ESPRIT writes love letter to HK with heritage pop-up

Fashion and lifestyle brand ESPRIT has launched a three-storey pop-up store in Hong Kong, marking the brand’s long-awaited return to the city’s buzzing retail scene. The project combines art installations, interactive games and ESPRIT’s latest collections to create an immersive love letter to Hong Kong - “love, esprit”. It will be open until 23 October at Russell Street, Causeway Bay. 

The pop-up is both a tribute to the brand’s rich heritage and a celebration of its bright future. It aims to take visitors back through time to explore ESPRIT’s long-standing mission to spread happiness through fashion, and introduce the brand’s refreshed look and feel, with its ethos personified by newly-introduced mascot Joy the Dolphin.

The exciting journey starts from The Joy Department on the ground floor, where visitors are greeted by a sculpture of Joy the dolphin, whose charming spirit embodies the soul of the brand - playful, positive and devoted to its community. This larger-than-life, origami-inspired installation of Joy by artist duo Stickyline gives an illusion of the dolphin leaping out of the waves. 

After which, visitors move into a Heritage Gallery showcasing treasured images from ESPRIT’s archives. These vintage posters illustrate ESPRIT’s long history of using cheerful colors and laidback styles to spread joy and reveal how the brand has been a tireless champion of sustainability, equality and inclusivity through the decades. Visitors can learn all about ESPRIT’s history in the Heritage Room, and take a trip back to the past before the installation made of mirrors and LED lights that create the illusion of being within infinite space. 

Moving to The Fashion Closet on the first floor, a selection of key items from ESPRIT’s bold new collections can be found including the tennis and neon collections, where they are available to purchase in-store or on ESPRIT’s website.

Finally, on the second floor is Joyground, a welcoming lounge decorated with neon lights that hark back to the illuminated signs that historically dominated Hong Kong’s streets. The striking space will also feature a rotation of local cafés, each of which will take over the café kiosk in “love, esprit” for a limited time, offering their signature refreshments for visitors to enjoy. 

“love, esprit” also marks the launch of the brand’s exciting new avatar programme, which allows customers to create their own unique digital avatar. All visitors who create their avatars at “love, esprit” will receive an exclusive chance to play rounds at the claw machine arcade game packed with other prizes. Avatar owners will also receive exclusive offers in the future. 

There will be a city-wide celebration of the launch of “love, esprit” and the brand’s long-awaited return to the city on 20 August, when ESPRIT is hosting a first-ever free tram ride day, on which all rides on Hong Kong’s iconic trams will be free for members of the public. All tram motormen will wear ESPRIT clothes on the day to showcase the brand’s latest collections and to demonstrate ESPRIT’s fun-loving spirit. 

Most recently the brand has been making a big splash in the Hong Kong market. On 20 August 2022, it will launch free tram rides to hype up its return to the Hong Kong home base.  ESPRIT hopes to use this ride as a means to promote its inclusiveness, while welcoming Hong Kong-ers to join in on the festive event. All tram motormen will don ESPRIT apparel.

Earlier in July, Esprit introduced a fresh face to its brand, "Joy the Dolphin", as an embodiment of Esprit's heritage, values, and essence in celebrating life, love and togetherness. Serving as a bridge that brings the Esprit community together through unique brand experiences, products, and customer engagement-focused activations, the brand seeks to reach out and engage with audience from around the world through its new mascot. 

Since April this year, the brand has been strengthening its management with several key hires. Most recently, former L'Oreal Hong Kong's CMO Larry Luk joined Esprit as chief digital and marketing officer. Luk joined Esprit after spending about five years at L'Oreal Hong Kong.

The company also appointed Ivy Au as vice president, head of digital marketing, who is responsible for bridging brand marketing and eCommerce to drive channel deployment efficiency, and amplify the use of data to locate and reach the audience with messages that drive sales conversion. Maximilian Wang also joined as head of marketing and communications where he oversees branding, corporate communications, brand and loyalty marketing, and visual merchandising to cement Esprit’s impression and relevance to new and existing customers worldwide.

Moreover, Calvin Wang joined the company as head of brand strategy, innovation and partnerships. In this position, he steers the co-creation of Esprit’s brand strategy to meet international business ambitions and rejuvenate its fashion presence.

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