Dickies
Evolving an American icon for a new era of growth
The challenge
Dickies is loved by all types of makers.
But without a cohesive brand story, Dickies ran the risk of brand dilution and a loss of the cultural momentum it’s created over the last 100 years.
Since its 2018 acquisition by VF, we’ve partnered with Dickies to evolve its audience strategy, brand and identity to meet where culture is going – while honoring the brand’s roots in good, honest work.
Decode
We conducted a global study to uncover the shared values, needs, and ambitions of Dickies’ workwear and lifestyle consumers. The result was a unifying global mindset – the Independent Maker – which built upon the brand’s unique equities in American workwear and spoke to the Dickies audience values and aspirations. We created a suite of immersive assets to launch our audience insights and new brand strategy, transporting corporate and store employees into the garages, workshops, and offices where Dickies works hardest.
Recode
As the brand entered its 100th year, we needed to revisit how Dickies showed up creatively in the world. A global pandemic had vastly changed how people think about (and buy) workwear. And a few years after our initial brand work, the competition was starting to pull from our ‘maker’ playbook. This inspired us to think beyond symbols – like hard hats and tattoo guns – to better represent what work actually feels like. How could we showcase the texture of making and the spirit that inspires it?
We revitalized Dickies’ brand foundations and established new creative principles to guide how Dickies show up for all Makers. Our refreshed brand identity featured bold, visceral new creative direction. And the beloved Dickies logo received a makeover and a fresh new color palette, optimized for omnichannel environments.
For true design distinction, we developed ‘Big Text’: a hand-drawn, custom font that’s unapologetically rough around the edges. To showcase our powerful new brand vision, story and design system, we launched the Dickies Brand Guide: a definitive brand building resource for global marketers, creatives, and designers.
Transform
Our brand work supercharged Dickies’ trajectory, driving double-digit global sales growth every year from 2019-2023; landing partnerships with major players like Ford Motors and Willy Chavarria; and serving as a VF best practice for post-acquisition brand-building. The refreshed Dickies visual identity is rolling out across digital, experiential and retail channels 2025 – and we were selected to present on our brand evolution at SxSW 2024. Most importantly, our work has inspired new campaign and product concepts that speak authentically to workwear, work-inspired, skate and other audiences, ensuring that Dickies will be worn by icons for decades to come.
Bain Capital
Designing a brand-led approach to ESG
