Shoes and Apparel - My Way
Having it "my way" is not just about lettuce and tomato anymore. Customized apparel is a growing fad. Adidas and Nike seem to be the leaders in this area, but other brands like Keds are also allowing you to design your own shoe.
How custom is too custom? There is a limit to the amount of customization that is financially feasible. We are not creating 100% bespoke, made to order apparel here. Customizing DC Shoe's Keds line on Zazzle allows picking from a pre-set template and then selection of a rage of colors for each area on the shoe.
Mi Adidas takes it a step further. They provide "inspirations from Adidas" that make suggestions on designs, some based on your favorite college basketball team. Unfortunately of the 3 sample teams used for this inspiration, (Kansas, UT, and Wisconsin) only 1 is left in March madness.
Nike is bringing kids back into stores with the concept store it opened last year, 225 Forest in Laguna Beach, CA. 225 Forest gets a little funkier in that in invites local artists to come in and provide custom designs for their Hurley and Converse brands. These custom designs are then offered to the public on products like board shorts and then printed using equipment local to the store.
Hey, I haven't quite bought into the idea of buying a pair of pink and orange shoes that look like they are twice as wide as my foot. You also won't find me wearing a pair of custom boardshorts that come down to my ankles. I'm too old for that. Something, however, is driving this change. The next generation's need for expression is driving the apparel industry less into big logo brands that represented Michael Jordan and more into a style that mimics the uniqueness of icons like Shaun White and Rob Dyrdek. The X-games and the popularity of extreme sports are growing exponentially. The question is, will brands be able to create this style in-store or online, all while maintaining their brand's integrity?
