The Second Coming of Mass Customization
Sunday's Globe column focused on the Boston area start-ups that are offering customized products, from t-shirts to diamond rings to stiletto heels.
Here's my list of every customization-oriented company in the Boston area.
- Ball and Buck
Customized organic t-shirts.
- Blank Label
Suits and shirts targeted to young men.
- Fashion Playtes (still in beta)
Apparel and accessories for "tween" girls. Funded by Launch Capital and New Atlantic Ventures.
- NetVirta (still in stealth mode)
Stitching together digital photos to create a 3-D model of the body, for fit customization.
- 9tailors (still in beta)
Shirts for men and women (and soon, dresses).
- Paragon Lake
Customized jewelry, sold through brick-and-mortar jewelry retailers. Funded by Highland Capital Partners and Canaan Partners.
- Sole Envie (still in beta)
Women's shoes.
- Spreadshirt (German company with US headquarters in Boston)
Personalized t-shirts.
- True Jeans
Not a pure customization play, but aims to help connect you with the best-fitting off-the-rack designer jeans for you, based on your measurements and body shape.
- Zyrra
Custom bras.
Know of others? Do add them in the comments...
http://www.corporatecasuals.com/ - another Babson company - been around for a long time and seemingly doing well + growing
http://www.physicaldesignco.com/ - mass customized backyard structures - doghouses, kid's playhouses, sheds and artist studios, etc. Physical Design translates your Google SketchUp model into a customized kit of interlocking flat parts that assemble without any nails, screws or power tools. This is an MIT start-up that is planning to launch by the end of the year. http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2009/05/dan_and_the_puzzle_houses.html
http://artaic.com - mass customized architectural mosaics. Walls, floors, murals, portraits. Founded 2007.
Cool list - nice to see an aggregation of things about atoms rather than (only) bits.
-g
CustomMade.com the internet's largest marketplace for custom furniture, custom woodworking, and all things custom made from wood!
There are at least three Babson College companies that I know of on this list. The best entrepreneurial college in America.
I'm a customer of Paragon Lake's. Such a great "product." I'm behind it 100%...even if I don't live in Boston.
There are a few others, MOO being the best known "start up" but there are a host of other good customization companies in the New England region. ZCorp has been a trailblazer in this area as well as all the students in Neil Gershenfeld's group at MIT. The Fab Labs go unrecognized, but are doing great work.
I wrote a post about the activity in New England a little while ago:
http://replicatorinc.com/blog/2009/06/new-england-mass-customization-hub/
Which ones are the Babson companies??
Don't forget Proper Cloth for men's custom dress shirts http://propercloth.com. Also started at MIT and now based in New York.
Here's another: http://gemkitty.com.
A design your own gemstone necklace online. Prices about $100. Don't think they're in Boston though.
Introducing...
About Scott Kirsner
On Facebook
Subscribe via e-mail
More from Scott
Events
March 3: Web Innovators Group
Demos, drinks, and schmoozing at the Royal Sonesta in Cambridge.
March 7-8: MassDigi Game Challenge
Competition for aspiring game developers... plus panels and keynotes related to the business of play.
April 3-4: Mass Biotech Annual Meeting
Issues facing the region's life sciences community.
Browse this blog
by categoryLinks we like
The Globe's Business News Updates
Mass High Tech
Xconomy Boston
VentureFizz
Greenhorn Connect
Empirical Reality
Innovation District / City of Boston
Vector Blog / Children's Hospital
Dan Bricklin / Software Garden
Bijan Sabet / Spark Capital
John Halamka / Healthcare CIO
Joost Bonsen / MIT
Jeffrey Bussgang / Flybridge
Rob Go / NextView Ventures
Rob Day / Cleantech Investing
Innovation Leader / Corporate Innovation