Consumer Designers Enter Market

From a blouse that looks as if it is being worn inside out, to a swimming suit that can be worn as everyday clothe.

Adians, an online clothes store, held a design contest open to ordinary consumers and new designers in February this year and accepted more than 550 works. Out of the submissions, it selected 16 marketable designs and began selling goods in those designs last month. “Consumers design clothes that they want to wear, and Adians makes clothes that differ from existing patterns,” said Adians. “In the future, we will hold contests for jewelry, such as necklaces, as well.”

Domestic enterprises are releasing MIY (Make It Yourself) products designed directly by consumers one after another.

In May this year, GMarket, an online shopping mall, hosted an event selling t-shirts on which pictures chosen by consumers were printed. Consumers uploaded the design of clothes they wanted to wear on the web site, and GMarket produced the clothes based on the design. One of the designs was so popular that more that 200 t-shirts in that design were sold. In April, it held a furniture design contest, and developed a product based on one of the designs submitted by consumers: a 360° round desk.

Mvio, one of the brands of Cheil Industries, also held a clothes design contest in April this year open to university students. Kim Jeong-hee, a team director of the Samsung Fashion Institute, said, “The advent of MIY products means that there are more multi-polar consumers in the market who hope to maintain their own specialties and simultaneously to share themselves with others.”

The business model that realizes the dream designs of consumers into products is also well established in other countries.

Ponoko (www.ponoko.com), a New Zealand-based online site, manufactures products consumers dream of. When a consumer designs a piece of jewelry or stationary using the software on the site, Ponoko staffers manufacture goods on their own and sends them to the consumer. It also allows consumers to purchase goods designed by other consumers.

Trendwatching.com, a British trend research institute, pointed to MIY as one of the major trends in its 2008 Trend Report.

“Following the Do It Yourself method, where the consumer simply puts together pieces, and the Repair It Yourself method, where the consumer reforms manufactured goods to suite their tastes, MIY goods allow consumers to create designs on their own. This will form a new trend,” predicted Consumer Studies Professor Kim Nan-do at Seoul National University.

chance@donga.com