We brought the heat (and cold) to Oxford Street

Last year, Uniqlo opened a impressive new flagship at 311 Oxford Street stretching across five floors. The building’s top two floors were dedicated to telling product stories in experimental, engaging ways.

Across six months, Anyways partnered with Uniqlo to unlock the purpose of this unique space. We created experiences for the brand’s two key seasonal products: HeatTech and AIRism. How could we help the brand communicate product information in an impactful way to educate and inspire customers? We found our answer firmly rooted in the product benefits, which we used as a jump-off point to tell product stories through captivating visual experiences.

Come up to cool down. Our latest piece of work focussed on AIRism, an innovative fabric developed by Uniqlo. Designed to be worn in summer, AIRism helps with the physical impacts of hot weather by being lightweight and breathable.

To capture the breezy feel of AIRism we made space feel cool by using fans to blow different materials and symbolise air flow. The back wall featured a bank of four fans with balloons floating on columns of air to evoke AIRism’s lightness and breathability. Bespoke tabletops contained small fans wafting miniature balls, fabric and windmills, making striking surfaces to display product on.

A warm welcome. Before AIRism, we spent three months focussing on HeatTech. Since HeatTech is designed to keep you warm, we wanted to generate feelings of heat through light and colour. We took inspiration from thermal imaging and mixed in the language of heating elements to create an artificially warm environment. Print areas in the space mimicked neon lettering and featured cutaway type, which revealed polished copper underneath.

We took over the street-level window with a bold, abstract sculpture designed to pull in passing shoppers off the street and into the lift to experience an area of the Uniqlo store they didn’t know existed.

Anyways Collaborators

3D Design: Dean Brown

Graphic Design: Ben Smith

Production: Sabre Graphics

Photography and video: GG Archard (AIRism),
Joshua Preston (HeatTech)

Sound: Ed Davenport

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