Blue Delta has a unique business model in the fashion and clothing space: They sell a bespoke product which doesn't physically exist until it's purchased and the user is measured. This presents a problem when giving the jeans as a gift — they are high-cost and high-value, but a traditional gift card doesn't capture that premium quality or convey the thoughtfulness in which the gift is intended.
They had an existing solve for this issue: Video gift cards — book-like products which present the gift card alongside a video screen when opened. The video screen can either play a pre-recorded brand message by default, or a custom video message the sender creates for the recipient. This feels more premium, but not everyone wishes to record a personalized video message — especially when buying in bulk, as is the case for corporate gifting clients.
A traditional gift card doesn't capture the premium experience or thoughtfulness of the gift of Blue Delta jeans.
Blue Delta asked our team to explore an additional form factor option for their gift card product, one which would feel immediately premium and special in the hand, but not be tied to a video player component.
While brainstorming I was struck by an idea, only possible because Blue Delta has completely mastered custom clothing manufacturing: Let's fabricate a part of a pair of jeans, and use that as the stage upon which to present the gift card, contained within a premium gift box experience. I created a mockup and the client was immediately excited, and declared that creating a single jean pocket to sit in the box presented no practical challenges to their existing manufacturing process. An added bonus of this approach: It also acts as a material sample. The denim in the box is the client's RW29 — Dark Indigo Raw Denim, their signature material which is their customers' most popular material choice.
Our team sourced a vendor for the boxes, which I designed. Once fabricated, they're shipped to the Blue Delta factory where their talented seamstresses and tailors create the standalone denim pockets, adhere them to rigid foam backers which are glued into the boxes, and then the gift cards are tucked into the pockets.
The client was thrilled not only with the final product and its presentation, but the response to it from their customers as well. Created in a limited quantity in the hundreds as a pilot program for a corporate gifting push, the demand was overwhelming and the boxes had to quickly be reordered in much larger quantities, which the client also immediately made available for individual buyers as well. The gift box is now their flagship gifting product.