EDWIN USA

Born in Japan, Cut in California, Worn Worldwide.

Iconic, Classic, Californian

Role: Creative Strategy & Performance Marketing

The Problem:‍ ‍Problem: EDWIN is a legacy denim brand from Japan founded in 1947. Through the decades, EDWIN USA had changed hands and lost its once-strong foothold in the American market. The licensee wanted to reinvigorate EDWIN USA and reposition it for long-term success in the sustainable denim sector - and as a leader in DTC. EDWIN USA is the most sustainable, highest quality denim on the planet; designed and manufactured out of the Saitex factory in Los Angeles, Ca. When we embarked on revamping the brand, we realized EDWIN USA also benefited from a loyal, legacy audience that had yet to be tapped into. The brand needed to take ownership of all its attributes and give customers what they wanted.

The Solution: As Creative Strategy & Performance Marketing lead, I repositioned the brand through data-driven creative strategy and integrated brand communications: building a messaging architecture rooted in audience insight, semi-annual campaign frameworks tied to the product roadmap and cultural moments, and a full-funnel creative ecosystem with KPI tracking across paid social, email/CRM, and SEO plus a PR partnership with Chapter Two. I led creative brief development, shoot direction, and channel-specific content strategy behind capsule collections like Howdy, Let's Get Rowdy and Denim Dream Girls, turned overstock into strategically merchandised drops, and opened three rev-share retail doors in Detroit, Palm Springs, and Yucca Valley.

The Results: A +120% YoY wholesale growth and +40% MoM DTC growth post-relaunch, expansion into 40+ new retail doors, paid social consistently hitting 3+ ROAS (peaking at 5.1), a 20% lift in organic search ranking, and an email list grown from 1,500 unengaged contacts to 14,000+ high-value subscribers.

Metrics Of Success

+120% Y1 WHS Revenue & +40% MOM DTC Revenue

In the span of only 10 months, we regained relevancy and market share of a legacy denim brand. Our DTC sales had a steady 40% MOM traction in revenue with some months seeing closer to 97% MOM increases. Within the first quarter of 2025, our WHS receipts increased by 120% season over season.

8-Week Re-Launch

EDWIN USA’s licensee team was missing the brand vision and planning essential to its success. The brand itself had suffered from season after season of over-production, slow sales and lack of leadership. We needed to right the ship, and quick. In the span of 8 weeks, we re-branded, built a brand new website and re-launched the brand.

Overstock Issues, Solved

Before the re-launch, EDWIN USA had an overstock issue and no plan to fix it. We tackled this by strategically launching capsule collections comprised of reworked inventory, testing out new trends and silhouettes on our target demo. We’re successfully scaling this in WHS for ‘25. Through this program we even expanded our collections to include updated versions of the original reworked styles in better fabrics and designs optimized to scale with the business.

+14k High-Value Email Audience

What started as an un-engaged list of 1,500 users has quickly grown to an active audience of over 14k email contacts, and counting. We’ve cultivated a high value audience through organic and paid traffic, website optimizations and strategically developed content people want to see. Email drives a significant portion of our monthly online sales, with ROI continually increasing.

Rev-Share Retail, For The Win

We opened our own B&M locations, partnering with a multi-retail chain via a rev-share model. Strategically positioned in markets where our target demographic lives, these locations offer a crucial in-person experience that was missing from the brand. We now have three retail spaces live in Detroit, Palm Springs and Yucca Valley, with more doors to open in ‘25.

Becoming A Digital Marketing Powerhouse

We started from scratch. In under a year, I led the creation and implementation of a stellar team and well-oiled performance marketing machine. While we first focused on website functionality + design and social shopping, our flywheel quickly expanded to include all digital marketing channels. Our paid social efforts quickly garnered 3+ ROAS, with some months gleaning an exciting 5.1 return. In addition, we partnered with Chapter Two on a multi-facetted PR strategy to bring EDWIN USA back into the spotlight. Strategic on-and-off site SEO work had a positive impact as well, with a 20% increase in ranking in the span of just a few months.