Hype Type and Socio’s frank identity for Reshoevn8r realigns the brand with sneaker culture

Almost a decade since Steve Grear first launched the product, Arizona-based shoe care company Reshoevn8r began to lose the market superiority they once had. In need of an aesthetic rejuvenation to enliven the brand and its purpose, realign their focus and reconsider their future, Reshoevn8r approached Los-Angeles-based creative studio Hype Type to help – in collaboration with the London-based brand and strategy agency Socio. In looking back to what made Reshoevn8r so unique, the brand now steers emphasis away from simply cleaning shoes to acting as a celebration of sneaker culture – reconsolidating a more simplified and refined brand that comfortably sits within the street culture scene it hopes to re-colonise. Opting for a monospace typeface, Socio’s Nic Carter explains the “monospace logotype was the best choice to create a clean shape, with aligned letterforms,” after electing to stack and segment the company’s name to make it easier to read. Boldly emblazoning the brand with the straight-talking Apercu Mono, Carter tells us “Aperçu simply had the right feel,” adding “Steve and his team are known for how they communicate with their fans in such an open, straightforward way, so the type had to reflect their personality.” Capitalising on the mechanical construction of monospaced typefaces, Hype Type and Socio have managed to convey the sense of process, production and consideration behind the brand, but maintain a friendliness through the playfulness and simplicity found in Aperçu. “Aperçu certainly doesn’t lack personality,” Carter summarises, “but it sits back just enough.”