The Deloitte research indicates that businesses not incorporating elements of personalisation into their offering risk losing revenue and customer loyalty. “Brands are transforming how they interact with current and future customers to provide personalised brand experiences that make people feel special,” says Smulders.
US-based designer Eileen Fisher has been using $180,000 (£136,000) Shima Seiki 3D-knitting machines to save yarn wastage, but at New York’s National Retail Federation show in April, the women’s clothing brand demonstrated a customer-facing version, created with Intel, designed to be used for customisation. Using this machine, a bespoke garment can be created in 45 minutes.
Michelle Tinsley, Intel’s director of mobility and secure payments, says that made-to-order can help retailers track inventory, which will stop them from discounting the “trillion-dollar problem”: over-ordering.
Customisation is not confined to luxury retailers. Performance brand Ministry of Supply also uses the Shima Seiki knitting machine in its Boston store to offer personalised blazers on demand. In March 2017, adidas’s pop-up store in Berlin sold customers bespoke knitwear items that were printed within four hours.
The following month, Amazon won a patent for an on-demand manufacturing system for apparel, designed to quickly produce clothing, but only after a customer order is placed. This system would supposedly include textile printers and cutters, and cameras to take images of garments to give feedback on alterations needed in later pieces. Finally, goods would be manufactured in batches based on factors such as the customer’s shipping address.
Luxury brands are being forced to take note and explore on-demand manufacturing and personalisation. The ability to play with colour and pattern is just the beginning – the next step could be to use customer data to provide tailored, on-demand items. Apps such as MTailor, which uses smartphone cameras to provide clothing measurements in under 30 seconds, are already on the market.
Bespoke, customised, perfectly fitting items made just for you and only when you order them – it sounds just like a Savile Row offering, only this time its purchased from your smartphone. What’s more, this could potentially be offered at scale and much lower cost – the very opposite of luxury.
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
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