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Consortium is made-to-order for people who want customized brands

Written by RetailWire Staff

Photos: Consortium

If customers want customization, then Consortium might have what they're looking for.

The retailer has opened a series of pop-ups all dedicated to providing made-to-order products from fashion and beauty brands, according to Ad Age. The retailer's recently-opened New York City pop-up shop features products from brands like Olfactory and Awl & Sundry.

Olfactory is an NYC-based brand that allows store visitors to create customized perfumes in personalized bottles, and Awl & Sundry is a brand that allows website and store visitors to create custom-fitting, custom-styled shoes. Consortium's NYC pop-up is the third in the U.S. and the company has a prospective 15 pop-ups planned globally (12 in the U.S.) with an eye toward turning the most successful ones into permanent locations.

Some studies have indicated that customers' expectation for customized and personalized products has been growing, and the number of brands big and small experimenting with customizable products has grown to meet that demand.

Innovations in production technology have played a big role in enabling new kinds of customization. For instance, last year Boston-based retailer Ministry of Fashion installed a 3-D knitting machine capable of churning out a blazer customized to spec in 90 minutes.

[caption id="attachment_84144" align="alignleft" width="666"]Consortium is made-to-order for people who want customized brands
 Photo: Consortium[/caption]

And direct-to-consumer distribution models, which put vendors in closer contact with individual customers, have likewise led to an increase in customization. For instance, D2C brand Function of Beauty uses an online questionnaire to gather customers’ preferences and needs for shampoo and conditioner and then mixes their products to suit. 

Big name brands have gotten into the advanced customization act, as well. Both Under Armour and Nike have launched solutions that allow fans to quickly create highly-customized sneakers. 

But Consortium's focus on bringing together boutique brands with customizable offerings under one roof seems to rely on consumers seeking out brands just because their products are customizable.

Consortium's founder Sam Payrovi sees the movement toward customization growing as customers begin to regard such offerings as less of a luxury, according to Ad Age. He calls this evolution "democratizing customization."

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