SIX:02 Puts Fashionable Spin on Fitness

Fitness and fashion are well met at Foot Locker’s newest retail banner, SIX:02. Targeting active, performance-minded young women, the lifestyle brand features apparel, footwear and accessories for a range of activities, from yoga to running to dance — and more.

“SIX:02 is a fitness-fashion destination,” said Mary Lynn Waite, senior designer, Chute Gerdeman, Columbus, Ohio. “The merchandise has crossover appeal in that it can take the customer from the gym to doing errands to meeting friends for coffee to lounging at home.”

Launched in Stamford Town Center, Stamford, Conn., SIX:02 has since expanded to six additional locations (and recently launched its own web site). Residential cues and a warm, welcoming vibe help distinguish the format.

“We used woods and classic residential pieces, such as fixtures with fluted table bases,” Waite said.

Expansive storefront windows call out SIX:02’s crossover message by featuring multi-layered looks. Reclaimed wood on the façade adds texture and warmth.

The interior has a contemporary, modern look and loft-like feel, with hardwood floors, clear sight lines and pops of the brand’s signature color, citron. A curated collection of framed lifestyle photography adds another residential element.

“The store reflects the customer’s modern sense of style,” Waite said. “It’s meant to make her feel right at home.

A mix of eclectic fixtures that mixes the furniture-inspired pieces with metal rolling racks, smooth white units and other modern forms is used to display the store’s mix of folded, hanging and face-out merchandise.

“After researching this customer, we thought an eclectic mix was the right way to speak to her,” Waite said.

Some of the goods, such as workout bras, are displayed on slat walls that resemble white brick or wood planks. T-shirt boxes are grouped together on the wall, essentially forming a “billboard” of must-have graphic tees.

Mannequins are grouped throughout the store, displaying how the layered looks make it easy for the customer to go from the gym and on her way without missing a beat while looking stylish every stop along the way. A key focal area emphasizes SIX:O2’s crossover story by pairing trendier merchandise with more athletic items to create looks that are fashionable as well as fitness inspired.

In another nod to the crossover message, shoes are merchandised throughout the space to allow customers to see how they work together with the apparel for a stylish head-to-toe look. (Performance footwear is merchandised on the wall as a destination for shoppers who are most interested in function.)

The fitting room area is accented with moldings and such other residential elements as a large-scale leaning mirror, grey and white striped wallpaper, and upholstered furniture.

“We wanted to make the fitting room area very comfortable,” Waite explained, “with a lounge where you can sit if you are shopping with friends.”