Defunkd

[lord ched]

NOS condition Wallace and Gromit shirt from back in the day: probably not actually 1989 (that would be the first movie, and who knew what was going to happen?) but still, early 90s at most, before any feature films. Teal-coloured, sized M: 20" pit-to-pit/30.5 back-collar-to-hem. Has its own Wallace and Gromit tag, copyrighted to BBC Worldwide. Given the rarity of the item and the eBay scarcity of any W&G material, recent or not, I was thinking of starting this at $39.99. Crazy and futile or good business?

[jimmyj]

I'm stumped - ha - never even heard of 'em, had to Google it. I would pay the extra 10 cents for UK exposure!

[lord ched]

For the uninitiated: W&G are part of a British claymation short film series, started on the BBC, with inventor Wallace getting his poor dog Gromit into trouble. They starred in a little-seen feature film not long ago- same folks did Chicken Run. They were all the rage when I was in university, with the quieter, nerdier students: never watched them, but knew they had a sizable enough fan base who went gaga. Most were into Tim Burton and such...

There's a galaxy of material that has limitless appeal to nerds and nerds grown up- and I'm convinced it's a matter of finding the stuff and pricing it high-ish to take advantage of an underserved market. These folks play and overlap with hipsters and traditional music/movie fans in many ways- and it's those crossover people (I guess I'm one) who would be one of my imminent store's specialization. The nerdier movies, bands, comics, books and artists have rabid constituencies of well-behaved sweater-clad fanchildren crying out for polycotton respite: I think I can make several coins off of them...

[hermosavtg]

Brings back memories. I used to work at a store in a mall in the late 90's that used to sell that exact same shirt. Something about a man and his cheese loving dog. And penguins too.

I'd say its not worth more than $20 (after checking on Terapeak). Here are some completed listings:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 0393242032" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 0353988122" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 0251860510" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Plus there's this guy here selling repros: http://cgi.ebay.com/WALLACE-AND-GROMIT- ... 0399431707" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Much like shirts for obscure bands, I'd say the market is too small for these shirts to sell for much over $20. Plus they were mass produced by the tens of thousands, and well they are just not that old.

Good luck,
-JR

[Frank]

I sold one back in the day for $40 something. I think if you don't mind waiting a bit, $39ish is the right price.

BTW i love the name Lord Ched.

[lord ched]

It's one of those borderline cases that depends on the marketplace. Looking at those old listings, they were generally XL shirts, and they went on the first bid- which means they might (or might not) have gone higher with a higher opening bid. Mine's an M, and it's somehow harder to find the smaller sizes in 90's shirts (that is at least what I find when I go looking for a 90's item, and searching the thrift racks). 20" isn't hipster-microscopic, but it's better than an XL tent. Not a sure thing, at all, but still worth a shot until time passes and I slash the price.

Empress Screenstar likes my name, too. Thats why we're in love!