Kornit, a direct-to-garment digital print specialist is now working with British streetwear brand Hype to help it create distinctly bold, bright colours for customers with a decidedly “hip” image. Their brash, in-your-face impressions adorn t-shirts, kidswear, backpacks, hoodies, intimate apparel, and other pieces, and are sold via the company’s own website and a growing network of retailers, including Next, Zalando, BooHoo, John Lewis, and The Very Group.
“We like to see ourselves as a lifestyle brand,” said Jade Bell, Marketing Manager at Hype. “Hype is all about showcasing your individuality and personality, so we like to make sure our core band DNA values are showcased through our products. We have the Gen Z audience, the Millennials, the younger generation and also adults – a huge range of customers.”
The company’s marketing strategy reflects the boldness of its apparel, regularly including collaborations and public relations stunts involving such brands as Lego, Disney, Universal, Warner Brothers, Coca-Cola, Budweiser, and KFC.
Hype saw a great opportunity to expand its market share and fulfilment capabilities by tapping into the growing KornitX Global Fulfilment Network, which offered fast, sustainable, on-demand digital fulfilment nearer the end consumer – a lean, low-risk mechanism for producing consistent, high-quality gear with limited upfront technology investment.
“Kornit allows us to respond a lot faster to trends,” said Jake Paling, who oversees art and data handling for Hype. “Historically, if something gets really popular, we take two or three months to react to it, and it’s already gone. Direct-to-garment is very useful for that, and it allows us to have more flexibility, as well. It gives us a lot more freedom with our designs – we can create.”
“We can explore avenues that we possibly wouldn’t have explored before,” added Luke Russell, Head of Design at Hype. “We can take a few more risks in terms of the designs we’re creating. We can put five designs onto a website and see if it sticks, instead of having to commit to one with a queue of 300 or 500, whatever that might be.”
Not only is Kornit technology helping Hype to become a more prolific creative engine, but it’s revealed a streamlined pathway to answering the sustainability imperative, a challenge that has brought increasingly strident regulations throughout Europe and the fashion industry more broadly.
“When a product comes to the end of its shelf life, it’s been there long enough to discount it, get it off the shelves and into the customer’s wardrobe rather than sticking it in a landfill,” said Mark Ford, Hype’s Head of E-commerce Operations.
By establishing a localized fulfilment strategy and working with a vast array of retailers eager to market compelling new products for all ages, Hype meets this challenge while growing its operation with agility.
“The long-plan goal would be to open up a global network for print-on-demand,” said Russell. “We could print garments in multiple locations, while ensuring each product met our quality standards. But we wouldn’t have to hold stock in multiple locations across Europe, Asia, and the U.K. We could sell an item and distribute it with no inventory.”
Adopting KornitX eliminates much of this risk, empowering Hype to integrate with fulfillers and marketplaces at will, and creating only what is being sold.
View the video testimonial here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yqlSnU8MKs8