After 56 years of fast fashion, Topshop is still a profiting multinational retailer who have been physically catering for both men and women since 1978. Their brand’s typeface is both bold and unbiased but do they really cater for both sexes ?

Topshop was initially set out as an extension of the Peter Robinsons’ store, and department of women’s fashion. But it later became its own youth fashion brand (ages 13-24) when its parent company, Burton divided Peter Robinson and Topshop into two separate entities. While in 1978, Burton decided to launch Top Man in order to cater for the extremely slow progression of mens ‘High street fashion’.

I would say that as brands go, Top shop has always been an extremely relateable brand who manage to cater for all; including their men and women’s departments while recently including more vintage sections in order to cover a wide customer profile. In some respects, Topshop has the ability to transcend most social restrictions as it has both ‘High end’ elements as well as ‘High street’.

The brand itself has attempted to ascertain its image as both gender neutral and socially neutral due to its bold, yet simplistic logo. Both TOPSHOP and TOPMAN share characteristics in the way that they are both portrayed in ‘All Caps’, deciding to have little differentiation between them apart from the actual name. However, despite their high end intentions within the store, through fashion choices and trends, they uphold the idea that Topshop is ‘for everyone’. The choice of a neutral typeface eliminates its competition with other high end brands who choose to adopt serifs or character in their typefaces so as to give the impression of femininity for example, or class. In relation to the idea that Topshop caters for both men and women, its branding certainly encourages a lack of discrimination and bias against either sex.

Throughout the years, Topshop has incorporated many famous icons so as to boost their brand, their use of models such as Kate Moss and Gigi Hadid are key examples of the way that Topshop’s womens department desires to be fashionably on trend but does this drag away from the brands core values? The initial feeling of security when faced with the big, white, welcoming letters at the front of Topshop’s stores is counteracted by the use of faces such as these women who do not allow for inclusivity in their image as powerful, yet white, size 4 women.

https://www.glamobserver.com/topshop-story-and-business/

http://elliedigitalpublishing.blogspot.com/2016/02/topshop-website-design.html