In individualist America where everyone wants to be exclusive in their style, where everyone wants to have their own style, where people do not want to see imitations of their stuff, companies are letting people design their own gear.
This is the new trend. Nike – the world’s largest sporting goods firm – launched NikeiD several years back which lets customers design their own shoes within a framework set up by Nike. This concept has been a major money-maker for the company. NikeiD has generated $100million so far.
There are many other examples. But one of the coolest which I recently came across is a firm called shortomatic.com. An online store, it allows you to design you own swimming trunks by uploading your photo and then it will be trimmed to the short’s shape.
Here’s the New York Times’ example:
And if you do not want to design your own, you can buy ones designed by very talented artists. Profession artist Greg Miller, for instance, has contributed this design:
The shorts – customized or ones in the ‘shop’ – are all $99. Male styles only for now, but eventually will offer female shorts. Sizes 24-38.
It is difficult to find good board shorts that match your style, so this site is pretty cool. The designs are very unusual and uncommon and, if you want to design your own, they can even be exclusive and personal. And they have a lot of cool designs. Pretty awesome.
