Purchasing clothing for kids can be a frustrating experience, since they can often be picky about the colors and designs they wear and yet kids also grow so quickly that it's far from frugal to spend a lot on any individual piece. Fortunately, Plae is using a direct-to-consumer model to keep prices down while still allowing kids to have complete control over how their shoes look.
The company has an online design system called Tablab where kids can design every part of their shoes, but as a DTC company, it removes the distributor and thus keeps costs low in comparison to other established competitors. Further, Tablab is interactive, making it a fun experience that helps kids to take ownership of what they wear.
Beyond Tablab, Plae also has an extensive line of shoes in preset colors to keep costs even lower.
Customizable Kids' Footwear
Plae Sells Affordable Children's Shoes Through a DTC Model
Trend Themes
1. Customizable Kids' Footwear - Plae's online design system allows kids to personalize every part of their shoes, providing a disruptive innovation opportunity in the children's footwear industry.
2. Direct-to-consumer Model - Plae's direct-to-consumer approach removes the distributor and keeps costs low, introducing a disruptive innovation opportunity in the retail industry.
3. Interactive Design Experiences - Plae's interactive design system, Tablab, engages kids in the design process, creating a disruptive innovation opportunity in the interactive technology market.
Industry Implications
1. Children's Footwear - The customizable kids' footwear trend presents a disruptive innovation opportunity in the children's footwear industry.
2. Retail - The direct-to-consumer model trend offers a disruptive innovation opportunity in the retail industry.
3. Interactive Technology - The interactive design experiences trend presents a disruptive innovation opportunity in the interactive technology industry.