Health care apparel brand WonderWink rebrands as Wink
Health care apparel brand WonderWink is dropping the first half of its name as part of a rebranding effort.
The brand, now called Wink, has initiated a rebrand to reposition itself as a health care apparel company focused on style and fit. The focus is on introducing products that make it easier for health care workers to perform their roles by incorporating design touches that are mindful of all the tasks a health care worker might have to perform. In addition to the name change, the company has also slightly altered its logo.
“WonderWink before had a different logo, one that we felt like didn’t represent the modern-day consumer,” Sue Kapllani, senior vice president of brand and strategy, told Modern Retail “In fact, it seemed a little bit too childish. We wanted to modernize our brand. But we still wanted to hold on to the brand attributes that are true and authentic to us, which is we’re playful and we’re real.”
Rebranding efforts are common for companies that want to revitalize their brands. They allow brands to adjust their image and acquire new customers. Competition in the health care apparel industry has also been growing over the years, with trendy DTC companies like Figs and Jaanuu aiming to capture more market share.
“As a legacy brand in the health care space, we really were a tried and true trusted brand,” Kapllani said. “Similar to a lot of other apparel companies who have entered this space, the style-lead functionality is what we are really dedicated to in this rebrand.”
Wink first launched in 2010. At that time, it was known for offering a wide range of color options and extended sizing. Its product designs will be the main focus of this rebrand, with new styles scheduled to launch in the coming months. CID Resources, Wink’s parent company, was acquired by health care apparel company Superior Group of Companies in 2018 for about $88 million. Superior’s net sales in the first quarter rose 6.2% to $138.8 million. It doesn’t specify how much of its sales come from Wink.
The company currently has thousands of SKUs — including tops, pants, jackets and lab coats — and 624 styles. Wink’s scrubs feature up to 12 colors per collection and sizes ranging from XS to 3XL. Its products are available for purchase through WinkScrubs.com, Amazon and over 800 independent and national retail doors.
“It’s really important that every scrub performs and that the health care worker feels amazing about what they’re wearing,” said Catherine Beldotti Donlan, president of health care at Wink. “As they’re reaching, bending, moving patients, walking up to four miles a day, [health care workers] don’t have to worry about their scrubs performing. They just have to worry about their job.”
Donlan said the company intends to move away from using materials like cotton that don’t stretch and move quite easily. Wink also intends to add new features to its scrubs that would make it easier for health care workers to move, such as a flexible back panel to support physical activities on the job like lifting, walking and leaning.
Earlier this month, Wink launched an updated version of its popular Renew collection. The scrubs feature details like chest pockets with a pen slot, a yoga waistband for comfort and flared-leg pants for better mobility. The Renew collection was initially launched in the fall of 2021, and Wink plans to add more products with performance-based features to it.
Melissa Minkow, director of retail strategy at digital consultancy firm CI&T, said rebrands can be tricky to execute. She said that some brands might not realize how much brand awareness they had with a certain audience prior to a rebrand. As a result, they might lose credibility and appeal to existing customers.
However, rebranding can also be a chance for brands to start fresh, Minkow said. “You really get to kind of start with a clean slate in some ways,” she said. “Anything you weren’t really happy with previously, you can make those changes. You’re giving yourself permission to do that, and you also can pursue a whole different target audience if you feel you could have better reach somewhere else.”
In addition to new products, the company plans to develop more initiatives to propel the brand forward. In March, the company partnered with Taskrabbit for a sweepstake that gave 12 people $250 worth of Task Rabbit redemption codes. The social campaign raised brand awareness, as participants had to tag two people in the comment section of the post.
“The adage of what you wear is how you feel, we know that is true even for the health care professional,” Kapllani said.