Design-it-yourself -- shoes, T-shirts, and more
The New York Times has finally deigned to discover the movement toward customer-designed goods -- a trend previously documented by Business 2.0, among other outlets. The Times, however, does illustrate that the idea of letting customers use the Web drive new products is spreading into unexpected new areas, like shoes. Designer John Fluevog solicits designs from loyal "Fluevogers" online, calling it "open source footwear." Threadless, a T-shirt store, has contests for the best customer designs.
Consultant Rex Hammock finds the notion familiar, saying that it echoes themes found in a book called The Cluetrain Manifesto, which proclaims that online communication will undermine the traditional approach to marketing. It's unlikely that shoe fans read that geeky tome, however. Fluevog, according to the Times, just sees the move to selling customer-created shoes as a natural outgrowth of his customers' enthusiasm. 
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