You can always expect a storm when a vintage t-shirt sells for an exorbitant price. Back in 2011, it was the Led Zeppelin backstage pass t-shirt that sold for $10,000 on eBay. A decade later it was the Grateful Dead t-shirt that fetched $17,640 during a Sotheby’s auction.
In 2020, the $6000 Disney Aladdin Genie t-shirt sent the most shockwaves through the vintage t-shirt community. It was sold during a pioneering Instagram live auction, hosted by Chris Fernandez, of 1980 Something Co.
The $6k Genie sale happened during a perfect storm of factors. There was a raging pandemic that shut the world down, putting a premium on nostalgia and digital socializing. There was a new, exciting, live technology, where users could bid and be socially visible. Plus, the vintage t-shirt market was already experiencing an upswing.
Then, of course, there were a few bidders with too much money to spend – who clearly got caught up in the hype.
Most of us thought all of these factors wouldn’t happen again anytime soon, and the sale was mostly a fluke. Or maybe it was a hoax. Some say that a few shadowy figures were trying to manipulate the market. We’ve all heard the various theories.
Well, it looks as though there’s another storm brewing on Exchvnage. It’s an app that was launched over a year ago that was created to properly service the vintage t-shirt community’s live auctions.
Let’s face it, IG lives aren’t designed for commerce and are pretty clunky. But by the time the Exchange app launched, the popularity of lives were already in decline. There was finally a Covid vaccine, the world was opening back up, and the live auction and other novelties like IG t-shirt raffles were dwindling.
But Exchvnge had seemingly developed an immunity to those dipping trends.
Given all the naysayers claiming this sale was manufactured to hype up the app or manipulate the market, our first order of business was to confirm the sale actually transpired.
Please consider it confirmed.
