Sush
Client
Sush
Role
Brand Designer & Art Director
Services
Brand Identity · Merchandise Design
Project Description
Sush was a startup fashion brand concept develop, centered around creating apparel from locally harvested hemp fibers. The brand was envisioned for an audience drawn to luxury streetwear and skate culture, combining elevated fashion with the attitude and individuality of the skating community.
Problem
As a startup fashion concept, Sush needed a complete visual identity that could establish its personality and differentiate the brand within the competitive streetwear market. The challenge was to create an identity that balanced the elevated feel of luxury fashion with the energy and individuality of skate culture while building a strong visual foundation that could translate naturally across branding and merchandise.
Solution
I developed Sush’s brand identity from the ground up, creating a visual direction that reflected the personality and positioning of the fashion brand. Drawing inspiration from the name “Sush,” short for sushi, I incorporated influences from Japanese visual culture while balancing them with the bold, contemporary aesthetic of luxury streetwear and skate culture. The resulting identity established a distinctive visual foundation that could extend naturally across the brand and its merchandise.
Outcome
Although Sush ultimately did not launch, the completed identity gave the founders a strong visual representation of what the brand could become. The work helped define the desired look, feel, and style of the clothing while providing a cohesive creative direction for the concept. The identity and merchandise designs also gave the team polished visual materials they could use to communicate the vision of Sush when presenting the startup concept to potential investors and collaborators.
Research
The process began by exploring Sush’s vision, target audience, and positioning within the luxury streetwear and skatewear market. I also researched Japanese visual culture and contemporary fashion trends to identify opportunities that could connect naturally to the meaning behind the Sush name. This established a creative direction that balanced cultural inspiration with the bold, expressive personality of the brand.
Concepts
Using the research as a foundation, I explored multiple visual directions for the identity through logo concepts, typography, color, and supporting graphic elements. Each direction considered how the identity could extend beyond the logo and become part of the clothing itself, allowing the brand and merchandise to feel like one cohesive visual experience.
Refinement
Once the strongest direction was selected, I refined the identity and began applying it across merchandise concepts. Typography, colors, graphics, and brand elements were adjusted to create a consistent system while establishing the look and feel Sush wanted for its clothing. This stage helped transform the initial startup idea into a more defined and recognizable fashion concept.
Finalization
The completed identity was developed into a cohesive collection of brand assets and merchandise designs that demonstrated how Sush could exist as a fully realized fashion brand. These applications provided the founders with a clear visual representation of the concept that could be used to communicate the brand’s direction to potential investors, collaborators, and other stakeholders.