Selfnation

Selfnation is a Swiss direct-to-consumer brand that makes mass-customised, made-to-measure jeans ordered online. Customers enter their body measurements, and an automated system creates an individual pattern for each pair.

What is Selfnation?

Selfnation is a Swiss start-up built by a team of fashion designers and engineers to deliver perfectly fitting jeans through mass customisation. The company is an alumnus of the Swiss start-up programme Venture Kick and has expanded its online business beyond Switzerland, including into the UK.

Products and positioning

Selfnation's offer centres on made-to-measure denim. The ordering process works as follows:

• Customers enter eight body measurements online
• A 3D model shows their body wearing the chosen jeans
• They select a style and customise its look
• After purchase, the system automatically computes an individual sewing pattern

The jeans are tailored in a highly automated process in Germany and Switzerland from premium Italian denim and delivered to the customer's home about ten days after ordering. Selfnation has also produced jeans made in Ticino that carry a Greenpeace-endorsed certification.

Business model

Besides selling directly to consumers, Selfnation licenses its fit and pattern technologies to other companies.

Why it matters

Selfnation is an early European example of software-driven, on-demand apparel. By producing each pair only after it is ordered, the model addresses both fit problems and overproduction, two persistent challenges for online denim sales.

Frequently asked questions

Where is Selfnation from?

Selfnation is a Swiss start-up producing made-to-measure jeans in Germany and Switzerland.

How does Selfnation work?

Customers enter eight body measurements online, and Selfnation's software generates an individual pattern for a pair of jeans delivered in about ten days.

All brands