I Wear Your Shirt

Founder Jason Sadler (in the back), AJ Leon (bottom row left), and Evan White (bottom row right)

I Wear Your Shirt is an American advertising company that uses T-shirts to advertise businesses. I Wear Your Shirt allows a company to buy a day in which Jason Sadler, the founder, wears a shirt adorned with the company's logo. Sadler wears different shirts for every day of the year. He advertises for the companies by taking pictures and by uploading videos about the companies to Ustream and YouTube.

Sadler conceived of the idea in 2005 after hearing about The Million Dollar Homepage. He began wearing the shirts on January 1, 2009. In 2010, doubled the prices and employed Evan White, who lives in Los Angeles, California, to wear the same shirts on the West Coast of the United States.

At the end of 2010 Jason went to the internet to find four more shirt wearers, and by January 1, 2011 there were five people across the country wearing the same shirt. Jason still lives and works in Jacksonville, but he added DeAndre Upshaw in Dallas, Texas, Angela Seales in New York City, Neal Brooks in Springfield, Missouri, and Amber Plaster who currently lives in Las Vegas.[1]

History

I Wear Your Shirt was founded by Jason Sadler of Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida in 2008.[2] He began wearing shirts for companies on January 1, 2009.[3] Sadler decided to start I Wear Your Shirt after trying to come up with "a way to make some extra money without actually 'working'".[4] In 2005,[5] Sadler was inspired by The Million Dollar Homepage to create "something ... that would hopefully be as successful and, maybe down the road, just as profitable".[6] He noticed that for promotional purposes, many companies gave away T-shirts for free. Knowing that T-shirts caught people's attention, he decided to become a "human billboard" and "create an advertising medium through free social media tools".[6] After coming up with this idea, Sadler spread I Wear Your Shirt's services through his group of family and friends and through Facebook.[7]

Marketing and profits

For every day of the year, Sadler dons the shirt of a different company for a set price.[5] On January 1, the price was $1. In 2009, the price was increased by $1 for every day after January 1, and by December 31, I Wear Your Shirt's last customer for the year would have to pay $365. At the end of 365 days, Sadler's income would be $66,795. He received an additional $18,000 in 2009 from the sale of monthly $1,500 sponsorships. After factoring in the money gained from contests and other enterprises, Sadler's total income in 2009 is $83,000.[2][6] In a 2014 interview with The New York Times, Sadler said he increased the daily price, so that it no longer matches the day of the year.[8]

Every day, Sadler advertises the company that owns the rights to his shirt. He posts videos of himself wearing a company's shirt on Ustream, YouTube, Facebook and Twitter, in which he discusses the companies that he is promoting.[3][7] He has over 1,300 friends on Facebook and about 21,000 followers on Twitter.[9]

For 2010, Sadler increased by twofold the cost of the shirts. He employed Evan White, who lives in Los Angeles, California, to wear the same shirts on the West Coast of the United States.[2][6][10]

In 2014, the company had 1,500 clients, including brands Nissan and Starbucks.[8]

Jason Sadler

Jason Sadler, the founder of I Wear Your Shirt, was born in 1982 to Kelly and Steve Sadler.[5][7] During his early years, Sadler lived in San Diego and New Jersey. Later, in 2000, he moved to Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida so that he could join the basketball team at Jacksonville University. However, before the beginning of basketball season of his freshman year, he hurt his knee. Shortly thereafter, he transferred to the University of North Florida.[7]

At the University of North Florida, Sadler received the Bachelor of Fine Arts in 2005, with an emphasis on marketing and graphic design.[7]

Sadler says that he wears the shirts for the entire day even if he is attending a wedding or eating a fancy dinner with his girlfriend.[5][7]

In 2012, Sadler auctioned off the rights to change his last name to whatever company bid the highest. Headsets.com eventually won, paying $45,000 to change his name to Jason HeadsetsDotCom.[11] In 2013, he legally changed his name to Jason SurfrApp, a surfing application, that purchased his last name for $50,000.[8]

Sadly iwearyourshirt.com is now not accepting any new customers and Jason is now focusing on helping other entrepreneurs and businesses learn from his experience and grow their sales.

References

  1. ↑ "The Team". I Wear Your Shirt. 2011. Archived from the original on 2011-03-08. Retrieved 2011-03-08.
  2. 1 2 3 Fahmy, Miral (2009-11-05). "Man makes living by selling the shirt on his back". Reuters. Archived from the original on 2009-11-08. Retrieved 2009-11-08.
  3. 1 2 Powers, Martine (2009-07-19). "Student tries to sell the 365 T-shirts on his back". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Archived from the original on 2009-11-08. Retrieved 2009-11-08.
  4. ↑ Camara, Moustapha (2009-01-30). "I Wear Your Shirt – Jason Sadler: The Human Billboard". T-Shirt Magazine. Archived from the original on 2010-01-05.
  5. 1 2 3 4 "Wearing a T-shirt for profit, style". The Florida Times-Union. 2008-12-28. Archived from the original on 2009-11-08. Retrieved 2009-11-08.
  6. 1 2 3 4 Seaman, David (2009-09-14). "Who Is Jason Sadler, and Why Should You Care?". Entrepreneur. Archived from the original on 2009-11-08. Retrieved 2009-11-08.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Knoechel, Jennifer (2009-01-03). "Ponte Vedra man is walking ad". The Leader. Archived from the original on 2009-11-08. Retrieved 2009-11-08.
  8. 1 2 3 Olson, Elizabeth (2014-01-26). "I'll Be Your Billboard". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 2014-08-07. Retrieved 2014-08-07.
  9. ↑ Lawon, Brent (2009-04-21). "RBG tweaks interest with Tee and Twitter". The Hamilton Spectator. Archived from the original on 2009-11-08. Retrieved 2009-11-08.
  10. ↑ Parr, Ben (2009-08-12). "Social Media + Wearing Shirts = Lucrative Career?". Mashable. Archived from the original on 2014-06-20. Retrieved 2014-06-20.
  11. ↑ Kavilanz, Parija (2012-12-13). "For $45,500, he's Jason HeadsetsDotCom". CNNMoney. Archived from the original on 2014-06-20. Retrieved 2014-06-20.

External links

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