Rebel Sport + Nike

Experience Strategy & Design, Environments Design, FF&E, Communication Consultancy - With WD Partners

WD partnered with Australia's premier sport retailer and Nike to create scalable flagship experiences for Women's apparel and The FIT Studio as well as the Football department and Boot Stadium at the Rebel Emporium Melbourne flagship destination in Melbourne, Australia.

We worked together to determine the biggest draws for customers and the biggest opportunities for enhancement—giving the women’s and football departments some extra attention to provide shoppers with an exciting, supportive, and valuable experience. In addition, we supported Nike as they proved themselves to be a collaborative, innovative retailer and a fantastic partner in bringing an exceptional store experience to life.

Football (American Soccer), along with Rugby and Australian Football, is not only huge for Rebel, but it’s huge for the fans and players of all experience and participation levels. Rebel’s “Home of Football” claim needed to really stand out in-store as THE place to be for all things Football and building that community of passionate fans and players.

We developed an immersive area for footwear to give shoppers the feeling like they were on the pitch and part of this strong community. The “Boot Stadium” features player style seating, an expansive digital ceiling element to highlight campaigns/graphics as well bringing in sky-lighting, and a strong nod to stadium architecture.

We also tackled the Women’s department and fitting rooms. A key insight to enhancing Women’s was that women do all kinds of activity and need support in this as they shop. A challenge WD took on was both how we communicate to women—being straightforward and empowering—as well as how Rebel shows up visually to shoppers, to provide distinction for the department while also showing that they know what women want.

Not only did we direct the look and feel evolution of the entire Women’s department, but we also built out the “Rebel Fit Studio”, which provides women with the privacy, efficiency, and clarity for a better bras and leggings shopping experience. The Fit Studio focuses on giving women a comfortable area to shop these sometimes intimate products, while guiding them through all the options to get the best pieces for their active lifestyle.

Finally, we assisted in the development of the Running department—providing insights into what shoppers want and need as well as ideas of how to make the space both exciting engaging for all types of runners and supporting their community.

Rebel Emporium opened November 30th, 2023 and has received great response from the public, making it one of the largest and most experiential and sport and wellbeing destinations.