Bitcoin Forum

Topic: Do you think merging Bitcoin with the fashion industry is a good idea?


A friend and I will be releasing a brand new clothing line dedicated to Bitcoin in 2017. They're handling the designing while I'm handling coding for the website. My friend has come up with a brand name, and mock logo of the Bitcoin Symbol. They will be handing out pamphlets in each online purchase explaining the properties of Bitcoin. Male and female fashion will be provided. From coats, sweaters, shoes, jewelry, shirts, and even pajamas, we will be having it all. We don't want to reveal the name of the brand just yet, just because we're trying to keep everything exclusive and surprising from now on. Trademarking is still underway.

We are very interested in seeing how this business venture will turn out for mass adoption from the fashion industry. Until that day, we are focused on smaller forms of promotion for adoption.

As of now, my friend is trying to raise awareness for Bitcoin by handing out flyers in NYC explaining the advantages of bitcoins. They also will be selling hand knitted and hand embroidered Bitcoin hats and scarfs on Etsy. I refuse to link to their Etsy page because of off-site trading concerns, so forgive me if you wanted to purchase one. Maybe you could try working it out with them directly, but I don't know.

Here is the link to the design at "project development" here at BitcoinTalk.

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1253235.0

Really hoping this will become positive for our currency. Is trying to move forward in Bitcoin with fashion a good idea to you at all? Another quick question: How common do you honestly feel it is for technological people to work with creative people?

Edit: One more comment, my friend has just mentioned that she won't even go through with the idea if it doesn't have enough positive feedback, so please tell us both what you honestly feel. With that in mind, we will put this project to an end if she doesn't get her feedback at all. She's very mentally dependent on that. After all, if the public doesn't care, why bother?

I think this is a pretty nice idea. As far as I know, Bitcoin and fashion is a terrain that hasn't been really explored so far and it would be interesting to see clothing companies with products related to Bitcoin and/or accepting Bitcoin. I think you'd have clients around here at least :)

the greek is supposedly commushui's husband/boyfriend.

though bitcoin branding can be good.. the example image in the OP seems............. i wont say the word.

however bitcoin branded clothes is nothing new, and when done professionally to a sellable standard. it can work great.

i just google searched items already available from many different places/people
http://rlv.zcache.com/bitcoin_logo_tie-rb5fde2c41a1b4e59bd54f17733f9f81e_v9whb_8byvr_324.jpg
http://rlv.zcache.ca/bitcoin_miner_tie-ra5d311fe9a1a4cc2a9c0bd55b943e4e9_v9whb_8byvr_324.jpg
http://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0669/6583/products/bitcoin-necktie-1-1200_large.jpg
http://rlv.zcache.co.nz/bitcoin_wallet_in_pirate_chest_nd_t_shirts-r3cc1500698b148fc955f75ddda003e7d_804gs_324.jpg

dozens more.. but cant be arsed to copy and paste.. google image has the answer

Those aren't real fashion items.

Ours is name brand designer fashion...that's what we meant. Anyone can copy the bitcoin logo and paste it on a shirt or hoodie. We're making coats, shoes, (even high heels), dresses, suits, etc.....

 This is probably why we need fashion advocates as adopters to thoroughly explain what name brand designer fashion actually is.

ties are not a fashion item?

...

i guess you just lost the attention of millions of white collar workers in wall street that would turn up to a financial meeting in a nice tie, but not a knitted sweater.

honest advice
i think you may need to think about your demograph.. EG what type of clothing do you see people keen on bitcoin wearing?
on the flipside
what kind of interest would woolly sweater people have in a foreign currency(bitcoin)?

imagine this..
you are about to go to a conference.. actually lets use comic-con as an example.
you have a pile of woolly sweaters.
you have a pile of logo'd t-shirts..

which do you think will sell more.
base your answer on time to create said items.
price of said items (cost/profit)
type of clothing usually worn in public.

i hope this inspires you to do some 'designer' branded clothing lines in something more mainstream and common

ok. ill give you a hint.

lets say it takes 10 hours of manual labour to create 1 knitted sweater. (american minimum labour cost $75)
lets say it takes 5 minutes of manual labour to create a branded t-shirt. (american minimum labour cost $0.63).

ok lets imagine there is a comic-con in 1 weeks time, you have 3 staff, working 8 hour shifts to ensure 24hour production.
17 woolly sweaters are made
or
2016 branded t-shirts.

ok so now you have the choice.. sell woolly sweaters, knowing at most only 17 will hit the general public's eyes. and with atleast an $80 pricetag, you will have to market them as something special to tempt buyers.. netting you 0 profit (after wages) if sold for $80.

or sell branded t-shirts for atleast $5, knowing over 2000 units will be out on the street being seen by joe public. and even at $5 ou make profit after paying wages. infact even at $10 customers will buy without any 'special' advertising..

.. food for thought. really think about your demograph, production, desirability of what you want to make.

You fail to realize that it is not for convention based users.

These items are for different types of people outside of BitcoinTalk. We are trying to grow the currency by appealing to people outside of bitcoins, computer engineers, video game lovers, etc. If we appeal to one demographic, we can't grow this currency. We need mass adoption. We need all types of people using Bitcoin.

We are trying to appeal to the fashion industry .

my example was not to limit the demograph, but to use as an example of one.. i could continue with examples of the white collar demograph, the shop-aholic mom's demograph. the coffee shop workers demograph..

but you need to think which (not one, many) demographs you want to cater to. because woolly sweaters is limited to 3 main demographs
gays, christmas gifts, mothers.

where as a printed, embroidered t-shirt / polo shirt, has a wider range of demographs..

remember, knowing the time to make a woolly jumper, limits supply. (17 a week example of 24hour production)
the opinion of fashionability limits customer base. (white collar workers, teenagers, gamers, comic book fans, etc dont really wear woolly sweaters)
and the overall need limits how often it will be worn.(only worn in winter, never summer)

She's made 4 sales. Some 1 of which just happened to be a straight male, so to categorize gays and mothers being the only people that like sweaters is insulting and stereotyping. Please don't stereotype people to what they might specifically like in terms of fashion due to gender, age, race or sexual orientation.

That sounds a bit insulting.

u do know the meaning of demograph right.

so tell me are you planning to find a fashion product that meets the needs of many demographs without hassle. to get the best coverage and most sells possible.
or are you concentrating on just the woolly sweater and looking to find different sales pitches to expand into different demographs as much as possible.

as for me mentioning gays.. its not insulting at all.. so brush off the chip on your shoulder and stop knit picking prejudices that are not there and reply with the business plan..

I'm not going to argue with you. Honestly.

It kind of sounds like a pointless argument. If you don't dig our idea, just say that instead of stereotyping people, or not knowing that we're trying to appeal to big brand fashion advocates, and not comic con goers.

Seriously.

Yeah. I definitely think that merging the fashion industry and Bitcoin is great. It helps with the publicity for Bitcoin as more people would learn about it. Also I think that more women will get into Bitcoin as they like clothes a lot. Bitcoin also has a good design which makes it great for putting on clothes.

your taking it as if im trying to insult you.. infact im trying to consult you. to help you really think about what your doing and ensure your on the right path to the best success possible.
take for instance 'big brand fashion advocates' what demograph are they.
describe the type of people you are intending to sell to.. as knowing your customer is 90% of the game..

for instance while collar workers that only wear branded suites
for instance soccer moms who only wear branded clothing
for instance teenager that only wear nike, and always have the latest gadgets.

as they are all 'big brand fashion advocates', but they obviously have different tastes in clothing. where trying to push a woolly jumper to a wall street guy wont get you as muck luck as a soccer mom would..
so it does matter to know your customer and tailer your product/sales pitch accordingly

are you more interested in getting the bitcoin logo out to the masses.. or piggybacking off of bitcoin to get your (separate) trademark as recognized as D&G, as there is nothing wrong with either route (so dont say im arguing). but whatever route you take requires differing strategy, product types, advertising styles. etc.

im also trying to help you see passed the product. and make you think about costs, value, desire, demand. im even trying to help you look at things like is it seasonal or all-year selling..

My friend actually remade the Bitcoin logo into a completely different one.

Edit: Not completely, but she cut off certain parts of the original logo. I'm glad you like this idea. We'll do everything we can to make you proud with our items.

ok im going to try a different tact.

imagine within your 'big brand fashion advocates' there are 4 main target demographs of customer type.
soccer mom branding lover,
rich retired branding lover.
white collar branding lover,
branded loving teens,

in fashion there are 4 seasons of clothing. (lazy brands cater to only 2 seasons)

now lets segment that and have a poll of 25%'s for each demograph and each season.
https://i.imgur.com/7crwTha.jpg

now lets say you had $64k for advertising.. how would you split the funds to get the best adverts to the best people at the best time..

dont worry i already have a logical answer for you..
https://i.imgur.com/IZ90LvE.jpg

so 50%(2 of 4) of white collar workers would receive a woolly sweater as a christmas gift, but not at any other time of the year
so 25%(1 of 4) of trendy teenagers would receive a woolly sweater as a christmas gift, but not at any other time of the year
old and soccer moms love woolly clothing. but soccer moms only when the temperature starts to dip and retired wear all time round

so based on the woolly jumper. there is no point advertising in spring or summer, or doing any trendy adverts to white collar/teenagers as most of them are only buying or receiving for christmas..

this is why its important to know your customer so that you can push all your efforts into the autumn/winter sales.. and advertise in autumn, when its most likely to sell. it also helps with the content of the advertising to plea to the right people.

The idea is great, Do I support it? Hell yeah ... as long as what your offering is unique and stand out in the crowed, it will always attract buyers of it's kind so make sure it will be different and don't be afraid to look something else out of the ordinary since it's fashion were talking here... And in regards to your second question: Tech guys always work with creative people so it's very common ;)

I think bitcoin has the potential to help indie lines and designers due to easy integration with eCommerce.

The best method to determine if there will be a demand for a product, is to put it out there and to start selling. I can understand the delay for the trademark, but you could offer

test examples with the trademark blurred out, for potential customers to comment on quality and design. I think it is a good idea, if the quality and design is good.

The fashion industry is a tough market, but good quality products and good designs always sell.  ;)

It would be a great idea, but I think you have to make a better designs.
Because most designs just like adding 1 picture on a plain cloth.

Thanks!

Oh, I didn't know it was too common! She's super talented to work with.

I think its a positive idea, the logo of Bitcoin is very slick and cool looking so could be put on clothes in a nice way. Maybe when I become rich in 10 years holding BTC I may wear a nice BTC shirt, right now I think i cant pull it off lol.

depending how much bitcoiner around you,or how your effort to promote your design to bitcoin around the world  :D

yes I agree with you. I think it's better if the design is made simple and quiet.

Demographically an undercatered segment of the Bitcoin market is to fashion, albeit statistically its mainly male users who might not be looking into clothing as much that said their is a potential market there for products like yours as people like Bitcoin swag.
It's worth a shot in my opinion best of luck with your venture.

The fashion industry and Bitcoin could benefit if they employ the millions of unemployed people around the world, to do the work. There are a huge demand for handmade clothing and you still find the odd people doing knitting and such, so it can create a whole new informal industry, based on Bitcoin branding and payment.

I think it is a good idea, and I hope you are successful.

I actually ran this idea by her. She said she thinks its a wonderful step from keeping people out of poverty. She is hoping to go to homeless shelters in NYC and employing homeless individuals with no jobs on the spot to work for her with added benefits this holiday season. It will be a seasonal job though. She will also have to find out if any of them can knit though.

It took her about 4 months to hone her knitting abilities because knitting isn't just a skill. It's also really an art. It's not like she can teach people how she knits, you know? It's a challenge, but she's willing to do it if it means less people will be out in the cold.

I love how her ideas are about helping others, and not really about herself.

Actually, men actually do wanna look presentable. And hey, it's worth a shot. Bitcoin suits and ties with Italian dress shoes sounds wonderful.

I mostly agree with this sentiment. screen printing a design on something is actually graphic design, fashion design would imply construction of garments... its oranges and apples though... like when people say they are curators because they made a list of something... actual curatorial practice involves a lot more than organizing things into a group, but most people dont care. my local taco truck has a menu that says it has been "curated" by so-&-so... only people with fine arts degrees notice how dumb this is.

Joseph Beuys said "Every man woman and child is an artists, there are no non-artists." he didn't specify that some of those "artists" get it and some dont.

BTC world is rife with lousy art. terrible fashion. awful music. Hobbyists clamoring to make a quick buck on the coat tails of a trend. Faddish and lacking in imagination. Tacky. Art and commerce have never had a good relationship. Its as simple as that.

I would qualify these as novelty apparel items. you should too, because the world of actual fashion designers will ridicule you into oblivion.

Lol. Thank you so much. You honestly explained it better than I ever could to that user, thank you. Is there anything I can do to repay you?

i agree with your sentiment. but my point was more about the type of clothing/product. EG a tie with a logo as oppose to a woolly sweater.. rather than how it was created.

for instance. cravats/scarves have a bigger demograph than woolly sweaters.
a decent woolly scarf with a bitcoin logo could outsell a woolly sweater with a bitcoin logo..

No one said anything about selling a sweater. Rofl.

i am trying to help you here.. but it seems you are not understanding what i have been saying, and taking offense to it..

but um i must atleast point out, that i do love how you edit posts, so ill paste this before you edit it out

Will someone please tell me when I ever editted anything? Lol.

I posted the sweater with the intention of showcasing the hand woven Bitcoin logo on the sweater, and to inform people that the hand woven design was not going to be sold on sweaters, but on hats and scarves.


Lol. I'm done. This thread can end because it has an overall positive feedback rating. Only one person hates our idea, so this thread can end.