Rebranding Wet Seal
The Ask
To rebrand an existing brand or a previously existing brand.
The Process
Who is the Brand?
Wet Seal is a company started in 1962 in Newport Beach, California. Founded by Lorne Huycke, it was originally called “Lorne’s” and was later renamed after a model on their runway was described as a “Wet Seal”. Starting out as a beachwear brand it quickly became a retail chain that participated in fast-fashion. As of 2017, all retail stores are completely defunct and their website is under construction. (Taylor, 2022)
Industry Overview
The women’s clothing industry is faced with a decline of mall traffic and a shift in power as superstore retailers dominate the market (O'Connor, 2022). The continuing shift to online shopping has also been a major shift in the industry. Another current trend in the women’s clothing industry is the competition stemming from family clothing stores. According to Claire O’Connor’s report, “These stores retail comparable products to women's clothing stores while benefiting from multiple target audiences” (2022). Among the potential competitors of a brand like Wet Seal are Zara and H&M. These fast-fashion family stores offer trendy and inexpensive clothing that adds to the competitive nature of the industry. These factors among others have contributed to Wet Seal’s forced exit from the industry.
Who is the Consumer?
Wet Seal mainly targets a female audience. The age range of their consumers is believed to be between the ages of 13 and up until 23 years old (Schlossberg,2014). Wet Seal seems to be confused on who is truly their consumer and needs to figure out for sure what that market would be.
Brand Persona
Kelly is a 20 year old female who is currently working part time at her retail job. She is also attending college where she is working towards her degree in Fashion Merchandising. Kelly likes to be up to date on the latest trends in Fashion. She also likes the brand that she is able to buy their merchandise online and directly ship it to her. Lastly, what is important to Kelly is whether or not the brand is sustainable. She has been learning a lot in her class about sustainability and fashion and likes to shop at brands that are taking a step forward in making their products sustainable.
Rebranding Strategy
The key objectives we are hoping to achieve with Wet Seal are to focus on Generation Z as the target market, incorporate sustainable products, and invest in e-commerce. Generation Z is arguably the largest and most important target market to appeal to today, and they are highly involved within the sustainability market as well as social media. Digging into e-commerce as opposed to traditional commerce and stemming away from fast fashion by making more sustainable efforts will help bring in Wet Seal’s target market of new and younger customers.