INVISTA: The spinout of DuPont's fibers and textiles

New: Invista corporate brand

Launched: September 4, 2003

Story in brief:
Last year, DuPont pooled a variety of units (makers of Lycra, Teflon, Stainmaster and other brands) to create "DuPont Textiles and Interiors" and on January 1, made it a freestanding subsidiary. At $6.3 billion, it's "the world's largest integrated fibers and intermediates company." President Steve McCracken was determined to cut the DuPont cord to permit "a distinct, independent corporate identity," "a vital new company (...) with renewed determination and clarity."

Credits:
CEO - Steve McCracken
Naming and design - Enterprise IG (NY)

First Impressions:
It's certainly a clean slate, with no allusion to textiles; so it will simply be what it is... or rather, what the Invista team makes it over time.

The name is functional, if unexceptional; a bit surprising that it was (sufficiently) available.

The design, too, is functional if unexceptional. Strategically, I question creation of a symbol where the name itself might better be the hero (and needs a boost in distinctiveness, rather than visual competition). However I accept the designer's assertion that "this was not so much a rational process, more a response to the excitement and expressiveness a symbol could add to the brand." Invista has named the symbol 'the rings of innovation.'

But I will quibble, if I may, with enlargement of the capital I , a postmodern touch which (to my eye) simply adds clutter.