Modernizing a Heritage Brand Through Digital-First Storytelling

Danier Leather is a Canadian fashion brand known for its premium leather goods and contemporary style. During my time with the company, I focused on developing digital content for seasonal campaigns that strengthened the brand’s online presence and enhanced the customer experience across web and email channels. Below is a collection of assets from the 2014 Fall/Winter Season and their e-comm website redevelopment.

My Role

As Graphic Designer at Danier Leather, I supported the full creative rollout of the Fall/Winter 2014 season across digital and print channels. My work spanned website wireframing and layout design, landing pages, email marketing, photography retouching, magazine ads, and in-store signage. While collaborating closely with the Creative Director and Digital Director, I was responsible for sketching and designing updated website wireframes as the brand underwent a major modernization of its e-commerce experience. A third-party development partner executed the build, but I led the visual layout direction, product grouping logic, and image selection for the digital experience. Beyond campaign assets, I introduced a standardized naming convention and folder structure to improve asset management across the design team - streamlining production during a high-volume seasonal rollout.

The Challenge

Repositioning for a Younger Digital Consumer

By 2014, Danier had experienced strong historical growth, but its core customer base was aging. The brand needed to evolve visually and digitally to attract a younger demographic without alienating loyal customers. At the same time, e-commerce was becoming a critical growth driver. While many fashion brands still prioritized print and in-store experiences, Danier made an early investment in digital, requiring a more responsive website, stronger email marketing, and more lifestyle-driven photography.

The Fall/Winter season became a key moment to modernize the brand aesthetic online, focusing on digital lookbooks, and a new, optimized and responsive e-comm website..

Rather than building the season around a single thematic campaign, Fall/Winter 2014 focused on evergreen product storytelling allowing assets to extend across multiple touchpoints and remain relevant beyond a single promotional window. As Danier invested more heavily in e-commerce, the creative approach shifted toward a ‘digital-first’ presentation. We shifted photography toward younger models and lifestyle-driven, on-figure imagery, modernizing the brand’s visual language. On the UX side, I supported the transition to a cleaner, more responsive website experience by refining layout hierarchy, developing mobile-first assets, and helping organize product groupings to enhance browsability.

While email marketing was already happening, updating and evolving digital communications was necessary to further grow the brand online. Functioning not just as promotion but as a direct bridge between brand storytelling and conversion. While many fashion brands at the time were still heavily print-focused, Danier began to lean heavily into digital-first storytelling.

Execution at Scale

Scaling a Digital-First Retail Experience

The Fall/Winter season demanded a continuous flow of creative across both digital and retail environments. I designed homepage refreshes, promotional landing pages, and category features to support evolving product pushes throughout the season. On the CRM side, campaigns were deployed multiple times per week across segmented audiences, with A/B variations developed to refine performance and engagement. Each execution required careful alignment with inventory priorities, promotional timing, and seasonal storytelling.

Simultaneously, I managed high-volume photography retouching and preparation including colour grading, skin and product corrections, multi-format cropping, and file optimization for both web and print applications. Assets extended into quarterly magazine placements, weekly in-store signage, hangtags, and supporting retail collateral distributed nationally. Operating within tight seasonal timelines, the role required both creative precision and production discipline, ensuring brand consistency across every consumer touchpoint.

The Impact

What began as a seasonal refresh evolved into a meaningful, shift in how the brand showed up; modernizing its presence while driving measurable growth across emerging categories.

Contributed to approximately 23% growth in men’s accessories, a previously under-marketed category

Increased engagement through image-driven, fully shoppable email campaigns

Boosted website traffic following the responsive e-commerce redesign

Helped reposition Danier toward a younger demographic through modernized photography and digital presentation

Supported one of the brand’s early large-scale investments in digital commerce

To comply with non-disclosure agreements, I have omitted and obfuscated confidential information in this case study.
All information in this case study is my own and does not necessarily reflect the views of Danier Leather.