Nicholas Kirkwood recently introduced an innovative custom program online for his popular Beya loafer and mule styles. Now the British designer is bringing the concept to Saks Fifth Avenue‘s flagship store in New York for the next three days.
Shoppers can engage with a huge digital screen on the 10022-SHOE floor that features the online platform. There are thousands of color and material combinations to choose from — and you can even pick the color of the stitching thread and monogram the styles with your initials. Although you customize your pair of Beyas via the screen, you can see the color and material swatches on display at the store.
The designer launched the online bespoke service with Farfetch. The NIKEiD-like customization service allows customers to choose their own colors and materials to create a personalized version of his popular shoes.
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Despite the fact that customers around the world can now create their own take on his shoes, he says he doesn’t mind relinquishing that bit of design control to see if the service can be a success.
He says during the beta testing of the site, they “made the most disgusting versions” of the shoes and worked backward from there in order to offer customers options that work together.
“This is very much an experiment to see where this takes us. What we’re finding so far is, actually very few are horror shows,” he said at FN’s CEO Summit in Miami in May.
