The STory

Helping a brand find its voice.

There’s beauty in adversity. In toughness. In the unwavering belief that anything and everything is possible. At RYU, we believe beauty is an achievement, not an aesthetic. It’s no longer about looking better. But being better.

RYU was originally a niche apparel brand serving the mixed martial arts community. But new ownership, vision and mandate required a complete rebrand. Tossing out everything except the name, they embarked on creating an iconic global brand from scratch.

I was hired to develop the voice of RYU and was a key architect of the Beautiful Tough creative platform. Working with a talented creative team, we began to bring their mission of “facilitating human performance for the multi-discipline athlete” to life. We started by making an internal video entitled “Numbers” that was developed specifically to establish an authentic foundation for RYU in an emotionally compelling way. It was used as an aspirational touchstone for the brand that was instrumental in guiding intention, shaping their unique culture, curating retail experiences and even influencing product design.

The year long branding exercise culminated in the opening of their Flagship store in Vancouver that went on to win the WGSN Futures award for the Best Retail Store in the World. WGSN is the world’s leading trend authority, serving the fashion and creative industries whose key purpose is to discover the key players that will influence the future of fashion. In their first year, RYU’s only store beat heavyweight favourites like Topshop in London, Primark in Madrid and Gentle Monster in Busan.

Since then the brand has grown and evolved to include multiple retail locations in Vancouver, Toronto, LA and NYC, with more slated to open.