Blogger and tech columnist Tim O'Reilly recently posted a story about the significance of threadless.com, which he calls a “crowd-sourced” manufacturing business. Users submit designs for t-shirts; users vote designs up or down; the most popular ones get manufactured. Tim writes:
“… custom fabrication devices like laser-cutters, water-jets, and 3D printers are currently at about the price points of typesetting machines back when desktop publishing took off in the early 80's. Even traditional manufacturing techniques can now be harnessed by small companies and individuals, who can hire overseas factories to make short runs of custom designs. How far off is a future in which the creative economy overflows the thin boundary that separates ‘information’ from ‘stuff’?”
Just wait till they start integrating even smarter technologies into the manufacturing mix.
Traditional manufacturing business model-"design decoupled from buyers" you buy what someone else designs and manufactures. "Wear Their Brand"
Smart Business Model-"buy-what-you design"; "white label manufacturing" & "Wear MyBrand"
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