10. Dondup — Bringing a dye back from the dead: luxury jeans tinted a long dormant blue

As we're sure you know, jeans are traditionally made from denim, a rugged cotton dyed blue using indigo. Before indigo came around, however, the only source of blue dye in Europe was a flowering plant called woad, or glastum. (How's that for unexpected trivia ;-) The woad industry was wiped out in the late sixteenth century, when traders started importing shiploads of indigo from the Far East.

An Italian fashion brand—Dondup—is now working on the forgotten commodity's comeback. Guado, as it's called in Italian, is being used to dye the company's new 'Essentia' line. Wholeheartedly embracing the still made here trend, Dondup focuses on guado's history, casting it as the original, local shade of blue. Naturally, Essentia apparel is made from organic cotton, and for colours other than blue, Dondup also works with natural dyes that have been used for centuries, like rose madder and blackberry.

What works for once-dormant brands—think the Volkswagen Beetle or Tretorn sneakers, could work for unbranded goods, too, yielding their rediscoverers instant authenticity and stories to share. Time to start digging in the (art) history books ;-)

9. Diesel & Roskilde — Limited-edition festival jeans

Denmark's summer Roskilde Festival is one of the largest annual music festivals in Europe, with some 75,000 attending each year. In honour of this year's event—which officially kicks off July 3—jeans company Diesel has created a limited-edition line of jeans specially designed to withstand the rigours of summer festival fun.

Priced at EUR 161, the dark-blue Roskilde Festival Jeans are available for both men and women, and feature the Roskilde logo emblazoned on the hip. A specially treated commercial denim base, meanwhile, is designed to stand up to rain and mud, which were present in copious amounts at the festival last year. The jeans are available only from the official Roskilde shop—alongside jackets, caps and other promotional items the festival sells itself—or in select Diesel concept stores. Reportedly, only 1,000 pairs are up for sale, making planned scarcity part of the appeal.

Summer music festivals are an ideal place for companies to get closer to their customers, who naturally tend to be relaxed and happy at such events. By creating its own, unique festival product, though, Diesel forges a tangible connection that goes far beyond anything advertising or sponsorship could likely achieve. One to emulate!

8. colorOn & Eye Majic — Press-on eye shadow kits

It's not every day an innovation comes along that fundamentally changes the way consumers use a product, but colorOn and Eye Majic both appear to be achieving that feat with press-on eye shadow kits.

Applying traditional eye shadow well requires considerable skill, time and expertise with brushes, sponges or other applicators. Matching colours can also be tricky, and eye shadow cakes are prone to crumbling and spilling, leaving consumers with the potential for a mess. These new press-on eye shadow kits, on the other hand, allow consumers to instantly apply professionally created eye-shadow designs without applicators or mess. Each single-use kit is applied to the eyelid using a preprepared strip that contains a variety of matched and blended colours. Pressing the strip to the eyelid transfers the colours onto the eyelid in just the right shades, creating a look much like one a professional make-up artist might have created.

ColorOn, from Florida-based World Cosmetics, is available in a variety of colour schemes priced at USD 18 for a set of 5, or USD 30 for 10. Eight colour schemes are available—one even simulates animal prints, with zebra and leopard designs—along with a 10-pack of best-sellers. The products are available through select retailers or directly online. Australian Majic Beauty's Eye Majic, meanwhile, offers 12 colour combinations through select retailers worldwide. A 10-pack through US-based Home Shopping Network, for example, costs USD 19.95.

Distributors are still few and far between for both of these—one to get in on early if you’re in retail or cosmetics.

7. Tomboy Trades — Steel-toes and tool belts for women

We've covered products for female DIY-ers before, as well as women-only construction crews. Tomboy Trades, a Canadian start-up, is tackling yet another aspect of the male-dominated construction industry: what to wear.

After leaving a corporate job at IBM, Tomboy Trades' founder Marissa McTasney enrolled in a skilled-trades course for women, with the aim of starting her own construction company. She spotted a gap in the market on her first day of school. When she and her classmates went out to buy work boots, she was surprised to find they only came in tan and black: men’s shoes in female sizes. According to salespeople, McTasney wasn't the only one disappointed in the limited choice of working gear for women. Not one to pass up an entrepreneurial opportunity, she found a manufacturer in China and developed steel-toe boots in pink, green, blue and red. Matching tool belts, safety glasses and hard hats soon followed, as did retail partnerships with Home Depot and Zellers, a Canadian department store.

Tomboy Trades is now looking for retailers outside Canada, and also mentions that franchising plans are in the works. In a wider context, professional female construction workers and amateur handywomen are still an underserved market. Which means interesting opportunities for entrepreneurs who know how to cater to them. More on creating products and services for women in trendwatching.com's Female Fever briefing.

6. Keds & Zazzle — Design your own Keds & sell them on Zazzle

Earlier this year we wrote about Ndeur, a Canadian company that offers high-end customized shoes, and now a new partnership with customization portal Zazzle is bringing similar capabilities to the iconic world of Keds.

Keds Studio, which just launched a few weeks ago, lets consumers design their own custom Keds Champions classic canvas sneakers by picking colours and adding graphics, photos and text. Users of the Zazzle-powered application begin by selecting the style they want—slip-on or lace-up, for women or kids—along with the size. They are then prompted to choose from a wide selection of colours and designs for each of several different sections of the shoe, along with trim details including stitching, binding, lining and gore. They can upload their own artwork, graphics and text for instant drag-and-drop addition to their shoe design. Alternatively, an assortment of premade designs from artists including Sarah Singh and Gen Art are also available; each month a new designer or artist will be featured through a series of limited-edition designs. Keds Studio is available on both the Zazzle and Keds (from Stride Rite) sites. Priced between USD 50 and USD 60, the customized shoes are produced within 24 to 48 hours of ordering and will reach consumers within one to two weeks. Shipping is available internationally.

Of course, it's one thing to let consumers design their own shoes, but the next logical step in the customer-made trend is to help them sell their creations as well. Sure enough, users of Keds Studio can do just that through the Zazzle marketplace. A simple "Post for Sale" button on the application makes it happen, and Zazzle's "Name Your Royalty" system enables consumers to set the price of their shoe designs above the original price and earn the entire mark-up in profit. Now *that's* really letting customers have it their way! (Related: New sneaker brand relies on crowds for design.)