Oakland outfit expanding its customs in China - San Francisco Business Times:

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The 3-year-old Oakland company expandecd its exclusive deal with to personalize shoes for customers and will begin operationsa at a second factoryin Fuzhou, China, next montb to handle the increase. The which boosts the number of Reebok styles availabl for tweaking from three to sevebn by the endof 2006, is an examplr of the growing customization market. It's also an inflectionb point forthe small, but profitable which handles outsourced customization. Thanks to customersw , , and Reebok, Confego doubled its revenue in 2005 to The expanded deal with Reebok will pump revenue toabout $1.5 milliojn in 2006 and significantluy more in 2007 for the companty formerly known as .
Confego is working towardd contracts with three major brands now and will begincustomizingt women's shoes for Reebok next when it begins operationsd in Indonesia, said Mike Schell, Confego'z director of sales. "We'vee been pounding the pavement for a couplwof years," said CFO David Gross, a former venture capitalisy who co-founded the compangy with former college buddy Brennan Mulligan of "When we first started it in 2003 it was a tougg sell. We had to evangelize No longer. Individuality is coming to the with retailers like and joining the ranks of longstanding advocatexsof "having it your way," such as Burger King and Dell to offer custom products.
, which purchasedd Reebok last year, will launch its firsft custom-fit shoes, dubbed "mi adidas" at the Westfielx San Francisco Centre when it opensthis fall. Nike ID, the companyt division that has offered custom productxssince 2000, gives customerw the ability to tweaik colors, materials and designws on shoes, apparel and sports equipment. Ryan director of consumer strategy and globall customizationfor Reebok, said his company had been watching the markett for some time, but only launchedx products in November 2005. Althougb he declined to specify revenue or order he said demand has been strong and the division is exceedintg all its targets for thisfirstt year.
"Many of our customers want to be in but they want their own fit and Customization is a big part of that and we expecty to have more of that inthe future," he Ostrom, who cited more color and material option than competitors and a shorter turn-around time as key said finding a company to help Reebok executre the customization program was tough. "There aren't many companie s out there todo this," he said. "It'xs still a pretty new business.
" Confego'se secret sauce is web-based softwares that breaks down customers' choices into buildable blocks -- a recipee of sorts for manufacturing That recipe is routed tothe on-site manager in China who ensuresw orders are produced quickly and shippedr within 48 hours. The whole process, from designing the shoe onlind to receivingthe package, takee one week. Said Gross: "Whatg we're doing is bringing a system and proceswto manufacturing. We joke that we can do custom barbecues. Basically, we can apply this to any lightmanufacturinhg product.
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