Vans

RAD Retail Displays: Bringing SoCal Skate Culture to London

The Brief

Vans sought to revitalise their Oxford Street flagship store, bringing it back to their Southern California skate culture roots. The challenge was to take the outdoor energy of a skatepark and translate those concepts into an indoor, retail environment. The brief was delivered to us via syn, experts in progressive brand curation and a long-standing partner of Imageco.

Off-the-Wall Retail Displays

The centrepiece of this display is a striking mirrored slope, designed to mimic a quarter pipe ramp with the Vans logo and the phrase ‘WEST END’ spray-painted on top. To achieve this, our specialists developed a bespoke scaffolding frame to serve as the structural foundation. From there, we curated square mirrored acrylic cut at 300mm x 300mm, which were cleverly fixed to the scaffolding via a bespoke 3D-printed component, made on our Bambu Lab 3D printer. Vinyl graphics were then applied to the face of the acrylic to give the squares the desired mirrored effect.

Urban Blooms

Aside from the slope, we introduced a number of accompanying plinths and foliage that followed the same skatepark aesthetic while functioning as high-impact POS displays to showcase the latest collection of Vans. The plinths were constructed from breeze blocks that sat upon a wooden base and risers. These POS display plinths were surrounded by foliage imitating moss and wildflowers, applying our floristry skills to carefully choose plants that would naturally exist in a skatepark environment.

A Masterclass in Retail Displays

Projects like this may look flawless in their execution, but to get to this stage takes an array of materials and unique skillsets that we possess here at Imageco. This retail display applied:
Our Zünd cutter, to slice each of the acrylic squares.
The Bambu Lab 3D printer to print bespoke fixing components, adjusting to the exact needs of this display.
Joinery skills that built the bespoke frames of the POS plinths.
CAD engineering and 3D design which allowed us to conceptualise the 3D build of the skater slope before we moved into production.

A Radical Team Effort

The team at Imageco were stoked to be invited on another incredible project by our pals at syn. Like a skater flying down a slope, this project needed pace. In the space of just four weeks, this retail display was designed, engineered and installed in their flagship store. Executing a vision this intricate on such a tight deadline required more than just hard work – it demanded synergy across the team. The Vans project crew included:
Dean Sharp – 3D Development
David Griffin - Production
Abbie Hignett – Project Management