming fall collection after complaints about its organic materials not retaining their smooth quality, the company's chief executive, Chang, told BoF in July.
Even companies that aren't rebranding because of a slowdown plan to make incremental product updates to proactively make efforts to retain the new customers they're hoping to reach. Pact, for example, is refining the fit and design details on popular categories like underwear, sleepwear and T-Shirts to 'offer really great wardrobe essentials, but also make sure it seems interesting to the consumer and she keeps coming back for more,' Poole said. 'It will be evolution, not revolution,' she added.
Whichever rebranding strategy DTC labels choose to invest in, they should avoid morphing into the type of staid, overly traditional brands they originally sought to disrupt, according to Heyward, and are able to grow without feeling too corporate.
When that happens, for consumers 'it's like you love a band and then the band becomes popular,' Heyward said.
'What's tough is they all reach a point where they have to expand and scale and grow up,' she added. But it's important to 'do that in a way that you don't become your parents.'