Cordura: Demand More From What You Wear
The brand’s “Advanced Fabrics” campaign takes aim at “elevating the role of fabric.”
Cordura brand said not all fabrics are created equal — and its new campaign drives that idea home.
The evolved brand positioning of Cordura's “Advanced Fabrics” seeks to build brand awareness around the creators and consumers of high-performance apparel. To showcase the fabric's versatility and durability, its campaign communicates a message of human persistence shown through high-risk action-packed video and static content, alongside digital advertising, social media and a dedicated landing page.
“Consumers are looking to get more out of their garments, both in how and where they use them, said Pranay Harsh, Cordura business director. “From sustainability to enhanced functionality, our new positioning communicates our aspiration to create innovative fabrics that will deliver on these increased expectations.”
But the human element of determination is what elevates the role of Cordura fabric. Jackson Pettit, global marketing director, Cordura, told WWD, “The core of this campaign is really connecting our journey of developing advanced fabrics and the journey of consumers putting them to the test. For us, it's ultimately a journey of persistence. If you think about the development of fabric, it starts with an idea that we test, and usually fail, and we try it again, and we test it again, and we fail again, and we continue through that process until there's fabric that makes us proud at the end. And the people who are really putting those fabrics to the test, they're going through the same journey.”
Pettit continued, “People are the ones bringing the fabric to life, they're the ones that take it from being an inanimate object to giving it a bit of a soul. To me, the fabrics are only important because of how they're used in the world.”
Cordura fabrics test durability through their applications in tough environments. Photo courtesy of Cordura brand.
And Pettit explained that the fabric's versatility and symbolic purpose is what differentiates it in the high-performance apparel category. “One of the things that's most amazing about the Cordura brand is the range of situations in which you can find it. Products with Cordura fabric can be found in the gym, at a skate park, on a trail, at a job site or even on the front lines, and in those outlets, those people are testing themselves: they're failing, they get back up again, they try again and they keep pushing themselves to be better every day. In those stories, the fabric is tested, and it's where our dedication really takes off.”
Cindy McNaull, business development director, Cordura, added that Cordura fabric is “an invisible layer of confidence inside. It's that empowerment, that confidence and that persistence, and that's the expression of what this campaign is going to unveil.” McNaull continued, “We've had long talks about the emotional durability that comes with Cordura fabric. One of our customers very lovingly said that our fabric is ‘a synthetic with soul.' That always resonated with me because it's nice to have a personality like that with a brand and I think this campaign is going to give it even more personification.”
McNaull said its campaign is a “call to action” for both consumers and the brand itself. “This is a really big commitment from the Cordura brand going forward to be much more business-to-consumer and consumer-centric, so there's that piece of it, but it's also a call to action not only to consumers to demand more from what they're wearing, and investigate it and really care about it, but it's also requisite on us and our supply chain partners to really bring forward a continuous stream of fabric innovation.”