Fashion retail has many opportunities to delight customers – many more than just the physical shop experience. Think of everything from events, shmick crowd-sourced catalogs, celebrity PR to pop-up stores. And why not have more connections between the clothing itself and other channels? It seems such an opportunity was lost in the case of The Astral Plane.
The Truth Was Lost At Sea - by The Astral Plane
I just purchased their shirt (shown above) at Scandinavian store and gallery somedays and discovered a “boarding pass”-styled tag attached to it. Its number suggested to be some sort of individual code. It also carried an entertaining blurb on how The Astral Plane is a “tea-sipping, biscuit eating, moustache sculpting collective” that “brings fine art to life”.
Their online presence proves that they dig the music, the tweets and the blogging. Watch their “beautiful people pool party” music video below.
So I had high hopes for the website and myspace profile to deliver me some goodies in exchange for my “code”. With my imagination running wild (free moustache styling? biscuit session with the head designer?) I hit their sites, searched high and low. But nothing. Seems like it didn’t cross their mind to connect those dots. What I do know is that they are going to play a gig in The Cross on April 9 (details here).
Maybe I am supposed to blag my way into the venue, using my special tag? Or will the bouncer tell me “and the blog I rode in on” to get lost at sea?
Addition:
I just received a friendly email from Dan at Astral Plane, saying they are thinking about extending the tag experience (or something similar). And sending me a shirt from their new collection. It’s definitely a great label in the making. 
