Monday Club is the brainchild of brothers Zak and Luke Foster, founders of the successful South London building firm Foster & Foster. Having spent years working in the trades, they felt the industry lacked a brand that genuinely reflected its culture, humour and character. Together, they set out to create one.

The name comes from a phrase familiar to anyone on site. You start the week with the best of intentions, only for a burst pipe, delayed delivery or flat tyre to remind you that Monday has other ideas. For those in the know, that’s Monday Club.

Working alongside the founders from the outset, the project combined founder consultancy, brand strategy and creative direction to transform a promising idea into a commercially viable brand. Rather than simply designing an identity, the focus was on establishing the right foundations; creating a brand capable of launching with confidence, testing the market sensibly and evolving over time.

Zak and Luke already had a strong instinct for the brand they wanted to build. Inspired by outfitters such as Deus Ex Machina and P&Co, they admired the way those brands had grown beyond clothing to become part of a wider culture. Their ambition was to create the equivalent for the trades; not another workwear company, but a brand that people genuinely wanted to wear because it reflected the humour, pride and camaraderie of life on site.

The challenge wasn’t the idea, it was how to bring it to life in a commercially realistic way.

Like many founder-led businesses, time and investment were the biggest constraints. Both brothers were running a successful construction company, while launching a clothing brand through traditional manufacturing would require significant upfront investment before knowing whether the concept would resonate.

Rather than asking how much we could create, the question became:

What was the minimum we needed to launch a brand that people would believe in?

That question shaped the decisions that followed.

The launch identity was deliberately kept lean. What began as a brief for a single, versatile logo evolved into two complementary marks after it became clear that each solved a different problem, together creating a more flexible identity system. Alongside this, the first collection was intentionally limited to two adaptable graphics, designed to work across multiple garments, colourways and production methods.

The same thinking extended beyond the creative work. Instead of recommending a large manufacturing run, we chose a print-on-demand model, allowing the founders to test the market with minimal financial risk before committing to larger production volumes.

Sometimes the most valuable consultancy isn’t recommending more work. It’s helping founders understand how little they need to begin.

Monday Club launched with a clear identity, a focused first collection and, more importantly, a commercially realistic route to market.

By deliberately reducing the scope of the initial launch, the founders avoided tying significant cash up in stock while giving themselves the freedom to test the concept with genuine customers. The identity was designed to grow alongside the business; two versatile logos, a flexible graphic language and a production model capable of evolving as demand increased.

Looking back, the project reinforced something I continue to believe today. Good consultancy isn’t about recommending the biggest investment or the most ambitious brief. It’s about understanding what a business genuinely needs at that moment in time. In this case, the most valuable decision wasn’t designing another logo or another T-shirt. It was giving the founders the confidence to launch with less, learn quickly and build from a solid foundation.

Every successful brand starts somewhere. Monday Club demonstrates that thoughtful strategy, commercial restraint and a clear point of view are often enough to turn a promising idea into a viable business.

Capabilities

Founder Consultancy • Brand Strategy • Positioning • Naming • Brand Identity • Art Direction • Illustration • Apparel Design • Merchandise Design • Production Strategy • Supplier Liaison • Launch Support