October 26, 2005

{ YES Laboratories }

A few months back while jumping around on an endless number of web sites...as I've often been known to do...I was struck in awe over these uber-dooper fly shirts by YES Laboratories. I sat and stared. Colorful detailed vector art patterns, money [as in actual currency] sewn into the shirts, and the fact that YES Lab makes their patterns available to the public via their web site piqued my curiosity. It was very Interesting, I needed to know more. I emailed the scientists at YES to get the scoop. The questions that I sent went un-responded to for months. I thought that was the end of it, so imagine my surprise when the following letter, appearing below in its entirety, arrived printed on a YES Labs T-Shirt in my mail box. The research is best read as if you're doing so off my upper torso.

YES Labs was legally born July 22, 2004. It began operations in September of the same year. YES designs are inspired by questions of value. What is value? How do people arrive at the value of a thing? Take the money on the shirts, for instance: if it is no longer valuable as currency, is it still valuable in a visual sense? If it is still valuable as currency, how does it being attached to a shirt transform/destroy its value? Or is the deverness of the idea of using money as appliqu� the source of value? The investigation goes beyond money on shirts, but more about that some other time� ?The decision to make [eventually all] of the guilloche patterns used in my prints available for download as scalable vectors is directly related to the previous point. YES Labs produces "limited edition" handmade t-shirts. These shirts are relatively expensive. They are numbered. They are "originals". What really distinguishes an original from a copy? Why should an "original" YES Labs t-shirt be any more or less valuable, rare or desirable than a "knock-off"? Where does owner equity enter the equation? What value do the designs represent to the YES organization? Does making the patterns openly available harm their value or decrease YES brand equity? Furthermore, guilloche patterns are designed to protect "original" documents, as they evade exact reproduction. How does this change the nature of the patterns themselves, if they no longer s u i t t h e i r i n t e n d e d u s e ? I realize I answered your questions with more questions...but this is a laboratory! Formal answers to all investigations of the Lab will be published when sufficient data has been gathered and properly analyzed.

At this point you'd be just about at my navel.

In the meantime, sit back, relax and enjoy the t-shirts. Because they're only t-shirts. Really. David La Cross CEO and Principal Investigator YES Laboratories, inc

Are you looking at the signature? I'm blushing. Yes, Mr. La Cross, only t-shrits indeed.

» YES Laboratories, inc dot com

By Lindsey in Clothing | Comments: