How&How partner with www.amphico.co to develop a new strategic position, brand identity and website. Amphico are an award-winning startup leading the outdoor industry towards a circular future.
The outdoor industry has a recycling problem. The products that enable us to endure harsh weather conditions are often the same ones putting toxic chemicals into our waterways and landfills; unrecyclable and unacceptable. Working at the intersection of science, engineering and design, Amphico is paving the way for a radically simple solution.
Amphico founder Jun Kamei was developing an amphibious gill for humans when he discovered something that would change the course of his company: a material with the potential to disrupt the outdoor industry. Unlike most waterproof materials like Gore-Tex which are made of layers of different plastics and chemical coatings, this new innovation, now known as Amphitex, is a mono-material that can be given a second life.
Deciding to keep Amphitex and the gill experiment under a single masterbrand with more products underway, there was a lot Amphico had permission to talk about: global warming, preservation, adventure, circularity, performance, forever chemicals, biomimicry – the list goes on. But for such a fast-changing company, we chose to anchor the brand in a vision; one that could help people quickly understand the company as it evolves while helping their team focus on realizing a single future.
The vision we ultimately embraced emerged from a contradiction we noticed in the category: that the more materials and material combinations used by outdoor apparel and equipment brands, the more difficult they made their products to recycle. With the rare exception of biodegradable materials, they were harming the environment they so cherish. Looking inward, Amphico was doing the opposite. Amphitex, the gill and everything that would come next would be made of the same innovative mono-material, enabling a future where every component of even the most complex jacket could be made of one thing.
This vision inspired our brand idea, Everything One Thing. At Amphico, there would be no fabric-of-the-month or juggling materials: just one versatile, same-source polymer for every innovation; ultimately leading the outdoor industry towards a circular future.
The design system we developed was rooted in science, and reflected in nature—namely the lotus leaf. The leaf’s naturally water-repellent properties were the original inspiration for Kamei’s material, and became the foundation for our complex system of fluid lines and textures too (as well as the colour palette). These lines not only mimicked the shape of the leaves, but also of water and topography—undulating mountain ranges on maps which allude to Amphico’s outdoor credentials and ambitions. Zimula by La Bolde Vita foundry was chosen as the primary typeface due to its soft-edge, ‘watery’ inktraps and circular letterforms.
Amphico is How&How’s first beneficiary of the GetSet initiative. In 2022, Amphico was chosen as a winner of the Terra Carta Design Lab, launched by HRH King Charles III and Sir Jony Ive. For more information check out: www.how.studio and the full case study.
