Nike says just do it yourself


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SAN FRANCISCO - Nike has a message for shoppers looking for the hottest shoe design: Just do it -- yourself. The world's largest athletic shoemaker has relaunched a Web site where shoppers design their own shoes, choosing everything from the color of the famous Nike swoosh to personalizing the tongue with a word or phrase. The bid to target shoppers who want to stand out marks part of a growing trend toward customization in retail that analysts see as a way for companies to charge a premium for self-styled products. Customization also connects shoppers more closely with a brand and helps companies attract fickle but lucrative young shoppers by giving them the power to put their personal stamp on everything from sneakers to jeans to digital music players. Whether it's a cell phone ring tone of a favorite song, a faux-fur skin for an iPod, or a pair of ice pink and black Nikes, young shoppers see customization as a way to express themselves and build on what they like about certain brands. "It is really a democratic desire," said Sharon Lee, co-founder of Los Angeles-based consumer research and trend consulting company Look-Look Inc. "Every person wants to say this is much more me and I'm not part of this kind of mass culture."

Lee sees the customization trend growing, especially in the coveted youth market. Yet even as these shoppers increasingly demand customization, few retailers effectively mine this market, she said. But Nike Inc. is trying. Nike spokesman Alan Marks said the company has operated Nikeid.com since 1999 but relaunched it in March with more styles and new technology, offering added choices to self-style products such as sneakers, bags and golf balls. He said the Web site -- where most shoes cost $100 or more -- showed customers were willing to pay more for the chance to design their own sneakers. He declined to say how many shoppers had visited the Web site or how much business it had generated since the relaunch. "Once you try it, you become vested in your own design," Marks said. "There is a Nikeid customer who sees value in being able to design their own shoe, and they are willing to pay a slight premium for that customization." The relaunch of the site also comes amid a recent fashion shift to premium sneakers that has shoppers spending top dollar on athletic footwear.

EDIT:

Link to Nike's site: http://nikeid.nike.com

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Sounds interesting...

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Yup, I'm messing around with it now I've designed pink, with yellow striped sneakers with a solid purple underneath (traction).

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I've always thought that the people with the most showy clothes are the people who have the least to say. A bit like a glass jewel inside a golden, decorated case as opposed to a diamond in a simple box.

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WooHoo :D  i'm gonna make a new air force style :cool:

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I'm with you dawg... :laugh:

*Runs and hugs his Nike Air Force I* :shifty:

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Nike ID has been out for a couple of years. You could choose different colors for different parts, and put your name or something on the side. Does this new thing just give more options?

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think the site got neowined.. it seems might slow now.

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i don't think that's a word ;)

'sif the number of people viewing a post in subforum of a forum of a category on neowin can match that of a post on slashdot's front page

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personalizing the tongue with a word or phrase

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Correct me if I'm wrong, but someone was asked by Nike to have a word engraved onto his own custom shoes - he gave them a phrase that said something like "Made by child labour workers" :D

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:laugh: You know Nike has had the option to design your own shoes for at least 5 years, I remember when I was playing basketball and it first came out, I thought it was great :D

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hasnt nikeid being around for a long long time?

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but this is more than shoes. Bags, watches, ect... more to customize.

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