The core concept started as a mix of the pride in Microsoft's rich history and the growing trend of wearing nostalgic technology as fashion - ascii art, 8-bit video games, thick-rimmed glasses - a space Microsoft was comfortable calling their own. The implementation started with the design of t-shirts that use old assets from the early days of DOS. A partnership with Common formed and more designs were added to the collection. A launch party created buzz amongst the culture blogs and sneaker sites. Urban Outfitters began to sell the work. Softwear debuted at Magic and boutique, street wear retailers bought into the line. Softwear is now sold at dozens of select stores around the country.

Without any paid media to driving to the site, traffic solely from blog postings has been close to 120,000 since launch in December. Once consumers are on the site there is a very high level of engagement with over 700,000 product views, 36% conversion to “Buy Now”, and 24% completion of the 2 minute intro video. The following concepts would help drive additional traffic to the site and help take advantage of these high engagement rates.