The Renegade Craft Fair was held in Brooklyn this past weekend, showcasing the talents of various arts-and-crafts vendors, and promoting the increasingly popular form of “do-it-yourself” design. Fashion companies, such as Threadless (http://threadless.com) and Urban Tailor (http://urbantailor.com) are jumping on the DIY bandwagon by allowing customers to design their own garments or create their own graphic tees online. User-friendly web pages allow customers to click and create customized clothing based on provided styles and textiles. With the help of Internet technology, customers can instantly create and preview their own customized clothing.
Sneaker goliath, Nike, takes this trend one step further with their latest creation: Nike PhotoID. Combining mobile technology with the DIY trend, Nike PhotoID allows fans to create sneakers based on snapshots taken by their cell phones. The new program analyzes dominant colors in the photograph and then transfers those colors into a sneaker template. An image of the shoe is sent back to the mobile phone, and users have the option to save it as a wallpaper or order the actual footwear. The customized color-ways are available on Nike’s classic 1985 Dunk high-top basketball sneakers. Currently, Nike PhotoID is only available in Europe. WU
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