Fashion Brand H&M Follows The Trend to Individualize Merchandise And Develops Global Digital Printing Platform
Whether in clothing or in the interior design of one’s own home – more and more people appreciate personalized merchandise and want to be involved in the design of a product. H&M Group Business Ventures is responding to this trend by developing a new global digital printing platform for the merchandise industry: Creator Studio, an on-demand printing service.
Lowering Barriers For Offering High Quality Products
The service of H&M Group Business Ventures will allow merchandise to be created in the future by using digital print-to-order within an e-commerce system. The idea behind the initiative is to lower the barriers for brands and creators when it comes to offering high-quality materials, the company reports. Similar brand-level strategies in the H&M Group include 3D-scanned custom jeans from Weekday and personalized ceramics from Singular Society.
“Today’s customer is demanding personalized products and experiences more than ever,”
points out Ellen Svanström, head of business ventures at H&M Group.
Reducing The Risk of Overproduction
The customer base will initially be increased through onboarding a select number of global brands and creatives. The long-term vision is to expand the offering beyond typical merchandise.
“With our investments and initiatives in on-demand printing, we can create real value for the customer, external partners and the H&M Group, and be a driving force for change in the merchandise industry. We enable creatives to quickly tailor their message to their fans while reducing the risk of overproduction”,
Ellen Svanström states.
The group’s investment arm, H&M Co:Lab has also invested in print-on-demand network Printify. Individuals can start their own print business by printing products through the platform. The advantage of this is that it also handles the distribution of the products. It was recently announced that Printify has received $45 million in investment, including investments from the founders of Vinted and Squarespace.
In what products do you value individual design the most? Let us know in the comments!
