What style hangtag will the well-dressed man be wearing next year? It’s the question that naturally jumps to mind the moment you discover this snazzy collection of promotions by GPA. To demonstrate just how well their substrates play off of each other in a point of purchase (POP) environment, GPA’s in-house designer Alanna Crisci dreamt up a men’s clothing store and these branded pieces for it. (GPA did something similar for a fictitious sunglasses company not so long ago.)
Collecting shapes and patterns from English, American and Italian suit styles and textiles, she kicked off the project with a poster-like tailoring guide. Designed to be posted in the dressing rooms of this imaginary clothing boutique, the guide is digitally printed using an HP Indigo press onto white ClingZ – an adhesive-free, electrically charged graphic substrate that sticks to wood, metal, glass and more. Want to move it? Simply peel it off its current surface and slap it on somewhere else!
From there we move to the real highlights of this kit: the hangtags! GPA’s Ultra Digital Gold Pearl Cover served as the basis for three of them, each one featuring a different suit pattern, as well as a shorter herringbone pattern overlay of clear polyester film. “The appearance of a die-cut window in the overlay created by leaving blank spaces speaks well to the ideal uses of the clear polyester,” points out GPA’s Lisa Behning.
The fourth hangtag is actually printed on 17 pt. Cohesive Cover. Nice and thick to be sure, it IS a great alternative for a hangtag that’s simpler to produce, but personally my heart belongs to the other three golden ones.
“The cohesive substrate was a new introduction for us,” says Lisa, “and having a well-designed and printed piece helped convey to our customers how exactly the material could be used. The Gold Pearl version was also created to showcase a new way to use this material; it’s popular around the holiday season for its shimmer and also with direct mail because of its stand-out appeal next to plain white envelopes and basic postcards.”
Rounding out our imaginary retail environment, Alanna has adorned each of her neckties with a stylish belly band. Again digitally printed – this time on Ultra Digital Cream Felt – these wraps tactilely enhance the customer experience with every touch.
