Montique International: Perfecting Casual Dress, Celebrating New Design Success

Established in ’93, Montique International celebrated its 20th anniversary this year! A Brooklyn-based company, Montique designs and manufactures urban young men’s fashion and casual wear. Selling their wares to an impressive 2000 men’s specialty stores and several chains, there’s clearly a demand for Montique’s fashion lines.

So what’s trending in fashion? Montique’s target market likes to dress up but prefers fashionable two-piece pant and shirt outfits over formal suit and tie attire. Understanding that diversity rules the fashion closet, they specialize in two-piece sets, producing 100 styles for spring and fall every year. To keep things interesting, they also design and sell separates, knit tops, jackets and dress pants. Designed in bold, fashion forward colors, Montique has added hats to the mix to compliment their two-piece sets. What’s in development? A matching shoe line, of course, set to launch spring 2014.

Montique approached us with hopes of refreshing their branding and marketing materials. In true Ptex style, we embraced the challenge of delivering a new look without veering too far from the original which – after 20 years in business – carried heavy brand equity. The logo was updated with a fresh font:

Graphic Asher Lowy and Account Manager Miriam Mandel breathed new life into the Montique catalog, which is printed twice a year and is their primary advertising source. Aiming to give the catalog a clean look and capture Montique’s personality, we decided an outdoor photo shoot was the first step in the right direction. The shoot showcased models in various symbolic New York sites, from the Brooklyn Bridge park and promenade to locations in downtown Manhattan. Using a combo of close-ups and full-length shots, we transformed Montique’s traditional catalogue into an engaging storyboard. The design team blew up the winning photo and turned it into a poster ad which now livens up stores carrying the Montique line.

Our designers gave the catalog an updated look and changed the layout so that Montique’s color swatches were more visible. To make the catalog more user-friendly and smooth-out the ordering process, model numbers were added next to accessory items with reference to which page they can be found on.

Before Montique visited us, they included two loose leaf price and size chart inserts in their catalog. Making it more professional, we incorporated these materials directly into the catalogue with perforations so that consumers had the option of detaching them.

One of Montique’s executives was so happy with the final product that he reached out to us:

“Ptex did an outstanding job with our branding. We’ve been printing a catalog twice a year for about 15 years. This is the first time that Ptex produced it for us. They completely redesigned it, giving the catalog a fresh, spectacular, modern and cutting edge look. The team guided us through every step of our branding and product development.”

Montique’s clients have been raving about the post-“facelift” catalog. One client was so impressed that he actually ringed us up to tell us he loved the new look. At a Vegas tradeshow that Montique attended, a fellow exhibitor experienced catalog-envy and has since asked our team to revamp his catalog.

The Montique team was happy to update us that “feedback from clients has truly been awesome. The new catalog has taken us to a new and higher level beyond our expectations.”

If your logo or catalog is in dire need of some tender love and care, we’d love to help. Contact us for a free consultation by clicking here.

Project Credits:
Creative Director: Asher Lowy
Designer: Asher Lowy & Tzippi Katzler
Account Executive: Miriam Mandel