Zara's Expanded Custom Embroidery Line Shows Consumers Want Personalization

Keeping up with trends is never easy. One day, a style might be popular, and the next month it’s something new. Thankfully, there’s one material that will always be in-style: denim. And certain styles are even making a huge comeback. Denim jackets, skinny jeans, wide leg jeans—you name it, it’s probably in for the season. But what’s even more interesting, for our purposes, is the personalization trend overtaking denim, like the more monogrammed, embroidered or custom pieces we’ve been noticing on Instagram.

Back in March, we covered the story on one of the world's largest fashion retailers, Zara, and how it experimented with pop-up customization corners in three stores. Now, the company recently announced the news of its new EDITED collection, which looks to be a full-on expansion of that test program.

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The collection features a number of items, including jeans, denim shorts, a tote bag, two sweatshirts, and even a vest and denim jacket. End-users can customize each item with embroidery in six colors and two different fonts, with various placement options. And customers can now order these items online via Zara's website. Pretty cool, huh?

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Having monogrammed or embroidered clothing is probably one of the easiest ways to customize a piece and tailor it to your own personal style. And we’re sure there’s been a time (or two) where you’ve walked into a store, noticed a basic tee or jacket and then saw the embroidery detail with a quote or word that just wasn’t your style. This eliminates that factor completely and allows buyers to personalize items to their own liking.

That Zara has expanded its custom embroidery program to this extent shows the degree to which personalization is emerging as a major consumer trend. That's good to keep in mind for promo, especially with the increasing availability of mass customization technology for printed items.