We’ve all heard the expression “you wear your heart on your sleeve,” meaning that we share our feelings and emotions freely. The idiom dates to Medieval times, when knights would wear a special lady’s ribbon on the sleeve of their armor as a symbol of having – or desiring to have – her heart.
It’s a bit like actor Tom Hiddleston causing a stir when he wore an ‘I ❤️ T.S.’ t-shirt on the beach in Rhode Island in 2016 during his brief relationship with Taylor Swift. Inquiring minds wanted to know if she made him wear it or if he was declaring his passion via personalized apparel. (Neither was the case, apparently, as he later explained that he wanted to cover up and someone in the group had the shirt.)
Whatever the inspiration, we love to showcase individualism in what we wear, the tattoos we imprint on our bodies, and on products that set the tone in the spaces where we live and work like personalized mugs, journals, pens, and more.
We’ve noticed a trend of influencers wearing their children’s names embroidered on their sleeves of favored apparel, for example, in the way that the brand My Comfy Blouse custom embroiders sweatshirts with the type of personalization OWD offers clients.
Sleeves are apparently the “in” location for expressing individual identity. According to the site Mint Lounge, the costume designers for the Netflix series Heeramandi: The Diamond Bazaar, knew that the actors playing courtesans in colonial India must have garments with long sleeves showcasing strong, powerful embroidery. “Sleeves talk,” they said, and bring the body and the garment “alive” by portraying an individual journey.
The New York Times’ shopping concierge site Wirecutter gets the appeal of exhibiting individualism on consumer products that define us as they define our lifestyles. An October story, The 28 Best Personalized Gifts for a Unique Touch, presented options that include the Hammered Handwriting Cuff by Etsy seller AnnMariaJewelry that can be personalized with a sentimental or inspirational thought through laser engraving – one of the many product personalization services One World Direct gives e-tailers and brands the ability to offer.
Other products folks tend to cherish, are also highlighted on the Wirecutter list, such as a baseball cap embroidered with a special message, which “elevates it from sun shield and dirty-hair disguiser to style statement,” and Madewell’s The Pouch Clutch, which can be monogrammed with up to eight characters in 11 different colors.
Laser engraving is another great tool for elevating everything from utilitarian items like pet tags to fine watches and other jewelry into style statements that uniquely embody – and announce – our individual Qi.
Yes, a beloved pet’s tags must have his or her name and the parents’ contact information but add a personalized note like “Money can buy you a fine dog, but only love can make him wag his tail” and Bella the black Lab will be the “it girl” of the dog park.
Now give Bella’s owner some fashion statement, military style dog tags, add a declaration like “I’m a lover, not a fighter but I fight for what I love,” and suddenly you have the most sensitive – and in-demand – duo on the playground, streets, or trails.
Last year, everyone was writing about the Williams Sonoma double-wall glass coffee mug favored by the Kardashians, especially Kourtney. The thought struck us that the mugs would be the perfect canvas for one of Kourtney’s most inspiring quotes. In 2015, when Bruce Jenner announced he was transgender and transitioning, Kourtney tweeted, “Couldn’t be a more proud daughter. With courage and bravery, let’s change the world … .”
That last phrase, “With courage and bravery, let’s change the world,” is the perfect individual declaration for any of us to have laser engraved on a glass mug. If Kourtney did it, you could imagine the mug(s) ending up in a celebrity auction and raising a nice amount for a charity – and then being treasured by a buyer who would never part with it, pointing to the sustainability quotient of product personalization whose individualism equates to shared values.
The narrative to follow is clear for lovers of literature who want to declare individualism as they also summon inspiration. Famous writers including Virginia Woolf, Henry James, Sylvia Plath, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Mark Twain, Joan Didion, and James Joyce wrote in journals personalized with monograms.
T-shirts happen to be one of the most common platforms for expressing individualism, from concert tees to vintage protest shirts — “no nukes are good nukes” – and more contemporary ones with inclusive messages such as “Pride Over Prejudice” and “United Against Hate.”
“T-shirts are much more than just the go-to casual attire that is one of the best mediums of expression,” says Future Market Insights, Inc., which is referring to screen-printed shirts, though elevating messages through custom embroidery can add sophistication and shelf life to a self-identifying message.
In whatever form, custom and personalized T-shirts provide a snapshot of powerful the personalization market can be. A Grand View Research market analysis report says the global custom t-shirt printing market was valued at $4.314 billion in 2022, and is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 11.1% from 2023 to 2030.
For brands and e-tailers, offering product personalization as part of the fulfillment process is nothing but a profit center, with added revenue from upselling products elevated by personalization going directly to the bottom line. E-tailers simply pass on the costs of the product personalization, and when someone wants a monogram on a gift or special item, the added cost will not deter them. Instead it’s a badge of honor.
When online shoppers are ready to buy, offering the ability to personalize products to make an individual statement also achieves an equally important, though sometimes elusive, goal – making customers happy. That ups the loyalty quotient and mints new repeat buyers, all without marketing dollars spent in the process.
In this era when individualism is more of a priority than ever, the ranks of digital consumers looking for support in expressing themselves and their beliefs is poised to surge exponentially.
“There is a psychology behind how people are living their brands out loud. They find their tribe through symbolism and are equally OK with turning off those with opposing viewpoints. Just look at the rise of inking (tattoos) oneself with the symbols and messages that most define us."
When it comes to living brands out loud, the world of street fashion is masterful in elevating utilitarian items like hoodies, caps, and footwear into big-ticket statement items that declare allegiances and create some serious cachet for the wearer – and these products are effectively personalized by virtue of the level of access it takes to acquire them.
A case in point from the GQ magazine story “The 41 Most Iconic Pieces From the Golden Age of Merch” is the Supreme box logo tee released for the opening of a new store in Brooklyn, N.Y., by the clothing brand that focuses on streetwear, skateboarding, and hip hop fashion trends. GQ says the “box logo tees (or “bogos,” in forum parlance) inspire a staggering degree of demand,” which was heightened for the Brooklyn release for a variety of factors – for shirt that has nothing more than the box logo on the front and the Brooklyn store’s phone number on the back.
Imagine if some of those brands offered a shopping cart plug-in that allowed shoppers to personalize apparel products the way big-time sports has. Lots of people have “official” LeBron James jerseys but the true individuals out there have Lakers apparel with their own name in the starring role.
“Custom jerseys have transcended their traditional role as sports uniforms and evolved into potent symbols of personal expression, unity, and celebration. The significance of a custom jersey extends far beyond the playing field, touching various aspects of our lives,” Fashion Mingle says in a post entitled “The Power and Personalization of Custom Jerseys.”
In this post-election period, we can’t end without mentioning political memorabilia as a form of expressing individualism. It’s so popular that there’s even a national group called the American Political Items Collectors.
“Memorabilia tells the [political] story much more than documents or books. It brings it to life,” Mark Evans, a member of the group, told CNBC in a story that noted that Jake Tapper of CNN has an entire room of political memorabilia from presidential candidates who lost.
And that memorabilia – much of it was created with the processes OWD provides clients as part of the fulfillment process.
OWD integrates product personalization (P2C) into the fulfillment process for its clients. We create tailored website plug-ins that offer personalization options as part of the e-commerce experience, and then carry out the personalization in OWD warehouses.
Current options include laser engraving, embroidering, direct-to-object printing, and customized greeting cards. The range of materials OWD can work with extends from paper, wood, glass and plastics to fabrics, leather, rubber, metal, and beyond.
To learn more about OWD’s product personalization and how it can help your brand achieve greater success, head to our website to start a chat or schedule a call.
Our customers at One World Direct are often shocked to learn that our P2C (personalized-to-consumer) service costs them nothing, because the incremental cost of personalization is passed on to their customer. Revenue can sharply increase by using existing product lines and simply offering a shopping cart add-on to personalize the product. The dynamic with our customers completely changes when they see us as a revenue driver versus just a cost center as most 3PLs operate.
When brands offer an extra like personalization that heightens the appeal of products, a brand explorer looking for differentiation will find you – and when they run your product through their personal value matrix, you’ll come out on top because personalized products are cherished and kept, which increases the value quotient, while also enhancing personal relationships between gift givers and recipients, which is “priceless,” as they say.
