Rebranding: History vs Innovation in the Fashion Industry

In the luxury fashion industry, minimal rebranding of logos has become an increasingly common practice to stay up to date with market trends and new consumer expectations. The logos of many brands are increasingly being stripped of distinctive elements such as the founder’s name, the symbolic pictogram of the brand, or most often, the iconic features of the graphic style. Therefore, elements that are fundamental to the logo’s recognizability are being removed in favor of progressive homologation to competitors. This finding raises several questions about changes in consumer perception of such rebranding. The paper examines six episodes of minimalist rebranding in this industry (Burberry, Balmain, Balenciaga, Zegna, Saint Laurent and Ferragamo), including both examples of removal of the founder’s name from the logo and typographical changes, and aims to explore how these changes may affect the perception of brand authenticity. The empirical analysis combines qualitative and quantitative methodologies, making use of tools such as semi-structured qualitative research and quantitative web-based questionnaire, to obtain a complete and accurate view of the phenomenon and simultaneously ensure generalizable and statistically significant results.