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The rise of Direct-to-Consumer brands and Personalized Fashion
The rise of Direct-to-Consumer (D2C) brands like Gymshark and Allbirds has significantly reshaped the fashion industry, allowing companies to bypass traditional retail channels and establish direct connections with their customers.
What started as challenger brands and small start-ups have quickly become mainstream in their own right, with many of these D2C companies generating massive revenue. As these brands grow so does the competition, making it increasingly more important to offer unique and personalized experiences, both in-person and online.
Until recently, personalization in e-commerce appeared to be reserved for the luxury market or highly-funded start-ups and marketplaces. This was in part due to technological and production hurdles that couldn’t be overcome by small-scale businesses. However, times are changing very fast.
Personalization is no longer confined to those with big budgets and it’s quickly becoming both available to the mass market and a necessity. We’ve seen brick-and-mortar stores starting to explore personalization offers, with stores in the UK such as Primark experimenting with a customization station, allowing customers to create and print their own designs onto blank T-shirts.
Whether it’s in-store, at a pop-up shop,, or online, fashion giants like Levis, Nike, ASOS and many more are now developing customizable options. Their success demonstrates that shoppers crave individuality and the opportunity to tailor products to their tastes, making them feel more connected to the brand.
While the logistics behind custom production for some products can be a bit more complex, the technology to offer it to your customers has never been more available. Custom product designer plugins are making it easier than ever to offer a personalized shopping experience at scale.
These tools enable any brand, regardless of size, to harness the power of personalization to increase sales, customer engagement, and brand loyalty.
The Growing Demand for Personalized Products
While a few big players are capitalizing on the demand for personalized products, the market is largely untapped, which is a huge opportunity for smaller e-commerce and fashion brands.
This demand is particularly prevalent among millennials and Gen Z consumers, who place a higher value on self-expression through fashion and are no longer satisfied with mass-produced items. Instead, they are willing to pay the price for products that reflect their style and preferences.
Nike pioneered personalized footwear with the launch of Nike ID in 2000. This customization service allowed customers to design their own shoes by selecting from a variety of colors, materials, and patterns. Since then, Nike’s customization offers have expanded to a global network of in-store studios, including their Flagship store in New York where customers can have custom trainers produced on-site.
This is combined with an online offering of over 100 customizable products as part of their ‘Nike By You’ range. We can now see that big brands are investing big in personalized production when it comes to footwear and apparel.
Statistics support this growing trend. An Accenture survey shows that of 2,000 European and North American fashion consumers, 84% are interested in purchasing personalized fashion products.
Furthermore, a study from Deloitte revealed that 1 in 5 consumers are willing to pay 20% more for personalized products. For fashion and e-commerce brands this provides an opportunity to tap into a growing market while increasing the average order value (AOV).
If we focus specifically on footwear from a marketing perspective, SE Ranking data shows that in August 2024 there were 720 searches for “personalized trainers” in the UK alone.
This combined with commercial intent and very little competition presents a significant opportunity for smaller businesses and brands to compete against the larger legacy brands.
Data from SE Ranking when searching for “personalized trainers” in the UK
How Product Personalization Can Drive Sales
The thing that keeps a brand alive is sales, and product personalisation is a powerful way you can drive more. Additionally, unlike other sales drivers like increasing marketing spend, the costs associated with product personalization for the most part can be fixed regardless of scale (within reason).
Product personalization can offer brands several key benefits to help increase their revenue:
- Increased customer engagement and satisfaction: Giving customers the ability to personalize their products offers a more engaging experience that helps foster a stronger emotional connection with the brand. It’s as if they’re able to have their collaboration with the brand.
- Higher average order value: With customers willing to spend more on custom products it’s possible to command a more premium price when offering personalized options. This means an increase in the average order value (AOV), driving up overall sales revenue.
- Improved brand loyalty and retention: When customers have a hand in designing their product, they become more invested in the purchase and the brand. This sense of ownership can greatly boost brand loyalty over time and increase the lifetime value (LTV) of the customer. What’s more, that custom product is likely to be a conversation starter, helping you to increase brand awareness.
- Differentiation in a competitive market: Offering personalized options can set a brand apart from competitors who are limited to offering mass-produced items. For D2C brands, this differentiation is crucial in a crowded marketplace.
By providing customizable options, brands tap into a growing consumer desire for products that feel unique and reflect personal identity. Personalization also aligns well with the preferences of millennial and Gen Z shoppers, who tend to value individuality and are more likely to choose brands that offer a personalized experience. This gives D2C brands a competitive edge, making them more appealing to younger, tech-savvy shoppers.
The Production of Personalized Fashion
According to Accenture, the top 3 types of personalization preferred by consumers, are ‘color’, ‘prints’, and ‘fabrics, applications, and trims’. Despite these customizations being relatively easy to implement there are only a small minority of brands doing so.
From a production perspective, some technology startups like Unmade, have made it possible for more complex customization options, such as custom knitwear to be achieved. However, there are simpler options available, such as custom clothing printing, custom sportswear, and even custom trainers. All of these simple options can align with the personalization options preferred by consumers.
Let’s explore each of the preferred options and possible ways these can be implemented into your business.
Custom Color Options
It sounds complicated, but it doesn’t need to be. Allowing customers to customize the colors on specific parts of your products, with several pre-defined color options, provides a simple but personalized experience. This delivers the feel of something unique without having to dye every product to a specific color on demand.
For example, you could offer the option to choose the color of the laces on trainers, or allow a customer to choose the color of the print or text on a hoodie. Both of these options are relatively straightforward to execute from a production standpoint, as you can print-on-demand (POD) or in the case of laces, just string the shoes accordingly. This gives customers something a little bit unique without requiring a complex setup.
Custom Print Options
Whether you utilize print-on-demand (POD) or a hybrid approach of micro-production runs, custom printing for your customers has never been easier.
POD is a great option for smaller brands who don’t have the capital to invest in products upfront and provides the flexibility to print a completely new design on every single order.
Finding POD companies to facilitate this type of order is relatively straightforward, a quick Google for ‘Print on demand T-shirts’ will result in hundreds of potential options. That said, the drawbacks to on-demand production are the cost, product range, and lead times.
Prices are significantly higher if printing on-demand when compared to bulk production and lead times can be anything from 5 days to 15 depending on the time of year and supplier. In addition, there is normally a more limited range of products to choose from, due to the nature of POD.
A hybrid model might appeal to some, where you have micro-production runs of 10-50 units at a time and then have these products stored and fulfilled as orders are placed.
This helps open access to a wider product range, lower prices, and faster lead times. From a customisation perspective, you could run this in multiple different ways such as:
Pre-designed print options: This would be where you have several pre-defined designs and allow your customers to put them on different products. This could be facilitated by having small batches of all variations in stock and ready to ship. You would then re-stock according to demand.
Pre-defined personalization: This would be a case of having pre-defined customization positions and options. For example, you might have the option for a customer to add their initials to a bag. You would hold the bags in stock and only add the custom lettering as orders came in. This would mean lower costs and faster fulfillment times.
Custom fabrics, applications and trims
This area can be a little more complicated due to the variations being more significant, however, it can be simplified. Let’s look at each element individually and how we can make these possible for smaller brands.
Custom Fabrics: Rather than making a product in its entirety from a custom fabric, you could have micro-production runs of the same product made from different fabric types. You would then offer the options to your customers. This would feel like a more bespoke experience with the opportunity to choose the fabric and would be made possible by holding small volumes of each variation.
Custom Applications: This might be a custom patch, the addition of embroidered initials or something similar. If we zoom in on custom patches, it might be that you’re selling hats, and you offer your customers the ability to add a selection of pre-made patches to that hat in their desired positions.
This gives the customer the ability to create a bespoke product, from components you already have in stock. It’s then a case of applying these patches accordingly when the order comes in. A similar approach could be taken for embroidered initials, you could give the customer freedom to choose the position, or color and then embroider the garment on-demand (using pre-selected thread colors).
Custom Trims: This can be both simple and complex. If it’s something like custom laces in trainers, it’s pretty simple to execute, by having a pre-defined set of lace options for the customer to choose from, and then holding these in stock. Elements like piping and thread colours would require more of a made-to-order approach which may not be as practical for smaller brands at current.
The Technical Feasibility of Personalized Fashion for Small Brands
The technical side of things can often feel like the most daunting, however, the evolution of technology is making it simple and economical for small businesses to leverage personalized fashion.
If you run your website on WordPress, the most popular and widely used CMS on the market, then adding personalized options to your website can be as simple as adding a custom product designer plugin. These plugins allow your customers to design their products in real time, choosing from various options such as colors, fonts, patterns, or adding text and logos.
For fashion brands, the ability to offer such customization options directly on their e-commerce site enhances the customer experience and streamlines the entire process. The technical simplicity of these plugins makes it possible for brands of all sizes to implement personalization without significant technical expertise or resources.
At Orion Origin there are a few options that can help you offer personalization options to your customers.
The Visual Product Configurator for WooCommerce is a plugin that allows customers to customize products online. It supports a variety of features, including multiple views, custom text and images, conditional logic, and social sharing. Customers can save their designs and request quotes. This is a great option for something like custom footwear.
Allada is a custom t-shirt designer plugin that lets your customers create one-of-a-kind T-shirts. With tons of design options, including pre-made templates, fonts, and clipart, they can personalize their shirts to their heart’s content. This a go-to plugin for the personalized fashion industry.
Both plugins are easy to install and come with thorough product documentation making it easy to get everything set up, whether you’re a web design veteran or only just figuring out what a theme is. Both are less than $70 a year and are maintained by Orion Origin making it accessible to brands of all sizes, the added bonus is that you don’t have to worry about maintaining the plugin.
Is personalized Fashion Right for Your Brand?
If it’s not clear enough, personalized products are very much the future of D2C fashion brands. By offering personalized options, you’re not just selling clothes; you’re selling experiences. Customers will feel more connected to your brand and are more likely to become loyal repeat buyers.
Whether you’re a big-name brand or a small startup, adding personalization to your product offers could be the game-changer you’ve been waiting for. With only a small number of brands offering options like this, it’s a fantastic way to grow your sales.
Guest Post By: Alex Franklin
Alex Franklin Co-founder and Director at A.M. Custom Clothing, the UK’s leading supplier of sustainable and ethical custom-branded clothing.
Website: https://www.amcustomclothing.co.uk/