RYZ lets you design your own shoes, profit from them
Written on July 30, 2008 – 3:00 pm
Robin Wauters, Next web enthusiast & Plugg organizer
RYZ is a Portland, OR-based shoe fashion brand that is trying to make a name for itself by not focusing on attracting customers in the traditional sense, but rather setting up partnerships with people to create a win-win situation. The concept of user-generated designing processes is pretty known to most of us, but hasn’t yet been applied to shoe fashion yet, as far as I can tell, in the way RYZ is doing.
Rather than dictating what’s cool or not, RYZ allows anyone to design their own shoes, based on a number of templates. A creative panel is standing by to assist you if you need help. Other people get to vote up design results, and if you’re the ‘winner’, you receive $1000 + $1 for every pair that’s sold through their shop. The shoes aren’t all that expensive, and most of them look great, but you should note that they’re largely sold in limited quantities, so speed is key. The site was officially launched in beta a little over a month ago.
RYZ is very reminiscent of Threadless in its approach but I think it’s the first one that leverages crowdsourcing for shoes in particular. Unless you’ve heard of others?
(Hat tip to MoMB)
I hope you like that post!
Do you have a start-up that we should write about? Contact us! Thanks for visiting and hope you come back again!
Email
Facebook
Netlog
Linkedin
Twitter
The Next Web Blog is closely associated with The Next Web Conference which is held annually in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. At this event speakers from all over the world come together to talk about, and show of, the future of the Web. (
By Joop Dorresteijn on Jul 30, 2008
Have seen custom shoes before, but the gallery changes the whole concept! Like to see designer students showing off their newest idea’s to market their name, or the neighborhood kid that accidentally hits a new trend. Would be cool to see this in different industries as well!
[Reply]
By Rob Langstaff on Aug 1, 2008
Thanks for blog on RYZ. I am the founder and together with a small team, we are enjoying this experience. We are excited about the number and quality of designs we have received since going live just 4 weeks ago. When you turn the creative key over to your member base, it is amazing what you get in return.
[Reply]
By Christine Strusz on Aug 15, 2008
Check out KEDZ shoes… you can upload your own graphics…
[Reply]
By Jim on Aug 16, 2008
fergreg
[Reply]
By Jim on Aug 16, 2008
regea
[Reply]