Fashion for One

“You just don’t know,” my friend said dismissively. “You are going to see how friends are going to tell (your daughter) what’s okay to wear.”

“No, you don’t know,” I answered more snarky than I’d like to admit. “My students attend the Fashion Institute of Technology and they are the ones that are going to tell your kids what they are going to wear a few years from now.”

Turns out, we were both wrong.

Until very recently, the fashion industry’s decision as to what fabrics, what styles and looks consumers will buy had been left up to designers, fashion forecasters and retail buyers.  Only the very rich ordered custom clothes with a rich tradition based on couture fashion. But that’s all changed – with improved production technology and the electronic democracy that is the Internet.                

There is mounting evidence that designers not only welcome customization, they are giving consumers a chance to choose what gets produced and designed for us all. This has been specifically described in marketing texts as mass customization and a new phrase (for me, anyway)—“crowdsourced” design.

A recent article in Mashable.com described how consumers:

• selected the top five from a series of 16 original designs from fashion designer, Derek Lam’s spring collection,
• can pre-order new fashions from up and coming designers (clothes that were manufactured only if enough orders were placed) at Fashionstate.com
• designed the next “morning-after clutch” for accessories designer, Rebecca Minkoff by selecting materials and submitting ideas online (6000 ideas in fact).

The result?  Designers get to “listen” to their fans and can more accurately predict the right amount of clothing to produce without excess inventory. Consumers don’t have to be surveyed to say exactly what they think – all they have to do is vote, order or even independently design to get the individual product they crave.  And fashion companies, from head to toe, offer this amazing brand experience on demand.

Want a unique polo shirt? Go to www.ralphlauren.com  to “create your own collection” as promoted on the site.

Interested in a unique coat? Burberry is inviting shoppers to “make it yourself” when it comes to their signature trench coat.  Starting later this year, within the “confines” of a web application, consumers will be able to design their own coat with up to 12 million possible combinations. 

NikeID  (www.nike.com/nikeid) allows you, for not much more than a pair on the shelf, customize your own pair of Nikes – right down to the colors, sidewall, outsole and swoosh designs.

So if the whole point of a marketing effort starts and ends with the customer, this one-at-a-time technology gives in to the EXACT desires and specifications of the buyer -- fans of the brand but a unique way of showing it. A perfect match.  

With this technology and brand focus, peers won't determine your kids' taste in clothes, nor will designers. Your kids will develop the looks all on their own.