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How custom shoe ecommerce company, Shoes of Prey is closing the...

Mon, 25 Mar 2013 12:20:40 -0500

How custom shoe ecommerce company, Shoes of Prey is closing the gap between online & offline shopping experiences.

What makes a maker - GE

Wed, 13 Mar 2013 14:14:27 -0500

What makes a maker - GE

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Sun, 27 Jan 2013 11:44:00 -0600

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Tue, 22 Jan 2013 22:30:31 -0600

The Internet, A Decade Later

Wed, 22 Aug 2012 10:36:40 -0500

The Internet, A Decade Later

Hong Kong’s Bonham Strand trains ex-drug addicts...

Sun, 12 Aug 2012 19:44:09 -0500

Hong Kong’s Bonham Strand trains ex-drug addicts as bespoke tailors & aims to restore ‘Made in HK’ label.

A conversation with Taka of Liverano & Liverano

Sat, 11 Aug 2012 22:59:22 -0500

sanstrousers:

I haven’t been around nearly long enough and know far too little to authoritatively talk about the incredible work that the artisans at Liverano & Liverano produce. Thankfully, those far more learned than I, like the folks at The Armoury, have already declared the atelier sartoria to be “one of the greats of the Italian tailoring world.” What I can say is that I was pleasantly surprised at their willingness to entertain the fancies of a traveling university student. After sending them an e-mail out of the blue asking if I could stop in for a chat and some photos, they were gracious enough to welcome me into their beautiful workshop and bear with my barrage of questions.

Over two balmy Florentine afternoons (with some delicious espresso interspersed throughout), I spoke with Taka Osaki about the specifics of Liverano’s style, the importance of color, and other such topics.

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US President LBJ reminds us that a tailor is one of the very few...

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 14:24:00 -0600

US President LBJ reminds us that a tailor is one of the very few people in the world we can (and should) tell even the most private details of our bodies to.

Lessons From A Tailor

Thu, 19 Jan 2012 03:00:38 -0600

Lessons From A Tailor

"A man who works with his hands is a laborer; a man who works with his hands and his brain is a..."

Fri, 25 Nov 2011 18:11:35 -0600

“A man who works with his hands is a laborer; a man who works with his hands and his brain is a craftsman; but a man who works with his hands and his brain and his heart is an artist.”

- Louis Nizer

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Wed, 23 Nov 2011 03:03:00 -0600

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Thu, 23 Jun 2011 00:36:00 -0500

Why Recommendations Will Rule the 21st Century

Thu, 19 May 2011 01:25:00 -0500

Here’s a prediction: Recommendations will rule commerce in the 21st century.

The reason? One word. Customization.

The days of buying mass-produced, cookie-cutter type products are over. The world is entering a new era, where people want scarcity. They don’t want what their neighbors have. What’s more is that the Internet, along with globalization, is making customized products not any more expensive than what’s offered off-the-rack. The convergence of these forces is opening up a whole new market for customized products. In the future, almost everything you have will be customized, and made just for you, and only you. One day your great granddaughter is going to ask you why we all took the same aspirin, and not the genetically modified for each person aspirin that she will take.

But the customization of products does come with some real problems - for both buyers and sellers. The biggest problem associated with buying customized goods is the sheer amount of options that are thrown at the buyers. Most people don’t actually know what they need. Since the average buyer is not an expert designer, negotiating the near bottomless pit of decisions overwhelms him until he either a) finally succumbs to the paradox of choice, or b) creates something so ugly or dysfunctional that he can’t even use it. For sellers, the biggest problem is becoming commoditized when so much of the design is handed over to the buyers. How does one compete in a world where his product configurator is just like the next guy’s?

A recommendation is the single solution to both of these problems. A personalized recommendation from a seller can help the buyer make the decisions needed to customize his product appropriately. In addition, a recommendation allows the seller to display his expertise and set himself apart from the rest of the field. After all, the competition can copy the look and feel of a storefront or web interface, and they can sell the same materials, even at a cheaper price. But, the competition simply cannot copy the timely knowledge and expertise that is inside a personalized recommendation.

The recommendation is the intersection of this discovery (buyers) and expertise (sellers), two cornerstones of commerce and trade. As customized products become more ubiquitous, and replace mass-produced products this century, the recommendation is going to be king.

"Be yourself. Everyone else is already taken."

Wed, 09 Feb 2011 08:25:59 -0600

“Be yourself. Everyone else is already taken.”

- Oscar Wilde

"If you are out to describe the truth, leave elegance to the tailor."

Sat, 11 Dec 2010 00:03:00 -0600

““If you are out to describe the truth, leave elegance to the tailor.””

- Albert Einstein

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Wed, 08 Dec 2010 01:47:00 -0600

"Our culture has made us all the same. No one is truly white or black or rich, anymore. We all want..."

Wed, 01 Dec 2010 10:46:00 -0600

““Our culture has made us all the same. No one is truly white or black or rich, anymore. We all want the same. Individually, we are nothing.””

- Chuck Palahniuk

Trailer for O’MAST, a documentary on the sophisticated art...

Tue, 30 Nov 2010 23:23:26 -0600

Trailer for O’MAST, a documentary on the sophisticated art of tailoring in Naples, Italy. The film highlights the Neopolitan tailors’ perspective on culture, the concept of time with a subtle hint of the architecture, that can all intrinsically be found in the structure, design and stitch of a suit.

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Wed, 17 Nov 2010 09:04:00 -0600

Designer’s work station.

Thu, 04 Nov 2010 10:46:00 -0500

Designer’s work station.