ORANGE IS THE COLOUR
This came about from our wetsuit collection. A few years ago we launched a very colourful range. When I brought out the range there was a missing link between fashion and equipment. The missing element to complete this whole chain within the company from fashion to performance was with the wetsuits. There was definitely a demand out there in the market. It was always my dream to make neoprene products because I grew up in the water. I started to go diving when I was seven years old and my dream was to own a wetsuit. All I wanted was to have a second skin. For me what was missing in the market was colours. We went all the way to the bright coloured choices, which was a really remarkable ‘in your face’ style of product. That brought a lot of attention to the fact RRD was developing a new collection of wetsuits. From that time onwards I remember a beautiful colour combination which was purple, white and orange. Everybody was pointing the finger at that wetsuit. That was outstandingly beautiful; it was very new, very fresh and eye catching. That corresponded to the moment that our clothing designers started using a little orange loop on the neck. It is a hanger for the garment which resembles the bridle for a kite. Red is very racy, yellow is very bright, green is earthy and to me orange and fluro orange specifically has always been the right mix! It is a very modern type of colour. There has been a lot of thought put into this. When I looked at our collection I said we should move from colourful boards to a look with black and grey with orange. I think it really gives a look of technicity, brightness and happiness. It all comes in a very solid package. I thought orange was the colour to use, so we went all the way and designed the whole collection with orange. Orange has given the company a very strong corporate identity which is recognisable from far away. When customers from all over the world look out on the water they will see the orange and associate it with RRD! This all came naturally.
