# Waitrose new logo (2018)

> Waitrose launched a new logo in Sep 2018, designed by Pentagram. Sep 4 2018: Waitrose renamed Waitrose & Partners (Pentagram, Harry Pearce): lowercase green wordmark replaced by spaced capitals Gill Sans Waitrose over & Partners.

## Key facts

- Brand: Waitrose
- Launched: Sep 2018
- Studio: Pentagram
- What changed: Sep 4 2018: Waitrose renamed Waitrose & Partners (Pentagram, Harry Pearce): lowercase green wordmark replaced by spaced capitals Gill Sans Waitrose over & Partners.
- Why: Waitrose became Waitrose & Partners to signal committed, knowledgeable partners sharing their love of food and offering great service.
- Industry: Retail
- Logos: https://rebrandlog.com/logos/waitrose-2018/before.svg (before), https://rebrandlog.com/logos/waitrose-2018/after.svg (after)

## The rebrand, explained

Waitrose is the supermarket half of the John Lewis Partnership, the employee-owned business set up by John Spedan Lewis in 1929 to hold the company in trust for its staff, who share profits and have a say in how it is run. In 2018 retail was in trouble: House of Fraser was closing stores, Debenhams issued profit warnings, and in June the Partnership said half-year profits would be close to zero. Creative Review called Waitrose a supermarket so posh it spawned a parody account of middle-class remarks overheard in its aisles.

The answer was to lean on what rivals could not copy. In early September 2018 the retail brands were renamed Waitrose & Partners and John Lewis & Partners, the first time the partnership model had appeared in either logo, putting the focus on around 85,000 Partners. Waitrose & Partners managing director Rob Collins said the moment was far more significant than adding words and changing the design: it signalled committed, knowledgeable partners sharing their love of food and offering great service.

Pentagram, led by partner Harry Pearce, designed identities for the Partnership and both retailers on one shared system. Its root is a 1960s pattern by Peter Hatch for the Partnership, from which Pentagram derived the proportions of a new Brandlines logotype; a hand-drawn headline alphabet comes from an old version of Gill with Hatch's pattern lines worked in. The palettes are largely neutral so products lead, but the colour scheme was made flexible, Pentagram noted, particularly for Waitrose, which operates in the louder world of supermarket retail.

The Grocer reported a phased rollout: Edgware Road and Clerkenwell were the first supermarkets converted, own-label packaging began changing from October with the Christmas range, and all 348 Waitrose shopfronts and the shared fleet of 3,500 vehicles would follow over several years with refurbishments.

Putting partners in the name is a strong, honest idea. The visual system is refined, perhaps too refined for a supermarket aisle, and the & Partners suffix makes a short name long. The partnership story was real, but a logo could not fix the trading pressures behind it.

In short: An honest idea in the name, a refined system that whispers in a loud aisle.

## Sources

- https://www.designweek.co.uk/issues/3-september-9-september-2018/pentagrams-harry-pearce-rebrands-john-lewis-and-waitrose/
- https://www.campaignlive.co.uk/article/john-lewis-waitrose-unveil-modern-progressive-new-brand-identity/1491742
- https://www.thegrocer.co.uk/news/waitrose-and-john-lewis-begin-new-corporate-identity-rollout/571203.article

## Cite this

Rebrand Log, "Waitrose new logo (2018)", https://rebrandlog.com/rebrand/waitrose-2018/, last updated 2026-10-20.