Why Nike Really Lets You Design Your Own Sneakers

This is the eighth essay in our series of 10 Lessons From 10 Years Of The World’s Most Innovative Companies.

When we lauded Nike in our first World’s Most Innovative Companies issue in 2008, it was in part because of Nike iD, a then-revolutionary way for its customers to imprint personalized designs onto Nike sneakers. The inclusion of “iD studios” in Niketown stores pointed toward the increasing theatricality required in retail, while iD capability on nike.com reflected the explosive potential of digital commerce.

What we didn’t explicitly mention—but should have—was the consumer side of the equation: How iD tapped into customers’ desire to create their own products. Because in today’s marketplace, each of us has become a creator, in ways that few fully appreciated a decade ago.