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Rodney · July 24th, 2007

Quote:

Originally Posted by mj00


	Hi guys, I designed the Sore Thumbs shirt so I thought I'd pop in here to clear up a few things... On the first day a shirt is sold, it is sold at the $10 price. Even if it sells out, it will still be available through a backdoor link (the link for mine is Woot Shirt : One Shirt, No Shoes, No Service (SM) if you want to see how it works), though at the higher price of $15. So if you don't mind paying a little extra, there's no real need to be up at midnight when new shirts go up. I know there were also some questions about how designers get paid. It's a flat fee for the first night of sales and a dollar amount per shirt after that (I'm not comfortable being more specific, but they'd probably tell you if you emailed). Also, I had my t-shirt blog linked in the product description and as a result I got over 2500 hits. I had a post about Threadless up and enough people bought shirts through that link yesterday that I have enough street team points for a free shirt. So some of you who have t-shirt businesses could have a ton of potential sales if Shirt.Woot sold one of your shirts. I think that's the thing that will make Shirt.Woot so huge- I can see a lot of businesses being interested in getting that many potential purchasers to their site, especially since the number of Shirt.Woot members is still growing.

Hey MJ, welcome to the T-Shirt Forums!

Thanks for giving us the lowdown on how the woot designer program works and how it effected your traffic.

I appreciate you sharing the info.

Moo Spot Prints · July 24th, 2007

Rodney, other than mild curiosity, I can't imagine that this will revolutionize anything for 2 reasons -

1. You can always buy the shirt after the sale.
2. People like to shop for shirts.

Yes, they will undoubtedly sell a TON of shirts. They've proven that by creating artificial deadlines and hype, the faithful will jump through hoops to spend and spend and spend. However, the same faithful won't be able to go and browse a selection of shirts and pick their favorites like they can on say, threadless.

Who cares if they're $10 a pop. It's not enough of an incentive to make *me* take time out of my day to feed the habit. Dunno... I guess now that I can make pretty much anything I want at any time I see things a little differently.

ronr76 · July 24th, 2007

Its definetly an intersting model to look at and study.
Other businesses that have built up similar buying communities can mimic the model if they want to expand and diversify their product offering for their specific market.

The $10 a shirt for exclusive shirt model kind of defies logic.
Shouldn't exclusivity drive up the price?
To me thats the most interesting aspect of woot.
I guess they're keeping form with their approach of selling stuff cheaper then you would find else where. Might put off some of their members if pricing is in the $20 dollar range.

Anyhow, aside from that i just see them as another company riding the T-shirt wave.

Rodney · July 24th, 2007

Quote:


	Rodney, other than mild curiosity, I can't imagine that this will revolutionize anything for 2 reasons -

I don't think I ever said it would revolutionize anything? Or even hinted at it.

Someone else said that

Quote:


	1. You can always buy the shirt after the sale.

Yeah, that does take away from the "limited edition" aspect of it, although it is good for the designers since they are getting paid royalties.

Quote:


	Who cares if they're $10 a pop. It's not enough of an incentive to make me take time out of my day to feed the habit.

No, not you of course

Probably many of us here are jaded to the idea since we know the costs and can make our own t-shirts and designs.

But there are a lot of consumers out there that will pay attention. A lot of t-shirt buyers out there that are used to paying $17-25 for a design can now feed their t-shirt habit at a cost of just $10.

Quote:


	2. People like to shop for shirts.

Yeah, some people do. Me, I don't like "shopping" for shirts as much as I like seeing a cool new t-shirt and buying it. I don't like to browse around too much, that's why I like the threadless newsletter. I hate browsing the threadless site because it has too much extraneous stuff going on. I just like getting a notification of cool new designs printed and pick up one that I like.

I think that's why I like the woot gig, I don't have to shop around and browse a store, I just get to see if there's something new there and leave. 2 seconds of my time instead of 2 minutes clickety clicking around yet another t-shirt store.

Rodney · July 24th, 2007

Quote:


	The $10 a shirt for exclusive shirt model kind of defies logic. Shouldn't exclusivity drive up the price?

Yeah, that's what I would think as well.

But now that I understand that it's not "exlcusive" as in "limited numbers", just exclusive as in "only sold on woot.com", it makes more sense.

I prefer the "limited numbers" concept. If they did limited numbers AND kept the price at $10, that would be really interesting.

I like the idea of a limited numbers and higher price shirt once per day.

But it's hard to complain about finding a decent t-shirt printed on American Apparel for $10 bucks shipped to your door.

Quote:


	Anyhow, aside from that i just see them as another company riding the T-shirt wave.

I would have thought that too if they didn't also launch wine.woot

I think they found an interesting business model that works, and they are applying it to different markets. Diversifying isn't such a bad thing.

ladyeinstein · July 24th, 2007

wow, nice of MJ to swing by. loved your design - wish I'd overnighted it now...

One thing I hope that improves is the quality of discussion on each shirt there.. I'll admit to not being a shirt expert but it's clear there are a lot of people who seem to miss the boat entirely there... (putting it mildly)

Solmu · July 25th, 2007

Quote:

Originally Posted by ronr76


	Rodney, you keep saying it will be interesting to see what happens with woot.. But why??

Because they've got a large market with a certain amount of transparency - it's easier to see what's going on with them and apply a bit of amateur analysis, which is at best productive, and at worst entertaining.

So far it looks like their theme is 'boring nerd shirts that could be bettered by pre-existing sites', so it will also be interesting to see how (in)exhaustible the market for that genre is.

Solmu · July 25th, 2007

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rodney


	I don't think I ever said it would revolutionize anything? Or even hinted at it.

You did name your thread "woot.com...the threadless killer?"...

wmdzign · July 25th, 2007

Is the shirt.woot hype over already? I've just check and there are still shirts left and it's been 8 hours already...what's up with that....Personally the design is not as interesting as the previous two submissions. Could that be it? Possibly. threadless has nothing to worry about.

Moo Spot Prints · July 25th, 2007

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rodney


	Yeah, some people do. Me, I don't like "shopping" for shirts as much as I like seeing a cool new t-shirt and buying it. I don't like to browse around too much, that's why I like the threadless newsletter. I hate browsing the threadless site because it has too much extraneous stuff going on. I just like getting a notification of cool new designs printed and pick up one that I like. I think that's why I like the woot gig, I don't have to shop around and browse a store, I just get to see if there's something new there and leave. 2 seconds of my time instead of 2 minutes clickety clicking around yet another t-shirt store.

That's exactly my point. Maybe I should have said 'people like choices' instead. Some *ahem* discerning shoppers like *limited* choices, but they still want them.

You get an email with the new designs from threadless. You browse it and buy something if you like. The woot interface is subtly (yet imo fundamentally) different. It requires you to go and hit the site every day. It feeds the adrenaline rush of anxiety but if they have a string of mediocre designs, you're less apt to keep it on your morning web stroll. If they sent out a daily email it might catch on. Might.

I'm also uncomfortable with the whole 'you need to buy it RIGHT NOW' sales tactic. It's effective but I always end up feeling like a sucker later on.

Moo Spot Prints · July 25th, 2007

Ok, I'm now officially fascinated. Check out the commentary for today's shirt (officially unlicensed)

Opinions are all over the place but there are a few re-occuring themes:

1. Exclusivity. People are upset that they got in on the sale and then found out that the shirts are still being sold.

2. Exclusivity (for the design). It appears that the design is excusive to woot and can only be sold through them. Have to look into that. I thought that the artist was free to market the design elsewhere.

3. 'This design sucks'. A lot of people think that even $10 for a tee is too much, especially for text only.

4. What, no 3XL??? WTF??? Ha, just wait until those AA shirts start showing up and people start trying to stuff themselves into those tight fitting fashion tees.

If you have a chance, I recommend you browse through. It's definitely an interesting perspective.

ronr76 · July 25th, 2007

Interesting read. Always fun reading geeks discuss fashion.
The more I look at woot.shirt the more i'm coming away unimpressed.
Their target market is geeky cheap fat white men. Its a niche market that they are trying to capitalize. Definetly not for the masses.
They have some inherent challenges that they need to sort out with this market.
Looks like the novelty is wearing off quick with them.

Rodney · July 25th, 2007

Quote:

Originally Posted by moospotprints


	but if they have a string of mediocre designs, you're less apt to keep it on your morning web stroll. If they sent out a daily email it might catch on. Might.

This is very true. The first (non woot logo) design was the best so far, and the only one I've purchased (and it doesn't take much to get me to buy a $10 t-shirt

)

Quote:

Originally Posted by moospotprints


	Ok, I'm now officially fascinated. Check out the commentary for today's shirt (officially unlicensed)

That's part of what makes it interesting to watch as well. To see the commentary on the products that they sell.

Quote:


	1. Exclusivity. People are upset that they got in on the sale and then found out that the shirts are still being sold.

That bummed me out a bit as well.

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