Filium & Ably Apparel

FILIUM INSIDE

Filium’s breakthrough was turning natural fabrics non-absorbent—liquid just runs off, and the fabric smells fresh after weeks of wear. With hundreds of exciting potential applications, the long-term goal was to create an ingredient brand licensed to third parties, à la Intel. But first there were two big challenges to overcome: Differentiating from lookalike technologies flooding the market; and proving the concept by capturing Filium’s unreal performance in a believable way.

WEAVING TOGETHER NATURE, TRADITION, AND SCIENCE

We answered the first challenge with Filium’s natural qualities—the process is nontoxic, and it doesn’t affect softness or breathability, setting it apart from both nanoparticle-based technologies and synthetic performance apparel.

The heart of Filium’s story is a balance between nature and technology, a theme that runs through the brand. The name we created, which means ‘thread’ in Latin, nods at the ancient tradition of textile making, but also has a scientific air, like an element on the periodic table. The identity continues the balance, with future-forward typography and a more organic icon, which suggests both the infinity symbol and thread.

Keeping in mind that Filium’s branding would eventually live alongside apparel branding, we developed an icon system to quickly communicate the features to consumers.

SHOW DON’T TELL

When it came to the second challenge—proving the concept—we dug in and created Ably Apparel, a line of basics for direct-to-consumer sales. The name captures the line’s versatility, while the identity echoes the Filium mark in the looping Y.

KICKSTARTING A REVOLUTION

We helped Ably launch with a Kickstarter pitch, supported by a video and strong social media push. Just about any demographic can find something to love about Ably, but we focused on a sweet spot of twenty-somethings interested in fitness, outdoor adventures, and travel—three key areas where Ably plays well, and strongly aligned with Kickstarter’s audience of early adopters.

The first push came with a strong social media campaign, including outreach to social media influencers with custom kits filled with Ably gear, targeting audiences in our key categories.

The pitch resonated and Ably blew past its goal in days, reaching a final total of $540,000 in pledges.

RESULTS

WEEK 1 FUNDING GOAL: Funding goal was reached after the first five days.

27X BACKING GOAL: 4,900 backers pledged $540,112

41.7K Instagram followers

11,912 Facebook followers