Umber

Umber is a sustainable underwear brand using only natural fibres such as hemp and bamboo to create their garments. Environmental properties of using hemp as a sustainable alternative to traditional materials such as polyester and cotton include requiring very little water to grow, around 80% less water than cotton and absorbing huge amounts of CO2 from the atmosphere. For this project, I was commissioned to create the branding identity and packaging design for the brand.

Throughout this project, I wanted to reflect on the sustainable aspect of the brand. The word umber comes from the fifteenth century and is one of the earth's natural pigments and is a deep brown shade used in many paintings from that time right through to today. This was the inspiration for the colour palette,I decided to use a palette of beige and browns.

One challenge I faced during this project was trying to incorporate the sustainable element of the hemp fabric within the branding. The client wanted to use the hemp leaf within the logo but we felt this could be negatively associated with cannabis, instead, we redesigned the shape of the hemp leaf and developed a cleaner, simpler icon.