If I had to pick a piece of merchandising advice, I would say this: When I’m working on a design, I’m always looking for a way to make it better and more memorable. Here is a piece I have learned from my previous designer, John Lasko, who called it “The Three Levels of Self-Awareness.
The most memorable piece of merchandise I’ve seen in a long time was a T-shirt made by the same designer who designed our new Deathloop shirt. This is a great example of a piece of merchandising advice that I’ve been repeating since I was a kid, and I never seem to get it right.
This is the piece that has been memorized and imitated the most, and I think I have it right: When we're buying something, we want to know what it really is, not what we think it is. We need to get out of our heads and into our hearts.
That is to say, we don’t just want the product to look good,
we also want it to feel good. We don’t want to buy the T-shirt, let alone wear it. We want it to be warm and soft so that we can wear it all day. This is the piece I think I have right. I remember the first time I bought a T-shirt and the fact that it cost $5.99.
One of the first things I did when I bought a T-shirt was to take the shirt to the store to find out how warm and soft it felt. I asked the assistant employee how it felt to be wearing a T-shirt and she said it felt like the temperature of a hot coffee cup. It felt amazing. I felt as though I could wear it all day.
In the same way, if you wear a new shirt, you’re not just giving it to someone and saying, "Here, take this." You’re taking the item you like to a store, asking the store clerk how it feels to be wearing that item, and then asking that person how it feels to be wearing the item.
You’re really getting to know it.
And that’s what T-shirts are all about. They’re not just shirts. They’re the same thing in every sense. They are like a bag of clothes, except they are all one thing. They fit into a specific category (men's shirts, black and white tees, etc.), and they have a specific use (they make you feel good). They’re an extension of you, the person wearing the shirt.
I think there are two reasons store clerks wear T-shirts. One is because they want you to feel good about yourself. And the other is because they're supposed to feel good about those who shop at their store. Because the store clerk is the ultimate authority in the store, the store clerk will feel good about you buying a shirt that helps him feel good.
I like shirts because I feel good wearing them. It makes me feel like I am part of the “brand,” and part of the company, and part of the world. And I like it because it makes me look good to the people who know me.
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