Pentagrams Hugh Miller Rebrands Hiut The Welsh Denim Label Bringing Jeans Making Back To Aberteifi

Creative Boom: News Branding Pentagram's Hugh Miller rebrands Hiut, the Welsh denim label bringing jeans-making back to Aberteifi The new identity leans into the contrasts that make Hiut what it is: industry alongside nature, utility alongside craft... right down to a typeface drawn from the makers' own signatures. Written By: Katy Cowan 16 June 2026 There's a lovely bit of stubbornness at the heart of Hiut, and the brand's new look finally does it justice. Pentagram partner Hugh Miller has designed the visual identity and art direction for the premium denim label, which crafts its jeans from a family-run factory in Aberteifi on the Welsh coast.

The town – also known as Cardigan – has denim in its bones. In the 1960s, the first jeans factory employed more than 400 local people and turned out over 35,000 pairs a week, until production moved offshore in 2002, taking the work, though not the know-how, with it. Decades of accumulated skill were simply left sitting there. Hiut was founded in 2011 to bring it back home, put those hands to work again, and train the next generation of makers. As such, this was never going to be a label that chased trends.

Hiut takes its cue from factory life, the skill of its makers and the rugged landscape around it, so Miller's brief was less about reinvention and more about telling that story well. Working closely with the Hiut team, he built the identity around the brand's values, celebrating the factory, its people and its setting, while embracing the contrasts that define it. The result balances industry with nature, and utility with craft. At its heart sits a redrawn wordmark that nods to the factory's industrial heart, all craft and resilience, with "Aberteifi" added underneath to root the brand firmly to its location, heritage, and mother tongue.

Alongside it is a bolder, rounder and altogether more huggable version of Hiut's much-loved owl mascot. The easy move would have been to reach for navy and the usual heritage-brand polish. Instead, type does some of the heavy lifting. The functional, utilitarian Founders Grotesk handles the day job, joined by 'The Makers Font', an expressive handwritten face drawn from the real signatures the makers scribe into every pair of jeans before they leave the building at night. The colour palette pulls together the muted hues of the local landscape and the raw, functional character of the factory, layered through contrasting textures and tones.

Art direction does the rest. Jess Ellis on stills and Cat Garcia on motion were invited to capture moments of "everyday beauty" from both the surrounding landscape and the factory floor – shot in black and white and colour, leaning into texture and the unexpected details that reveal a brand's human character. From here, the launch campaign and ongoing art direction are led by Hiut's own teams and collaborators, working with photographers, illustrators, videographers, and printers whose approaches genuinely align with the heritage brand.

It's certainly a more elevated and curated expression of Hiut, thanks to Hugh Miller at Pentagram and all involved. It shows the brand hasn't forgotten where it comes from or how it's tied to the people, place and processes that make the jeans so special. You can see more of the work on the Pentagram website, and find out more about the label at Hiut Denim.

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The rebranding of Hiut by a notable design firm like Pentagram is significant for the brand industry, particularly in how it emphasizes heritage and storytelling, which are increasingly important in brand strategy.