Mass Customisation Reaches Critical Mass at Market America

Some of the Market America i.design range, L to R: Women's Flat Front chino, Men's shirt and close up of monogrammed initials

2004-07-08 - Greensboro, North Carolina, USA: Market America has successfully launched of i.design®, the newest addition to its line of customisable products. The company sells the i.design clothing line through trained distributors that can help measure and assist customers with finding the exact fit.

Market America is a company that uses a direct-selling model to provide a wide variety of products to customers. Founded in 1992, the company has more than 100,000 independent distributors worldwide and plans to use its recent Australian expansion as a platform for further growth into the Pacific Rim. The marriage of One-to-One Marketing with Mass Customization has allowed the company to successfully launch i.design and compete with large clothing retailers.

"The i.design clothing line has been a quest of mine for quite some time," said James H. Ridinger, CEO and president of Market America. "We have worked tirelessly to build our company into a mass customization leader but custom clothing was a challenge. The company’s mission is to find out exactly what customers want and then deliver it right to their door. Our customers wanted a personally tailored line of clothes, so we searched for someone that knew how to do it. Our search brought us to Archetype."

Archetype Solutions, a San Francisco-based, venture backed company was formed in 2000 by apparel professionals from Levi’s, The Gap and Tommy Hilfiger. The group created new technology and systems to offer an affordable method for consumers to create custom clothing. By using advanced, patented software and a simple question and answer method to determine sizes, Archetype’s system allows customers to order clothes that are stylish and fit like they are meant to - made to order.

"We are thrilled to work with Market America. Their management team and business is exceptional. We experienced an attitude not seen in most companies," said Robert Holloway, CEO, Archetype. "We are approached by many companies that think they are ready to jump into Mass Customisation because it has great buzz. Market America clearly understood and already had the Mass Customisation mentality from its successful lines of customizable products."

The i.design logo

Prices for i.design clothing range from $55 for jeans to $49 for a button-down shirt. The line is sold exclusively by Market America distributors. Local distributors can be found by visiting www.marketamerica.com and using the 'Distributor Locator'.

Clothing is not the only market sector in which Market America offers customisation. The company also has Motives®, a line of customisable cosmetics and Isotonix® Custom Formula, a line of individually customizable dietary supplements. Ther is even a Gene SNP DNA Screening Analysis to customise supplements to according to person’s DNA. The company is aiming to become a one-stop-shop for those seeking customised products.