Krate Supply Co. – Jason Kress – Portfolio of Work 2015-2018

Krate Supply Co.

After two decades of involvement in European automotive culture, I came up with the idea of creating my own brand. With so many close friends lending their ears, I noticed that there really wasn’t an “enthusiast” car care line on the market and I wanted to fill that niche. Attacking the problem from several angles, I slowly built up the brand through giveaways; clothing and skateboard decks that would be handed out at a few dozen car shows every season.

After establishing a sizable following (this was before Instagram mind you), I worked with several manufacturers and created my own array of various organic and chemical free car care products from scratch. Then it was on to bottling and labeling, with the goal of keeping costs to a minimum and ease of fulfillment as a top priority. At the end of the day, I just wanted to see how big the project could get and when it was all said and done, I succeeded at creating a self-sustaining brand for less than $500.

Logomark, Brand Building and Product Design

Working with a limited budget, I silkscreened single-color vinyl stickers that served as both product labels as well as grafitti for name recognition at events. I kept things simple and only created the bare essentials of what enthusiasts really used to take care of their vehicles both before as well as during the car shows.

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Apparel Design

Presentation was key. I wanted the people I gave my shirts to, to actually want to wear them. I came up with some fun designs and was sure that the packaging was of superior quality. Hang tags were printed with a spot varnish on thick cardstock which also served as a sticker to place on toolboxes or vehicles.

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Giveaways

I noticed that displaying skateboards on roofracks was an emerging trend so I came up with a series of giveaways that mimicked good 'ole cheap beer. I gave these away as prizes to show winners which lead to a lot of product placement in some of the biggest automotive magazines on the planet.

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