With digital print technology you can print your favorite images on just about anything -- canvas, aluminum, glass...and now, even your sneakers.
Yes, you heard right, you can have your favorite selfie, or any other pic you recently shot, printed on your next pair of sneakers, provided they are Adidas sneakers.
The sneaker company recently announced that courtesy of an "ultra innovative" photo print app, to be released on iOS and Android this August, you'll be able to customize your next pair of kicks with your own Instagram pics printed on Adidas ZX Flux sneakers.
While we've all been walking around with our favorite photos hidden on our smartphones, now you can really "walk around" with your favorite pics for all to see with this new Adidas print service .
"Print your favorite photos straight onto one of 2014's hottest silhouettes and make a statement on your sneakers like never before," explains Adidas in a teaser ad for the new sneaker print service.
While pricing details were a bit sketchy, regular, non-Instagram-adorned ZX Flux sneakers retail for around $90. There has been some speculation that the additional cost for the photo print customization could push the cost upward to $200 a pair.
Sam Handy, Adidas Originals design director, hinted at the Instagram project in an interview earlier this month, saying, "I don't want to give too much away, but we've got stuff planned in mi adidas that we should be able to announce in the next few weeks. It's gonna be a real game-changer in customization, like something mind-blowing and new."
After years and years of a consumer product world where mass production was king and one size fits all was the only offer, we are now in an era that is enabling consumers to custom-design everything they buy -- from cars to clothes to food -- and now even the sneakers on their feet.
The opportunity for customized product sales appears major. A recent Bain survey of more than 1,000 online shoppers found that while less than 10 percent have tried customization options, 25 percent to 30 percent are interested in doing so. While gauging the overall market in this product category is difficult, as it continues to emerge and evolve, the survey points out that if a mere 25 percent of online footwear sales was customized, it would equate to a market of $2 billion per year.
