When PPE meets design: SUN's rebrand of gloves provider Traffi

Lancashire-based brand agency SUN has collaborated with PPE leader Traffi to overhaul its visual and verbal identity, which now includes a new typographic system, iconography and sustainability logo.

Around 60% of the UK workforce wear protective gear for their jobs, so the PPE market is huge. Traffi is one of the leading providers of industrial safety gloves, catering to everything from the challenging environments of construction and the complexities of manufacturing to the specialised needs of the utilities, infrastructure, and automotive industries.

The company needed a new brand to prepare it for a future of global growth while showcasing its continued commitment to innovation in this space. SUN was recommended to them via a network of experienced marketing directors with whom the agency has worked for several years. SUN founder and creative director Jamie Kelly describes the brief as "a challenge, but a great one," explaining how their goal was to establish Traffi as "not just the leading hand protection specialist, but the specialist in understanding the daily lives of those they protect".

When they came to SUN, Traffi had already identified its key market persona: a person with a laser focus on protecting the hands of those who improve our lives. Kelly says: "Traffi are unapologetically passionate about the care and safety of others, which is why we wanted to work with this brand.

"Every person who works at Traffi cares about the products and who they protect, as well as the planet and their impact on it. This passion runs throughout the business, and their goals are incredible."

The problem was that its visual language and supporting messaging architecture "lacked a bit of stretch," according to Kelly. In fact, SUN found that the language and visual styles used across all safety wear were very similar. "Not wrong, but nothing to stand out, nothing that made the viewer think' these people know what my daily job entails, and what is dangerous to me, '" he explains.

Since Traffi is the leader in hand protection, SUN wanted to build a messaging structure that drives that idea home and showed that Traffi has a deep understanding of the dangers people face in their roles. This is reflected across the new messaging and its typographic treatment, which is used alongside a heavier, more impactful font in ATC Railroad Gothic, chosen to bring gravitas to the visuals.

Those who know little about PPE might wonder where innovation comes into it. Traffi was actually the first company to introduce a unique Traffic Light System, a revolutionary approach to hand protection that simplified glove selection based on colour coding. This meant that workers could ensure they had the right level of protection for different tasks.

SUN wanted to honour this milestone through the new brand by incorporating a refined colour-coding system. This system places the 'cut level' colour front and centre across all product-based collateral. This not only further establishes the signature Traffi system but also fosters better brand recognition.

"Our job was to ensure that the colour system played a central, but not dominating, role in the visual language and acted as a central focus to the real heroes, the people and hands who make our lives better," says Kelly. "The visuals highlight the end user pain points and how Traffi understands these and helps prevent harm."

Traffi has also consciously adopted sustainable glove materials, manufacturing, and supply chain practices. While the brand's green commitments weren't so obvious before, they are now signalled through clear iconography on product collateral and a new sustainability logo.

Kelly explains how "impact, expertise, and diversity of products" were front of mind when it came to the visuals and says they were lucky that we already had some strong and gritty imagery that placed the gloves as the focal point of the brand identity. We then utilised type treatments over a slab sans font to depict the day-to-day activities of the end user and how Traffi understands these and protects against them.

As well as the visual transformation, SUN also redeveloped Traffi's messaging to place the customer and their challenges at the heart of Traffi's narrative. Kelly describes the new messaging as "clear, concise, and focused on the core values of Trust, Innovation and Collaboration".

This is further reinforced by Traffi's new strapline, 'For Hands. For Life'. Kelly says this puts the company "in the hearts of the end user, and also the people purchasing the gloves to protect those in their care".