Satisfied Customizers
Shoppers want to design their own stuff, and businesses are happy to oblige
Don't forget your dentist appointment," your Brookstone Floating Message Alarm Clock announces as you pop up out of your Sleep Number bed, adjusted to your firmness needs. (Your spouse, on the other side of the mattress, chose a softer setting.) You slip into a desert turquoise Polo shirt with a lemon-crush pony, low-rise, boot-cut jeans from Target, and Nike iD sneakers, all of which you designed. You start perusing blogs you've found that pick the news items you're most interested in. Then you glance at the Fossil watch you created and realize, drat, it's time to head to work in your customized car.
The 1970s may have gone down in history as the "me decade," but that was because people had no idea what was coming.
"It used to be consumers wanted something state-of-the-art," says Wharton professor of marketing Barbara Kahn. "Now they want something tailored to them." Indeed, Brand Keys, a research firm that studies customer loyalty, found that customization is 30 percent of what draws a person to a brand today as opposed to a mere 6 percent in 1997.
Getting personal can be pricey, but it doesn't have to be, as Michael Dell discovered when he founded Dell computers in 1984. Instead of assembling computers and then hoping people would want them, the company didn't even order parts until customers said what they wanted. "It changed the computer industry," says Martha Rogers, cofounder of Peppers and Rogers Group, a marketing consulting firm focused on customer relations. "He said, 'We don't have to do it the old way. We might not always sell the same number, but we'll never lose money on computers we've made.' " Dell's success shifted the way many manufacturers operated--they realized they could do away with the stuff that sits on shelves for months and replace it with products that consumers specifically asked for. And with the advent of the Internet and improved factory technologies, reasonably priced customization is everywhere.
Shoes. It seems Nike has been in the customized shoe biz forever with its Nike iD program ($110 and up for a pair of Shox, nike.com )--remember the brouhaha in 2001 when customers tried to get the word sweatshop on their sneakers? With a recent relaunch adding lots of other athletic gear to the mix, Nike iD is the leader of the pack. But plenty of footwear makers are running to catch up. Custom Old Skools and Custom Slip-Ons from Vans ($50-$60, vans.com ) offer patterns such as a skull and crossbones on a pink background. Timberland (timberland.com) has the Build Your Own Boot program that lets shoppers pick colors and a monogram. Over at Converse (converse.com) , the classic Jack Purcells and other models can be made over to your taste ($60-65). For the holidays, you can get velvet and suede options in colors like shiraz and caramel. And over the summer, Puma launched the Mongolian Shoe BBQ tour. Customers set up appointments to pick the colorful parts that are assembled into their kicks ($130). Although it was meant to be a temporary in-store promotion--Boston, Miami, and Washington, D.C., stores are the last on the itinerary (through December 31)--Puma hopes to offer the service on its website, too.
Toys. Browsing the shelves of the Build-a-Bear Workshop in Tysons Corner, Va., 10-year-old Nika Montgomery is proof that kids like to customize, too. Her goal was to find the perfect shoes for a cuddly pet she created at the booming chain store, which lets customers "pawsonalize" a stuffed animal by working through steps, including picking out a heart and deciding how much fluff should go inside. "I really like when you stuff it yourself," Nika says. The new Lego Factory designer (at lego.com ) lets customers build an online 3D model with any kind of bricks in the Lego line. They can share their creations, like "Bat With Snake," featuring a hungry bat, which uses 243 pieces that anyone can buy online for about $35. A toy can know not just your child's name but also what the little one needs to know with My Own Learning Leap from LeapFrog ($35, leapfrog.com ). The speaking plush frog will insert your child's name into its messages and the educational game cartridges. For kids of all ages, there's the sentimental line of Candyland-like board games from Gamesake ($30, gamesake.com ). For birthdays, weddings, or Christmas, your family and friends write memories and directions on the cards (like "Johnny lost Judy's number after they first met at the library, sulk back three") and then it's in the game forever (bar and bat mitzvah and reunion versions are coming).
Bags. Your taste is in the bag. Custom Boat and Tote Bags at L.L. Bean (from $27, llbean.com ) let you choose hues and strap length. The Custom Super Deluxe Book Pack ($65) and Custom Heatwave Messenger Bag ($64) also let you pick a color for various panels and make decisions about reflective stripes, zipper pulls, and mesh pockets. Illuminex technology sets you back an additional 10 bucks. The Custom Messenger Bag from Timbuk2 (from $70, tim buk2.com ) offers two fabric choices, 16 color options for each of the three panels, and add-ons like a phone holster ($15). Timbuk2's newest product, the Artist's Canvas Bag ($90), requires its owner to work for that personal look. The middle panel of untreated canvas is ready for paints, stencils, and other creative endeavors.
Clothes. Brooks Brothers will whip up a custom sports jacket for about $1,000. Less tony clothing vendors have turned to Archetype Solutions, a firm that promises to deliver incredible fits, generally for under $100 an item. (Sadly, they're not doing sports jackets yet.) Target to a T (target.com) does chinos, women's jeans, and men's shirts, J. C. Penney Custom (jcpenney.com) offers twill pants and men's shirts, and Lands' End Custom (landsend.com) has blouses, jeans, chinos, and winter jackets. The website asks you a litany of questions from straightforward (inseam measurement) to potentially embarrassing (butt shape). Then the program figures out what alterations need to be made to create the ideal garment. Our skeptical tester, whose flat posterior makes pants shopping a challenge, ordered a pair of custom jeans from Lands' End. The result? A perfect fit, at a price ($54) comparable to a pair of ill-fitting jeans she'd purchased at the Gap.
Mail. Stamps.com tested PhotoStamps last year, a program that let people put their own pictures on postage. Some jokers submitted shots of the Unabomber and Monica Lewinsky, so since PhotoStamps launched for real in May, the company has had tougher censors. Other than that, the deal's the same: 20 stamps for $16.99. New competitor Zazzle (zazzle.com) charges the same for ZazzleStamps .
Odds and ends. Why tool around town on an off-the-rack Huffy when trained dealers of Serotta Competition Bicycles (serotta.com) will put you through a diagnostic to craft the perfect bike for your body? Come to a shop and they'll gauge your flexibility, core strength, abs, and back muscles to determine how you sit, just as they did for John Kerry, who famously toppled off his Serotta cycle during the 2004 campaign. The newest model, the Mei Vici, boasts a full carbon fiber frame and a price that starts at $7,000. Those Valentine's Day hearts aren't the only candies that talk to you. Custom Printed M&Ms ( m-ms.com, from $38 for four 8-ounce bags) come in 15 colors, and you pick two messages, up to 16 characters each. Just enough to say: "Melts in your mo . . . " Dishware got funky this summer with the introduction of Pfz (pfz.com) , a brand that let customers pick shape, color, and design for their plates and bowls. The company was just sold, so the dishes aren't being manufactured right now, but you can play on the site. Cartography fiends who want a wall map of their neighborhood can live their dreams with Rand McNally's CustomView Wall Maps (from $99, randmcnally.com ). It's an atlas to your house; you give your map a name and choose whether you want a street-level view or a highway one. The center point, like your address, will be marked with a purple star. Thus, you can make yourself the center of the universe--just like everybody else.
This story appears in the November 21, 2005 print edition of U.S. News & World Report.