Zazzle Announces Selve as Winner of the Zazzle Million Dollar Open Innovation Challenge

REDWOOD CITY, Calif., May 23, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Zazzle announced that Selve, a luxury European handmade and modern footwear manufacturer, has been named the winner of Zazzle's Million Dollar Open Innovation Challenge. The Challenge was created to enable entrepreneurial companies by embracing the growing consumer trend of real-time personalized manufacturing and mass customization.

Selve was selected by a panel of acclaimed industry academics and experts.

News Highlights

• Selve was selected as a winner by expert Judges, including Bing Gordon of Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers; Jeff Beaver, co-founder of Zazzle, Frank Piller of MIT's Smart Customization Group, Professor Henry Chessbrough, faculty director of the Garwood Center for Corporate Innovation, Haas School of Business, UC Berkeley; Professor Solomon Darwin, associate director of Berkeley-Haas' Program in Open Innovation; and Elizabeth Litten Miller, head of creative, global licensing and publishing at Hasbro.
• Through Zazzle, Selve will offer high-end shoes, high heels and boots – all fully customizable – enabling customers to design and purchase the perfect pair of handmade shoes, made-to-measure through the company's precision fitting service.
• Selve's offering includes a comprehensive range of colors, materials and styles that enables customers to customize nearly every component of their luxury shoes.
• Runners-up in the contest include custom-design bike manufacturer Republic Bike, customized nutrition bar company YouBar, custom iPad and Kindle case developer DODOcase and custom home goods and accessories maker Designscape.

Supporting Quotes

"Consumers want more than the shoe itself – they want products that represent who they are, how they live and how they want to be portrayed. This is why Selve is such an important company, and why the recognition from Zazzle and the judges is so crucial because it is proof that the retail industry, as we know it, is evolving to one of customization."

- Claudia Kieserling, Selve CEO

"This represents the convergence of couture and online customization.  Through Zazzle's global marketplace, Selve will soon have access to a huge audience of customers and can legitimately stand out in the fashion industry by providing high-end, luxury footwear that is completely customizable.  Ladies, no longer are the days of running into somebody who just bought the same exact pair of your favorite heels ... make your own, just for you."

-Jeff Beaver, Zazzle co-founder and chief product officer

"The customization industry today is growing at astounding rates because consumers demand unique, non-mass-produced products – this is an immense shift from traditional retail. Behind this proliferation of customization are companies like Zazzle which provide customization capabilities to millions of users with a unique infrastructure built for customization, and companies like Selve who democratize custom luxury products that have never before been affordable for most people."

-Professor Frank Piller, chair professor of management and the director of the Technology & Innovation Management Group at RWTH Aachen University, and a co-director of the MIT Smart Customization Group at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA

Additional Resources

• Open Innovation Challenge Website
• Zazzle "The Future" (VIDEO)
• Zazzle on Facebook

About Zazzle

Zazzle is the world's leading platform for quality custom products. Zazzle's proprietary technology enables individuals, professional artists, and major brands, including Disney and Hallmark, to create and offer billions of unique products for customers worldwide. Zazzle's rapidly expanding product base covers every topic imaginable and includes t-shirts, business cards and invitations, in addition to a variety of custom gifts. Upon creation, products are instantly and accurately visualized on the site and offered in the Zazzle marketplace. When ordered, each product is made on-demand, typically within 24 hours. Launched in 2005 and based in Redwood City, California, Zazzle's vision is to redefine commerce, powered by the world's imagination. Find more at www.zazzle.com.

SOURCE Zazzle