Business

US Consumers Trending On Customized Garments Bid Adieu To Retailers

An alternative is fast emerging to the retail sector in fashion brands across the United States, namely customized apparel. American consumers fancy customized products better than conventional garments.

A market research firm named YouGov and a made-to-measure men’s e-vendor Lanieri.com that is based in Italy, jointly carried out a survey on buying habits of American consumers related to fashion, and also elicited their views on customized garments.

According to the study, almost 50 percent of US adults preferred customized clothing when it came to making purchases. The study stated that on an average they are willing to spend USD 207. It further said, men were more inclined to spend and they tended to outspend the women by a good USD 60. The trend was accentuated by the arrival of the millennials on the scene. The millennials crowd is expected to accelerate the drive towards purchase of customized apparel.

Consumer preferences for customized products vary with gender. Most men expressed keenness in acquiring made-to-measure work clothes, shoes and wedding grabs in that order. However, women’s first preference was wedding wear, followed by work clothing and shoes that are customized.

The trend is compounded by increased spending capacity and advent of milennials who have a positive attitude towards customized garments. This has given an added impetus to the fashion technology industry to work towards customization and e-tailing.

The study also indicated that in the year 2016, nearly 21 percent of Americans bought customized apparels. A huge chunk of this was purchased by millennials who are on an average highly tech-savvy compared to the older lot. In 2017, there was a steep Y-o-Y improvement with nearly 34 percent purchasing customized or made-to-measure fashion apparels.

Among those who switched to purchase of customized garments, most preferred to use the e-commerce channel to effectuate their buys. More than half the customized purchase segment sector of US consumers searched Web sites and expected better pricing than at retail stores. A majority of this market segment was discerning towards companies that provided free shipping and good customer service.

However, cutting across age groups and gender the consumers expressed concern about the loss of privacy that might result from this new trend. The concern only varied in degrees.