Now message and graphic tees are all the rage. I’m beginning to think…did I wait too long. Maybe not. On the Jamaican scene, whether they are graphic shirts like CooYah or message shirts like Sprawl there is one BIG thing missing.
Audience participation.
The old way is the company coming up with the idea and selling the shirts to the consumer. Some shirts sold well others did not. It's time to change that. With Bus Yuh Shut we want the you the consumer to tell us what you want and we will design it. That is where the name “BUS YUH SHUT” came from. Going into Jamaican agricultural roots “bus yuh shut” means to work really, really hard. Cane cutting, yam hole digging, weeding an’ mulching until your shirt literally could burst/bus’ from so much back breaking work.
Bus Yuh Shut in this context means to Promote/"BUS" your shirt/"SHUT".
Bus Yuh Shut is about you wearing your ideas not somebody else’s idea of what cool is but what all of us thinks is cool. Jamaican Cool! Icy Mint Cool!
This mi bredrin, is an experiment to see if the crowd will deliver better ideas than all of the creative directors, artists, market researchers and designers combined. The goal is to engage as many people across this lil planet to contribute to what they think would make a cool Jamaican t-shirt and then literally watch the best ideas float to the top with everyone voting. A t-shirt that will represent Yaad in a way that you and your friends and family and a couple thousand people would be proud and happy to wear.
How does this work?
Simple. You submit an idea. Vote it up, get your friends and family to vote. The top 3 submissions for that particular week will be designed and will go on sale that same week. This will happen…every week!
The idea is for the system to be nimble, and be able to respond to what's popular as close to "real time" as possible. So lets say Usain and Asafa finish first and second in Beijing. That same week we can have shirts online celebrating that, saying exactly what YOU want.
This my friends, is not just about wearing a cool shirt, it’s also promoting Brand Jamaica, fi wi culcha, to every likkle kawna and crevice where Jamaicans happen to be. And yeah we are everywhere.
So, watch this blog for new and cool developments and continuos updates as things go along. Wha' yuh a wait pon? BUS YUH SHUT!
likkle laytah!
