RIPT Apparel is a yet another online T-shirt Company.
Like many skinnyCorp descendants, the shirt designs are provided by a community of graphic artists and designers. Unlike many online T-shirt companies, RIPT only sells one particular design at a time. Each day a new shirt is available “for one day, and one day only”.
At the end of each day the archived shirts “rest in peace (i.e. RIP)” in the Site’s design graveyard where they are no longer available for purchase. There is even a ticking countdown on the site to let you know (to the second) how much time is left before the current shirt is taken down.
I learned of RIPT, from a colleague who knows the designers behind this Wordpress-driven web store. Congratulations to the RIPT design team; the site is well done, and is highlighted by the creative backgrounds used to display the daily shirt. There are also links back to the portfolio sites of each artist. I found some inspirational collections this way (I especially dug the Guinness campaign stuff from Joshua Harvey).
The design aside, I’m left wondering if I actually enjoy RIPT’s model for selling shirts. I found out about the site 2 days after their launch. This was a bit of a bummer because the inaugural day’s shirt is still (by far) my favorite design in their collection.
This leaves me both bitter and intrigued. I keep going back to RIPT to see if one day a shirt will pop up that I enjoy more than that 1st one. I also return to see if they will do any specials where older shirts will be on sale for a limited time.
Their inventive model definitely has my attention. With such frequent updates I feel compelled to check back every few days to see if the current shirt is hot. But I also peek at the shirts that have been available since my last visit. Even though I cannot purchase them I want to know if I’ve missed another design I may have purchased (like the one from that 1st day).
The problem with all this is that it creates tension and indecision for me to actually buy something. I’m bitter I can’t buy previous work, and I’m skeptical of buying current work. What if I buy and tomorrow’s shirt is way hotter? I imagine the RIPT crew would say “buy them both”, but as a consumer I say, “I need to know what my options are before I buy anything”. It is a down economy after all and one can’t be buying T-shirts every day.
But I’m just one man, and this was just my reaction. As I said, I do find myself visiting RIPT regularly, and maybe one day I will pull the trigger on a particular design. In the long run the ultimate success of the business will be the only way to answer the title; “Has RIPT got it right?”
Hey, first off thanks for the write up! Thank you for your praise on the site design. It is built entirely on top of Wordpress (which has it’s drawbacks) and it works really well and makes it very easy to manage.
I’m super happy you found some new love for new artists through our site. All 3 of us behind RIPT are artists ourselves. Our main goal with the site is to provide a place for established as well as up-and-coming artists to showcase their talents… we provide the stage at a packed show.. if you will
The model is an interesting one, yet obviously effective. We have had lots of people email in wanting past/graveyard shirts. We have discussed things in the past like “resurrecting” shirts from the graveyard. We just don’t want to stray away from our model. It’s hopefully something we will do in the future though.
One thing that could help you stay on top of the shirt lineup is subscribing to the RSS feed. If you can not make it back to the site everyday, at least if you are an avid RSS nerd like myself, its a quick and simple way to see what’s up on the site each day.
feed address: http://feeds2.feedburner.com/riptapparel
Thanks again, and I hope you come back and say hi and one day find the shirt you love and “pull the trigger”!