Saltycustoms: Bringing Real Time Customization To Asia

We learned about Saltycustoms when we met Shannon Toh, the company’s Co-Founder and Executive Director of Business Development, at the InnovFest unBound conference in Singapore in May. The company is Asia’s first apparel consultancy, and it designs and manufactures customized T-shirts for businesses. It also recently launched a digital tool that enables customers to order a customized T-shirt easily with just a few clicks.

About Saltycustoms

Saltycustoms was founded in 2010 in Malaysia and the company prides itself in producing t-shirts that enable individuals to express themselves and businesses – both big and small – to spread their messages. Saltycustoms’s model relies on apparel consultants who work closely with business clients to understand their needs and offer solutions. The team includes in-house designers who translate clients’ requirements and vision into shirt designs, which are then manufactured by Saltycustoms’ network of suppliers in Malaysia. The company has capacity to produce 80,000 customized shirts per month. It can deliver small orders across Malaysia and Singapore within 10 days and larger quantities within four weeks. In 2015, Saltycustoms delivered over 1 million shirts and set its sights on expanding its business by launching an e-commerce customization tool.

The Market

Since it launched in 2010, Saltycustoms has focused on servicing businesses’ needs for T-shirts for branding and marketing purposes. A large segment of the market consists of shirts for events and conferences. Saltycustoms produced the official apparel for Facebook’s F8 developer conference, for example. Over the past six years, the company has worked with more than 1,000 clients, including global companies such as eBay, Heineken, AirAsia, Groupon and Gap. However, according to Toh, Saltycustoms’ main focus remains Malaysia and the Asia-Pacific region, where the team has identified a new opportunity.

The number of startups in the region has been increasing every year. In Singapore alone, the number of startups increased from 24,000 in 2005 to 42,000 in 2013, according to the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor Report. Each of these small businesses is a potential client for Saltycustoms, but tech-savvy startup founders rarely have the time or desire to place an order over the phone or meet with a consultant; instead, they need a digital self-service tool.

The Solution

In early 2016, Saltycustoms introduced its online customization tool with a soft launch. The tool allows users to order a minimum of 10 shirts with their own front and back designs, such as images or a logo. In addition, customers can choose between 24 different colors for every shirt. Most importantly, because many small businesses do not have the capacity to design their own images, Saltycustoms employs in-house designers who can adapt, improve or create a design suitable for printing on a T-shirt.

Why Is It Important?

We were intrigued by Saltycustoms’ solution for two reasons. First, in the West, many consumer companies have already developed e-commerce businesses that allow the real-time customization of products, but the trend has not yet reached Asia. Saltycustoms is one of the first movers in the space. Second, according to Toh, the company is operating an almost vertically integrated supply chain, which allows it to manage the product from yarn to delivery. We believe this can serve as a long-term advantage, as it allows more customization options and transparency regarding the manufacturing process, both of which are becoming increasingly valuable from a consumer point of view.

What Comes Next?

The online customization tool is still in the soft launch phase, but the team at Saltycustoms is already considering its next steps. One option is to go direct to consumer, while maintaining the company’s focus on serving businesses. Another is to expand into more product categories. Either way, the digital experience with regard to customization is certainly looking exciting, and we look forward to following Saltycustoms’ progress.