Hionidis for Amnesty International : Fashion We Like

A fashion project for charity

About the client:

Hionidis is a menswear store, based in Thessaloniki, Greece. It has been around for twenty years, carrying brands such as Dior Homme, Lanvin, Dsquared and more. Their philosophy has always been about combining established designers with new talent and offering a little bit more in terms of presentation and product placement. They have won a variety of awards for their website, advertising campaigns and window displays.

The Concept:

My idea was to create a charity event for the client that combined fashion and design. We wanted to involve as many people as possible in order to spread the message on Amnesty International’s goals – all this, through a fun and creative process. I suggested the sale of three limited edition T-shirts, to be designed by graphic design students under the overall theme of “Human Rights.”

We would then organize a launching party to create publicity for the project, as well as inform the nation-wide media outlets on the concept. All profits from sales would be donated to Amnesty International.

Step 1: The participation

I contacted the graphic design students of Akto College, one the biggest colleges in Greece, and asked them to create designs with the theme of human rights. For this, I had to go to every class, explain the project to the students and try to motivate them to participate. Thankfully, they were as happy about this project as we were! Amnesty International selected two of the proposed designs created by students; Beetroot, the design group that created all the promotional material, came up with the design of the third T-shirt.

Step 2: Media Invites

Beetroot came up with the idea of covering both the invites and the T-shirts in bubble wraps, as if to protect them – the same type of protection that we seek to offer to human rights. All Media and VIP invites were handmade and bubble wrap was applied to them.

Notice the letter T being in red on the invitation? It represents the T-shirt concept of the project.

Step 3: Packaging and in-store display

The t-shirts on sale were placed inside the same packaging that super markets use in order to protect food. Masoutis, a chain of super markets, were kind enough to provide the packaging for free.

Since the t-shirts were placed in food packages, I thought of contacting the PR department at Smeg and asking them if we could sell some of the T-shirts inside their amazing refrigerators. They did not have to think twice about helping us.

For the interior (and part of the exterior), I asked 2nd Floor, an architectural showroom with fantastic items (and brands such as Magis, Arper and Vitra), to provide us with some design furniture to add to the store.

Step 4: The windows

Step 5: Preparations for the launching event

Since the launching party took place in spring, I wanted to transform the exterior of the store and make it look like a terrace or a roof garden. The specialists for this job were none other than Vitaverde, a company that does an amazing job in landscape design.

They happily accepted our offer to be partners in the project, and they provided their valuable input and expertise in order to totally transform the exterior of Hionidis store.