At the risk of offending my good friends in the Dell Consumer online team, I think sneaker companies are kicking some serious a** when it comes to usability and brand experience in online product configurators. My recent search for the perfect sporty casual shoe led me to several Web sites that offered not only great style and customization options, but also a great shopping experience that makes me want to go back – and, obviously, to spread the word.
I’d seen K-Swiss shoes that I liked in a store, and started my search there. The My K-Swiss site is basic (only two base color choices – black or white), but offered a style I liked (the “Classic Luxury Edition”) and plenty of color options for the stripe color, lace color and K-Swiss “shield” on the tongue. It was easy, there was no guessing and I had my first pair of custom kicks within a few weeks. When I revisited the site while writing this post, I noticed that they’ve made the very savvy move of adding customization options for universities. There are only seven schools right now, but fortunately the University of Wisconsin is one of them – and you can get Bucky Badger on the tongue!
The Converse site was my next stop, and it had much to commend it from a design choice and experience standpoint. There were several more base models to choose from, and several more customization options – materials for the upper, distinct color choices for the inside and outside body, as well as for the heel stripe and tongue. I bought a pair there, too, but wish I’d waited until after their recent refresh – 12 styles to choose from now, plus a plentitude of options for (RED) versions. They’ve even launched a new initiative called 1HUND(RED), which will feature custom designs by 100 artists from around the world to help eliminate AIDS in Africa.
Puma has a visually sumptuous site called Mongolian BBQ, that’s quite literally laid out like its namesake, and the mouse pointer is an arm holding a pair of chopsticks that picks your color selection out of its bowl. Unfortunately, that’s as far as I’ve gotten – maybe too much of a good thing.
That’s just a sample of my humble experience in the sneaker sub-culture. Real collectors should check out the sneakers blog at Complex.com.
May 12th, 2008 at 4:03 pm
i think i’ll get converse just because of the name
May 17th, 2008 at 8:27 pm
[…] Jay Pinkert added an interesting post today on Get Your KicksHere’s a small readingMy recent search for the perfect sporty casual shoe led me to several Web sites that offered not only great style and customization options, but also a great shopping experience that makes me want to go back – and, obviously, … […]