Archive for November, 2008
Did you know there’s a T-Shirt Economy?
I ran across an interesting article in Wired today entitled “Clive Thompson on How T-Shirts Keep Online Content Free.”
Nominally the article is about how artists are freely distributing their content online without charging for it and instead are turning their fans into paying customers by selling merchandise (such as t-shirts). It’s an unbelievably big industry with T-shirt and other apparel companies selling 40 billion dollars worth of decorated apparel a year.
What interested me though, was the part about how Mass Customization companies such as Cafe Press and Zazzle have cashed in on this phenomenon by making it easy for artists to instantly create and sell their merchandise with no investment needed. In fact, at Cafe Press users sold more than a $100 million in goods in 2007 resulting in a $20 million dollar profit.
I’ve never been much of a t-shirt kind of gal, but recently I’ve become addicted to perusing the above mentioned websites along with others such as Threadless and Spreadshirt. These sites crowdsource designs or enable users to upload their own graphics onto their t-shirts. There are some really amazing artists out there and I’m glad these companies have given them a way to distribute their work. Here’s one of my favorites
.
Posted by Monika on Thursday, November 27th, 2008 | Uncategorized | No Comments
Levi’s made MOM JEANS
Frank Piller, who I consider the Guru of Mass Customization gave a great talk that included some insight into why the Levi’s Original Spin (fka Personal Pair) program failed (something that people never fail to remind me about when I tell them about Sole Envie).
If you remember in the late 90’s you could actually get a pair of Levi’s jeans customized to your fit. For women this was a dream come true. With women and their wide 
range of hips, thighs, waists and everything else that you have to stuff into a pair of jeans it’s almost impossible to find something off the rack. Levi’s had what should have been a perfect approach: measure the body in the store and make the jeans to a perfect fit. But it failed? Why? Not because they didn’t have customers.
- Levi’s never moved this beyond the pilot phase. They never considered the Original Spin program to be a main line of business and never invested the infrastructure and training to help it grow beyond a PR gimmick.
- In a cost cutting effort, Levi’s, perhaps a bit short-sighted, closed the US factory that was making the custom jeans.
- Levi’s didn’t provide an enriching experience for their customers. You didn’t feel special while getting your jeans fitted and they never followed up with customers for repeat orders. Read more about Frank’s thoughts on Levi’s Original Spin.
Another good point Frank made about mass customization programs within larger corporations (like the Levi’s one!) is that support for the MC program needs to come from the top.
Without the support of top managment, it is unlikely that you will get the resources or focus that you need to be successful. A good mass customization program is going to require its own set of processes and ways of doing things.
Luckily Sole Envie will suffer no such problems. As CEO, I hereby declare we’re all about customization! One challenge down, 99 to go!
Note: I did a bit of in-depth research on the Levis Original Spin program and I think I found out the REAL reason that they failed. They were making !!MOM JEANS!!.
Posted by Monika on Monday, November 17th, 2008 | Entrepreneur, Mass Customization | No Comments
MIT Smart Customization Seminar Recap
Last week 60 executives, academics and entrepreneurs gathered for the 2 day MIT Smart Customization Seminar held at the Faculty Club at the Sloan School. Many thanks to the seminar chairs Frank Piller and William Mitchell for putting together this excellent gathering.
Monika Desai at the SMART Customization Seminar
The seminar pulled together a diverse group ranging from well known researchers and scholars such as Joseph Pine (and here) and William Mitchell to executives from a wide range of industries. Nike, M&Ms, Adidas, Avery, Keds, Zazzle and Spreadshirt were just a few of the participants. The focus was on sharing success stories, challenges, trends and research regarding implementing mass customization strategies and technologies in both the business to consumer and business to business sectors.
Over the next few posts, I’ll be recapping some of the highlights. Here goes!
Posted by Monika on Monday, November 17th, 2008 | Entrepreneur, Mass Customization | No Comments
Sole Envie’s Presentation at the MIT Smart Customization Seminar
Just a quick note that our presentation at the MIT Smart Customization Seminar went really well! I know I’m not the world’s best speaker but I really enjoyed being up there and talking about Sole Envie (kind of like my singing!). Our concept video crashed midway (Eric saved the day by jumping in there and summarizing what the audience would have seen) and we had to cut the presentation short as we ran over our alloted time, but we got some great feedback and interest. The seminar was really interesting and we made a lot of great contacts too. I’ll be writing a recap over the next few days. Stay tuned!
Posted by Monika on Friday, November 14th, 2008 | Uncategorized | No Comments
About Monika Desai
Monika Desai, Co-founder & CEO of Sole Envie, is a seasoned marketer with over 13 years of experience. Monika Desai’s decision to start a customized fashion company was born out of a lifetime of frustration of not being able to find shoes for her size 4 1/2 feet.
Determined to find a pair of shoes for her wedding, she designed and commissioned a pair of custom-made shoes. She fell in love with the experience of choosing the style, color, leather and accessory and seeing her design come to life. A born entrepreneur, she decided to turn the concept into a scalable business so women everywhere could experience the same thrill of designing their own shoes.