With a rich heritage spanning back to the mid-18th century, Swaine sells men’s and women’s luxury accessories including hats, bags, scarves, and umbrellas.
Investing in the brand’s bricks and mortar stores has been a key part of its strategy in recent years. 2022 saw the opening of a boutique Swaine store in Mayfair’s Burlington Arcade while a 650sqm flagship store in New Bond Street followed in Spring 2023.
For its Christmas 2023 display, Swaine designed a playful window display for both London stores centred around the theme of gentleman’s games. The brief included backgammon checkers, cards, chess pieces, dominoes, and dice that were to be nestled among quaint cut-out figurines of sketched aristocratic Victorians, top hats, hot air balloons, and antique motors in shades of blue and pink.
Huddersfield-based printer Leach produced more than 150 printed elements in a range of materials to dress both locations.
3D structures in various shapes and sizes were formed using vinyl-wrapped MDF and Foamex. This aspect of the project involved bespoke joinery work, precise vinyl trimming with accurate flush application, and the hand painting of all edges in Pantone-matched shades to finish. Discreet acrylic stands were supplied to securely position the freestanding graphics where required.
To serve as a backdrop to the 3D and freestanding graphics, Leach also produced colourful Dibond panels with flush-mounted vinyl that featured logos, subtle geometric patterns, and oversized playing card designs.
To display the graphic arrangement at a height perfectly level with the bottom of the windows, Leach also crafted several stretches of templated plinth flooring in contrasting colours.
Suspended gold and pink stars were also added to the window displays by way of a bespoke hanging structure installed in the space above.
Lengths of acrylic tubing were descended from the structures, each of which were bonded to a metal star (as well as a few clubs, spades, hearts, and diamonds). Affixing the suspended elements in this way ensured that they did not spin, remaining forward-facing at all times.
The hanging structures are permanent fixtures but are entirely reusable. Encompassing a system of rails and hooks, Swaine can now create varied effects with every new campaign, positioning suspended graphics in different places and at different heights.
To produce the required elements of the project, Leach used kit including HP Latex printers, a Durst Rho 512R roll-to-roll UV printer, and a SwissQprint Nyala printer, as well as a Kongsberg C64 cutter, a Laserscript laser cutter, and a Graphtec FC9000 1.6m plotter. Key substrate suppliers included Pyramid Display, for self-adhesive vinyl, laminates, metallic vinyl, Foamex, and Alupanel; Perspex, for various Foamex and acrylics; and Soyang, for print floor graphics.
From start to finish, the project was turned around by Leach in less than one week following a detailed in-person survey of both stores by its team.
The artwork proofing and quality checking process took two days while production took three days. The installations were completed over a weekend, with the first store’s windows completed overnight on Saturday and the second overnight on Sunday, minimising disruption to staff and shoppers and ensuring the Christmas campaign was unveiled by mid-November.
Max Karie, Swaine’s visual merchandiser, said: “I’m over the moon with the entire installation and the quality of the kit supplied.”
Swaine has also appointed Leach to dress its windows once again in January 2024.
Tom Foster, director of project management at Leach, added: “It was a real honour for Swaine to put their Christmas window campaign into our hands. Our wide breadth of specialist printing capabilities came together to produce a stunning display that exceeded expectations.
“I’m proud to say that this was completed against quite a tight timeframe but with no detriment to the high-quality graphics that we are known for. I look forward to working with Swaine into the new year and beyond.”
