A shirt whose price increases by 1 euro with every purchase (opens in new tab)

(driesdepoorter.be)

63 pointstomsonj1y ago36 comments

36 comments

Currently at #183. Regarding my asking price of €190 for my mint-condition shirt #4, some people say I need to have more faith and HODL. Others say I’m contributing to a worse society by trying to find the next greater fool.

PaulLeiby1y ago

Respectfully, I fear the latter. Trying to generate value through specious/arbitrary scarcity, and hoping that demand (willingness to pay) will rise because of that arbitrary constraint on supply. Maybe this is the future, when it seems increasingly easy and cheap to create "things" (t-shirts, widgets, design, prose text, code, music ...), and in large number. The original hope for mechanization/automation is that people's free time and creativity could be devoted to creating new, better, or just more personally satisfying things. I definitely do like the t-shirt as a satirical statement on Bitcoin and NFTs though, if that is what is it. Good luck!

ttyprintk1y ago

Great comment. I have decided to insure my mint-condition #4 for €185. Even though the shirt is its own receipt, €185 is the replacement cost.

I notice 100 shirt owners like me have taken out the same policy. So, average replacement cost for a tragic dry-cleaning mistake in which all 100 insured shirts are lost is actually €235.

Obviously, any insurance company recognizes me as a sophisticated customer, so they offer me a choice: they could preventatively buy and store shirt #185 today, if I should ever need it, for an extra €10, or add a policy rider to insure the €50 difference between the replacement price and €235, for an extra 5.

whatsupdog1y ago

What stops a Chinese factory to print a 1000 shirts with 0004 embroidered and shipped all over the world? This is just a NFT esque grift.

Thorrez1y ago

Usually there are ways to tell counterfeit from a real item.

1 more reply

s1artibartfast1y ago

It is actually a reasonable use case for a NFT

1 more reply

SirFatty1y ago

I know it's completely different, but somehow feels similar to the Million Dollar Homepage.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Million_Dollar_Homepage

mojuba1y ago

Yep, thought the same. Both are social games with very simple rules. Always wondered what makes social games like these, and by extension also social networks interesting or not.

inanutshellus1y ago

Went ahead and headed over to the MDH and clicked on 20 links. Only two worked. Wondermark.com (apparently a comic strip) and... SendShit.co.uk. lol.

owendarko1y ago

If this is at 183 euros, it means that the artist made 16,653 euros so far. Very impressive.

null_deref1y ago

Are they an artist or one of the greatest marketers

smnrg1y ago

Right. Paraphrasing, any sufficiently popular art piece is indistinguishable from marketing.

schnitzelstoat1y ago

This reminds me of that early internet web page where you could buy a pixel for $1.

It seems novelty pricing can be quite successful!

iLoveOncall1y ago

Here's how you calculate the total spent on the shirt so far: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arithmetic_progression#Sum

16,836€ (183 sold)

owendarko1y ago

Weren't 182 t-shirts sold? That would put the total amount made to 16,653.

But yes, that's the way to calculate it.

stearns1y ago

I think you're right. A price of 183 means that the seller is offering it to potential buyers at 183, not that it has sold at 183. So your calculation is correct.

1 more reply

iLoveOncall1y ago

Yeah my bad, 183 t-shirts were sold but your total is still correct because the first one was sold for 0.

EDIT: Someone bought another one, so my initial total is now correct lol

dannyfritz071y ago

Did it start at 1€?

Freak_NL1y ago

At €0 according to that page. He kept that one himself (so 183 shirts have been distributed, of which 182 were bought). Shirt 0183 is the 184th shirt.

exitb1y ago

> First shirt was embroidered on 25 February 2024 with the price of 0 euro for Dries.

jkestner1y ago

Pinboard pricing model escapes containment.

ttyprintk1y ago

I wonder what happened to that?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8751170

underseacables1y ago

Interesting. Reminds me of TeeFury, which only sells a T-shirt design for 24 hours.

david4221y ago

What's the incentive to buy? Get a shirt with a low number for the prestige?

towawy1y ago

…or a high number to brag!

xnx1y ago

Missed the chance to call them NFTshirts.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse

36 comments

ttyprintk1y ago

PaulLeiby1y ago

ttyprintk1y ago

Great comment. I have decided to insure my mint-condition #4 for €185. Even though the shirt is its own receipt, €185 is the replacement cost.

I notice 100 shirt owners like me have taken out the same policy. So, average replacement cost for a tragic dry-cleaning mistake in which all 100 insured shirts are lost is actually €235.

whatsupdog1y ago

What stops a Chinese factory to print a 1000 shirts with 0004 embroidered and shipped all over the world? This is just a NFT esque grift.

Thorrez1y ago

Usually there are ways to tell counterfeit from a real item.

1 more reply

s1artibartfast1y ago

It is actually a reasonable use case for a NFT

1 more reply

SirFatty1y ago

I know it's completely different, but somehow feels similar to the Million Dollar Homepage.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Million_Dollar_Homepage

mojuba1y ago

Yep, thought the same. Both are social games with very simple rules. Always wondered what makes social games like these, and by extension also social networks interesting or not.

inanutshellus1y ago

Went ahead and headed over to the MDH and clicked on 20 links. Only two worked. Wondermark.com (apparently a comic strip) and... SendShit.co.uk. lol.

owendarko1y ago

If this is at 183 euros, it means that the artist made 16,653 euros so far. Very impressive.

null_deref1y ago

Are they an artist or one of the greatest marketers

smnrg1y ago

Right. Paraphrasing, any sufficiently popular art piece is indistinguishable from marketing.

schnitzelstoat1y ago

This reminds me of that early internet web page where you could buy a pixel for $1.

It seems novelty pricing can be quite successful!

iLoveOncall1y ago

Here's how you calculate the total spent on the shirt so far: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arithmetic_progression#Sum

16,836€ (183 sold)

owendarko1y ago

Weren't 182 t-shirts sold? That would put the total amount made to 16,653.

But yes, that's the way to calculate it.

stearns1y ago

I think you're right. A price of 183 means that the seller is offering it to potential buyers at 183, not that it has sold at 183. So your calculation is correct.

1 more reply

iLoveOncall1y ago

Yeah my bad, 183 t-shirts were sold but your total is still correct because the first one was sold for 0.

EDIT: Someone bought another one, so my initial total is now correct lol

dannyfritz071y ago

Did it start at 1€?

Freak_NL1y ago

At €0 according to that page. He kept that one himself (so 183 shirts have been distributed, of which 182 were bought). Shirt 0183 is the 184th shirt.

exitb1y ago

> First shirt was embroidered on 25 February 2024 with the price of 0 euro for Dries.

jkestner1y ago

Pinboard pricing model escapes containment.

ttyprintk1y ago

I wonder what happened to that?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8751170

underseacables1y ago

Interesting. Reminds me of TeeFury, which only sells a T-shirt design for 24 hours.

david4221y ago

What's the incentive to buy? Get a shirt with a low number for the prestige?

towawy1y ago

…or a high number to brag!

xnx1y ago

Missed the chance to call them NFTshirts.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse