Name Game

I spent a good part of today trying to generate a name for my luxury fashion brand, a lot of it was recapping on words and phrases that I had documented on my context blog from the brief notes, and furthering the meanings, origins e.t.c. A lot of reading took place to little avail, I was getting quite cornered in on the idea of creating a name out of luxury related adjectives. Thankfully it stopped after browsing the history of textile manufacture in Britain during the Industrial Revolution.

 

Richard Arkwright invented the cotton mill (quite a nice name but it sounds like a cheap shop and is already a name of a cotton outlet) and it revolutionised production processes in factories, quite an achievement for Britain right there!

The bottom corner of the second sheet (above) started to explore the idea of a name using the word 'cotton', it has a certain English feel to it I think. I was also thinking about a double barrel name and how it could maybe reinforce the English-ness, then how often two names can be joined together with a simple 'and' to create a brand name.

Cott & Mill when spoken sounds very much like 'cotton mill' which I found quite interesting but thought that it sounded slightly too cheesy with such obvious wordplay, however I was quite intrigued with 'Cott &' - So I looked up 'Cott' to find it had little if no meaning at all but was the name of quite an integral part of the British army in the Second World War.

 "Hugh Bamford Cott, was a British zoologist, an authority on both natural and military camouflage, and a scientific illustrator and photographer...

During the Second World War, Cott worked as a camouflage expert for the British Army and helped to influence War Office policy on camouflage.'"

It immediately triggered to me that camouflage is greatly in vogue at the moment, for both men and women, from street to catwalk. I know that alone isn't a good grounding to base the name of a future fashion brand on but it got me thinking more about fashion as a concept.

Fashion and clothing is essentially urban camouflage. We all walk around the streets in clothes and rarely take much notice as to what others are wearing, particularly when in mass numbers. It is fashion brands that aim to stand out and be individual, whilst also aiming to obtain a mass following. Hypocrites!


I think a reference back to Mr Hugh Bamford Cott could work, the brief wants a Luxury brand for the wealthier business man, with little actual interest in fashion, just a want for clean, crisp clothes. Garments that camouflage into everyday life with a high quality finesse behind the scenes.