In the era of the internet, buying custom products is easier than ever. The first custom product to get a lot of attention was the custom lipstick from Bite Lip Lab, where you can create your own unique lipstick shade. But lipstick is not the only thing that you can customize nowadays–you can personalize anything from shampoo, perfume, and skincare, to jeans, shoes, and even hydroflasks–and custom products have been getting more and more popular.

    Often times there may be something that we want but it is not exactly the way we would want it. Personalized and custom products help to combat this problem. With custom products it is possible for people to get exactly what they want. There are many stores where people can get the custom product of their dreams. For example the custom shampoo from Function of Beauty, the shampoo is personalized to the buyer’s specific needs. At The Vintage Twin’s JEANius Bar, customers can get fitted for their perfect pair of jeans and design their own details – such as creating individual rips. From the Curology website, customers can get an acne cream that is ideal for their skin type. Etsy, the online company all sorts of quirky things, is a big part of this personalizing trend. A large part of the shops on Etsy sell items that can be personalized, so the website is a great outlet to purchase custom jewelry, notebooks, and other products.

    Personalized products may seem to have no downsides. However, some of these products can come with an expensive price tag. For example, two custom lipsticks from the Bite Lip Lab cost $150. However, it is understandable that customized products are more expensive. The reason why items are cheaper now is because of mass production, which is the process where factories create a large quantity of a single item. Custom products cost more time and energy than mass production, which in turn makes the cost of the product to increase. It is almost as if we are going back to a time before factories build products, mass production, but with a crucial modern twist: technology. With technology, a customer can personalize what they want in the comfort of their own home. In the case of custom hydroflasks, customers can create their own product digitally so they know what it will look like. “It was really fun to customize to my liking,” says sophomore Kacey Le on her custom hydroflask, “I don’t think I would’ve gotten a hydroflask if it wasn’t custom.” Even if custom products are a bit more expensive, people are willing to pay more to get what they truly like. Custom products are also very convenient as gifts, because with personalized presents, people can give their friends and family something that they cannot get anywhere else. This makes the present especially special and significant.

     With a rise in customized products, people are now able to easily get things that are to their own preference. With the help of the internet, ordering custom products are just a click of a mouse away.