The (surprising) source of innovation.  

Great ideas take three things to land: guts, brains, and heart. Courage to try something new. Knowledge to make it work in production. And passion to see the connections between seemingly unconnected things.  
 
The trouble appears when brands study the same competitors, visit the same trade shows, use the same suppliers, and track the same trends. Development starts to become predictable. Brands and products begin to feel the same. So, how do you find unpredictable ideas? 
 
You go off the beaten track. 
 
Sometimes, the solution to a design challenge is already working in another industry. Take opening the vents on a motorcycle jacket. At 90 km/h, you don’t want to be fumbling with fiddly hardware. So, we borrowed the quick-release zippers used on avalanche backpacks and adapted them for protective gear. 

For SPAR’s uniforms, we looked to sportswear. Performance-intended materials are superior in terms of movement, sweat management, and anti-creasing. And by transferring these materials into uniforms we created a collection which goes beyond a normal working day.  

Other transfers are less obvious…and often more interesting. Our team applied knitting technology from furniture and shoe design onto motorcycle components for a concept bike. It was an exciting crossover, never seen before in the world of motorcycling, and drew a lot of attention at the EICMA launch. 

Even attitude can be transferred. Motorcycle-level exhilaration and defiance are distilled down into a super sports car, borrowing not only visual cues but ego from the radical world of two wheels.  Decades of designing KTM motorcycles is what made that translation possible: we already knew what the feeling was made of.

A cargo bike is not where you’d expect to find drone technology. TARRAN thought otherwise, and asked us to design the bike around it. Embedded cameras, touchscreens, and sensors make it safer in traffic and simpler to use.

Thinking this way is part of our DNA. We refuse to stay in one lane; working across a range of disciplines, categories, passions, and cultures. We foster an environment where we’re unafraid to pitch and fail and learn and try things that don’t land.  

So, where do new ideas come from? Sometimes from invention, research, or inspiration. Often, the most reliable ones come from placing a proven idea into a new context. True innovation comes from creating rebelliously, relentlessly, and unapologetically.  And by making room for the unexpected.  
 
Brands open to this way of thinking will benefit. New ideas make your brand distinctive, memorable, and competitive. We have over 35 years of experience working in an active multi-disciplinary set-up; mixed teams, open communication, and numerous services under a single roof. If you’d like to unite your team with ours and discover some new ideas, reach out.