By David MacDonald S he’s right. Self-promotion is the new norm. But it’s a two-way street. In the last decade or so, social media has given consumers a voice like never before. Getting what you want from your purchase has never been so connected to your persona, online and otherwise, and manufacturers have taken some drastic turns to meet increasingly personalized demands. For those of us who grew up in a world where a pizza was the only customiz- able purchase we made in the run of a day, the examples are ubiquitous. I’m sure there are plenty of people reading this who know the words “They’ll stop hurting your feet after a few gym classes” all too well. Now, a trip to Nike, Vans, Converse or Adidas.com with mom gets you custom sneakers and a pain-free walk home from school. This is the new shopping standard and there’s a whole genera- tion of consumers coming up with expectations of Made for Me products. Blessing Okoro is about to see what it’s like when a dream comes to life. This coming February, the Canadian entrepreneur launches Perfect Fit, an e-commerce startup that’s one-part fashion show and one-part boutique. Okoro’s timing couldn’t be better, which explains why she seems more intrepid than trepidatious. In 2013, the world famous Montreal Fashion Week fizzled into oblivion when it merged with the Fashion+Design Festival. Toronto Fashion Week – the North American go-to after New York’s namesake – followed suit earlier this year. It’s a trend that’s sweeping the globe. In a not entirely unrelated move, fashion retailers are pulling their inventories from Big-box store shelves, closing the doors behind them – at an unprecedented rate – and setting-up camp on the battlefield of online shopping. “The lesson,” Okoro said, “is that people want to do their window shopping and their actual shopping from home and that means fashion designers have to look to new ways to get their latest creations noticed. Self-promotion has become more of a mantra these days for everyone and that’s where Makingtheperfectfit.com comes in.”
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NOVEMBER 2016 • SPOTLIGHT ON BUSINESS
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