O-Wear Store Fixture Group

O-Wear vendor shops were installed in Macy’s, Bullock’s, Marshall Fields, Dayton-Hudson, Dilliards and many other specialty retailers all over the United States.

PRAIRIE FISH designed these vendor shops with the first ever 100% recycled/recyclable store fixture group. The main components were constructed out of plastic trash - a co-mingled plastic that was destined for the landfill. All shelves and graphics were printed on recycled honeycomb cardboard. (It was determined early in the project that cardboard was the one material that department stores were recycling on a regular basis.) Even the glass logo on top of the kiosk fixture was cast from recycled glass.

Store fixtures typically do not enjoy long lives on the retail floor and many of the O-Wear fixtures were returned to the plastic recycler. They were then ground up and made into picnic tables, car stops and park benches.

This was the first time a broad step was taken beyond the obvious choices for fixturing. By thinking this way at the design level other applications for recycled materials will be discovered.