Born in Japan: Levi jean's "mass customization"

[Taro Toporific]

Born in Japan: Levi's shiny happy new world of mass customization...

Custom jeans for every butt
Levi's promises individualized denim for every fancy.
- - - March 5, 2003 / Salon.com

"I was in Japan at a popular upper-end boutique called 45 RPM, and I noticed a sewing machine in their store," says Burbano. "I knew right then that customization was going to be the way the market would go." But despite Burbano's convictions, Levi's big guys weren't too sure. "Even when I began in vintage, corporate wasn't really behind it. They didn't understand the market we were seeking. And the idea of customization was even more foreign. But eventually we convinced them that in order to get Levi's back into favor with the fashionable public, it was going to have to make some changes. So they finally agreed, and we opened up the customization department here at our flagship store in August of 1999."