Adidas Ventures Into On-Demand, Customized Apparel

Adidas is trying out a new on-demand, customizable sweater printing pop-up shop. (Image via engadget)

If consumers had it their way, they would customize a piece of clothing and have it ready immediately. This might seem like a futuristic desire, but it turns out, Adidas is on the ball.

According to engadget, Adidas opened a pop-up shop in Berlin that gives customers a chance to customize a merino wool sweater for 200 euros ($215). Then, Adidas will knit the sweater on the spot so customers can take it home that day.

The process works like this: The customer enters a dark room where different designs and patterns are projected onto his or her chest. The customer then picks his or her favorite looks, and adjusts the pieces on a nearby touchscreen.

Customers enter a dark room and view the different designs projected onto their chests. (Image via engadget)

For sizing, customers can guess at their size, or go for the 3-D laser scan fitting.

Once the order is completed, machines knit the sweaters immediately in the store. After that, the sweaters are hand-finished, laundered, dried, packaged and ready for pickup in about four hours.

It's hard to predict if this on-demand, customized apparel service will become the new normal. The store has been open for a couple months, and sells about 10 sweaters a day on busy days. And, who knows what Adidas' overhead for all this technology is? But, the idea of the 3-D scanning and projected patterns are a pretty cool concept.