Award-Winning Booth Design
- Andrea Brown
- May 7
- 6 min read
Next Level Apparel Wins Gold: Designing an Award-Winning Trade Show Booth Through Strategy, Storytelling, and Collaboration
Part of our “Experiential Trade Show Design” series
This article explores how thoughtful design strategy, modular functionality, and customer-focused storytelling helped shape an award-winning trade show experience.
👉 Start here: Learn how today’s best trade show booths are designed like branded environments: From Flagship Store to Exhibit Floor: How the Best Trade Show Booths Are Designed Today
👉 See how logistics come together on the exhibit floor: A DisplayIt Case Study
👉 Explore the process behind creating a custom trade show environment Behind the Build: What It Really Takes to Create a Custom Trade Show Exhibit
When Next Level Apparel received Gold at the 2026 Hermes Creative Awards for Trade Show Exhibit Design, the recognition reflected far more than an impressive booth aesthetic.
It recognized a thoughtfully designed brand experience—one rooted in customer engagement, strategic storytelling, modular functionality, and long-term usability.
At DisplayIt, we’re honored to have partnered with Next Level Apparel to help bring that vision to life.
The project challenged our design, engineering, and fabrication teams to rethink what an apparel trade show environment could be. Together with the Next Level Apparel team, we developed a booth experience that felt more like a modern branded environment than a traditional trade show display—open, immersive, highly functional, and intentionally designed around the customer journey.
Moving Beyond the Traditional Trade Show Booth
Early in the discovery process, the Next Level Apparel team identified several goals for the new exhibit environment:
Improve visitor flow
Create clearer organization across product categories
Increase brand storytelling
Make the booth feel more open and inviting
Highlight product quality without overwhelming attendees
Build a system flexible enough to adapt to multiple show sizes
The challenge wasn’t simply displaying more apparel—it was creating a more meaningful experience around it. Rochelle Lozano, Manager, Design Services, explains further:
“Many trade show booths in the apparel space can feel visually crowded or disconnected. The goal was to create something that felt organized, intentional, and welcoming while still showcasing the breadth of their product offerings.”
The result was a highly strategic environment designed around movement, hierarchy, visibility, and interaction.
Designing for Flow, Openness, and Engagement
One of the biggest design priorities was improving booth flow.
Traditional trade show environments often create barriers that unintentionally discourage movement. Enclosed walls, cluttered product displays, and unclear entrances can prevent attendees from fully engaging with a brand.
The Next Level Apparel booth took a different approach.
The design centered around openness:
Clear sightlines across the entire space
Multiple visual entry points
Strategic product zoning
Intentional negative space
Varying fixture heights
Layered branding moments that guided attendees naturally through the environment
Rather than overwhelming visitors with product density, the booth used hierarchy and storytelling to direct attention.
“We wanted every area of the booth to feel connected. There needed to be a natural progression that encouraged people to move through the space rather than just stopping at one section.”
One of the most impactful elements was the rear slatted feature wall—a sculptural installation that transformed what is traditionally the “back” of a booth into a destination point.
The partially transparent wall showcased Next Level Apparel’s colorways while creating visual intrigue from multiple angles. As attendees moved around the booth, the display revealed shifting perspectives and branding moments that encouraged exploration and interaction.
“It became both a branding feature and a movement tool,” explained Lozano. “It drew people deeper into the booth while helping the space feel visually open.”
Creating a Customer-Centric Product Experience
Another major design challenge involved product presentation.
Prior booth layouts relied heavily on dense apparel displays that lacked clear organization or hierarchy. While they showcased inventory, they didn’t necessarily help attendees understand the brand story or navigate the collections intuitively.
The new booth reimagined product presentation through:
categorized merchandising
collection-based organization
front-facing hero products
integrated graphics
messaging systems
dedicated feature zones
Instead of creating walls of apparel, the design team focused on clarity and intentionality.
“Not every product can be the main character. You need hierarchy. You need focal points. You need storytelling.”
A central “hero island” was strategically placed at the heart of the booth to showcase featured collections and create a natural engagement point for visitors and sales conversations.
The environment also balanced tactile engagement with visual storytelling—an important component for an apparel brand focused on fabric quality and material experience.
This customer-centric approach aligned closely with the language highlighted in Next Level Apparel’s Hermes Award announcement, which emphasized tactile interaction, collection organization, and thoughtful long-term design.
Designing for Long-Term Flexibility
One of the most innovative aspects of the booth was its modular design strategy.
Rather than creating a single-use exhibit environment, the booth was developed as a flexible “kit of parts” system capable of adapting to multiple trade show footprints, including:
10x10
20x20
40x40
Every fixture and feature was intentionally designed for reconfiguration and reuse.
“They’ve already used the booth four times in just a few months. The system allows them to rearrange pieces depending on the show size and goals while still maintaining a cohesive brand experience.”
This approach not only maximized long-term value for the client but also allowed the booth to evolve over time without requiring an entirely new build for each event.
Durability also played a key role in the material strategy. Permanent, reusable materials replaced temporary exhibit solutions commonly seen in the trade show industry, supporting both longevity and consistency across installations.
Hidden Functionality Meets Elevated Design
Trade show environments need to do more than look good—they need to function efficiently for the teams working inside them.
Throughout the design process, the DisplayIt team worked closely with Next Level Apparel to integrate operational functionality directly into the booth experience without compromising aesthetics.
Storage became a particularly important consideration.
Custom pull-out storage units, integrated cabinetry, concealed luggage storage, lockable compartments, and multifunctional meeting tables were all incorporated into the environment. Stephanie Barragan, DisplayIt's Senior Desinger, elaborates:
“We wanted every element to serve multiple purposes. The booth needed to support meetings, product display, storage, and team logistics while still feeling clean and elevated.”
Even small details reinforced the brand experience.
Custom V-cut pull handles subtly referenced Next Level Apparel’s logo, creating visual cohesion throughout the space without overt branding.
These nuanced design moments helped elevate the booth from a temporary exhibit into a fully realized branded environment.
Collaboration Across Teams
Like all successful branded environments, the project was deeply collaborative.
The Next Level Apparel team arrived with a clear understanding of their brand and audience while remaining highly open to new ideas and creative exploration throughout the design process. Barragan goes on:
“They were very collaborative and receptive throughout the entire process. They trusted us to push the design further while staying aligned with their goals and brand identity.”
Internally, the project also highlighted the strength of collaboration across DisplayIt’s design, engineering, fabrication, project management, and installation teams.
Special recognition also goes to Jason Macdonald, Senior Project Manager, for his contributions throughout the project. Lozano shared that his contributions were critical in making this project a success. Without his problem-solving skills, our design would not have impressed in the way that it did.
Trade Show Booths Are Becoming Brand Experiences
The Next Level Apparel project reflects a broader evolution happening across the trade show industry.
Today’s most successful exhibit environments are no longer simply product displays. They are immersive branded experiences designed around:
storytelling
customer behavior
movement
interaction
flexibility
operational efficiency
long-term scalability
As brands compete for attention in increasingly crowded environments, thoughtful experiential design has become a strategic differentiator.
This project demonstrates what can happen when a client with a strong vision partners with a team focused on transforming ideas into meaningful physical experiences.
A Shared Achievement
While the Hermes Award recognizes Next Level Apparel’s exhibit design achievement, we’re grateful to have played a role in helping bring the experience to life.
The recognition is a testament to the power of collaboration, thoughtful design strategy, and a shared commitment to creating environments that truly connect with people.
We congratulate the entire Next Level Apparel team on this well-deserved recognition and look forward to continuing to support brands in creating engaging, customer-focused environments that stand out on the exhibit floor and beyond.
Ready to Design a Trade Show Booth or Exhibit
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