Whistles marks 50 years with 50 customers

Whistles releases a two-minute campaign film on 2026-09-10 that swaps models for 50 customers found by fly-posters around London — a people-first reset as the brand marks its 50th year.

The creative brief was deliberately simple and curious: cryptic posters asked for open-minded women to explain what that phrase meant to them. More than 2,000 people replied. From that pool Whistles and London agency Weirdo selected 50 women, aged 19 to 72, most of whom had never modelled before.

The portraits were shot in a single day by photographer Alice Neale against a plain white backdrop; filmmaker Archi Shah captured interviews and behind-the-scenes moments, largely on camcorder. Six of the women — including a BAFTA-winning documentary filmmaker, a mother and an entrepreneur — front the launch materials.

What the campaign shows

• Agency: Weirdo, founded in 2021 by former pro athlete Louis Persent.
• Responses: more than 2,000 people replied to the posters.
• Cast: 50 women, aged 19–72, photographed in one day by Alice Neale.
• Film: a two-minute piece shot by Archi Shah, rolling out across OOH, social, digital and in-store.
• Brand changes: new positioning, "Designed for an Open Mind," and a signature citrus colour called Lemonade.

“We’re leaving behind rigid top-down campaigns and moving towards projects and commissions,” says Louis Persent.

The shift feels tactical and strategic. Whistles moves away from glossy, top-down advertising toward documentary-style work that foregrounds lived experience. That approach is visible in the film’s texture — candid interviews, unvarnished portraits and a nostalgic, personal tone rather than high-fashion gloss.

For fashion fans the campaign matters because it signals how an established label intends to stay culturally relevant: by elevating actual customers, testing small, real-world projects (including a friends-shot summer collection in Athens) and refreshing visual identity rather than chasing trends like AI-driven imagery. The Lemonade colour and the "Designed for an Open Mind" positioning give the relaunch a clear signal: Whistles wants to be recognisable, warm and open to varied definitions of style.

Whether the campaign brings lapsed shoppers back will depend on retail execution and product, but as a piece of brand storytelling it’s an effective reminder of why people attach emotional value to clothes — and to the labels that once meant something to them.