A Kanye West fan in Almaty created joke merchandise after the rapper’s concert was postponed. Kursiv LifeStyle looks at how a design conceived in a bar in just five minutes helped him recoup the cost of his concert ticket.
Oleg, an advertising professional from Almaty, saw an opportunity after the concert was postponed from Aug. 14 to 15. He and his friends went to a bar, where he realized that the merchandise bearing the original date was already out of date.
«That’s when I came up with the idea of making T-shirts with the correct date. We put the design together in about five minutes, right there in the bar. Thanks to Arina, Zharkyn, Laura, Delya, Slava and Iliyas,» Oleg told Kursiv LifeStyle.
Orders started coming in the very next day. According to Oleg, interest in the T-shirts exceeded all expectations. More than 200 people contacted him, while others approached him on the street asking about the T-shirts. Producing enough merch for everyone who wanted one within a single day was a challenge.
«By the start of the show, I already had a batch of 46 T-shirts in hand. They arrived right at the last minute, and I was handing out people’s orders literally half an hour before the show. The organizers never contacted me directly, but I’m sure they saw my T-shirts and had a laugh. Yes, I can say I’m a Kanye fan. To me, he is synonymous with the word ‘create.’ That said, I’m not a fan of many of his antics,» Oleg said.
He added that making money from the T-shirts was never his goal, as it all started as a joke. Nevertheless, Oleg managed to fully recoup his production costs and make enough for another concert ticket.
