Notre

Notre is synonymous with streetwise style. Emerging from the skate and sneaker set, the Chicago retailer has evolved since 2014 to stock everything from trail-ready technical apparel to tailored formalwear. Preparing to release its first in-house collection and footwear collaborations with major brands like Salomon, Vans, and Nike, Notre needed a strategy to reconcile its local roots with its increasingly global reach, and a visual identity that could turn heads at even the swankiest fashion week parties. Abbreviated Projects suited up to solve for both.

We started by developing a brand strategy that respects Notre’s Chicago pride while opening the door to a new generation of global patrons. Focusing on hospitality as the guiding theme, we defined Notre’s new sense of self: “an international house of products and experiences built to host your aesthetic evolution.” This inviting, “domestic” ethos unites the entire team around the common purpose of “making every guest feel right at home in the world of style.”

Using this strategic DNA as the inspiration for a new visual system, Abbreviated Foundry — our in-house typography practice — crafted two custom type families spanning a total of six fonts and more than 2,400 glyphs. Notre Brick is the hard worker, drawn to convey information with clarity, while Notre Mason sets the brand’s place of prominence in stone by evoking the gravitas of classical hand-carving.

The new Notre crest is a tantalizing mark adorned with artful swashes reminiscent of swirling incense or opening doors. Its accompanying logotype is a stately mark set in an optimized iteration of Notre Mason. A simplified supporting mark, nicknamed “The Archway,” represents a gateway into the House of Notre, and looks particularly dashing as a badge on athletic gear.

The new strategy and brand were unveiled in 2023 on Notre’s site, social media, store signage, and packaging, while also gracing an inaugural collection of homewares and cut-and-sew clothing. With a slate of collaborations and ventures on the horizon, Notre’s ambitious new strategy of uncompromising hospitality, coupled with a quietly sophisticated identity system, set it apart from a crowd of aloof competitors, while signifying the brand’s well-earned ascendance as a global fashion institution.