How do you sell a pink flowery t-shirt to a goth?

So I asked my friends this question, "How do you sell a pink flowery t-shirt to a goth?"

I got a bunch of interesting answers.

One of the first that came back involved convincing the goths to go skinny dipping in the river, steal their clothes while they enjoy themselves, then providing the pink t-shirt as the only clothing solution, thereby forcing a sale.

Forcing a sale this way could work, but I doubt you'd get future repeat business. And those t-shirts had better be real long, or we'd be seeing exposed goth butts running along the riverbank. Or maybe we need matching shorts on sale too; complementary products so to speak, though I doubt there would be any compliments being given out for that outfit.

Another suggestion was to dye the t-shirts black. Using good, lasting dye would transform the product into something the target clientele would buy, but would cost more. Using a cheap, temporary dye could allow you a laugh at the outraged goths as the dye fades, till they then come torch your store in revenge.

Still others attempted to appeal to emotional connections,  like having the goths buy it for mother on Mother's Day, assuming mother herself is not a goth. I like this one; shifts the target market but retains the distribution channel.

My doppelganger did some background googling,  and upon discovering goths subscribe to a non-violent, pacifist nature, suggested we could sell the pink flowers as an expression of this nature, to be worn under their black robes, mirroring the duality of man - the internal and external facades.

That the Japanese have a large goth community means sales timed for Sakura season would be twice the hit!

Good to know the goths are non-violent. We can now re-examine that cheap dye option.

The most entrepreneurial answer I received involved convincing the goths to buy the pink t-shirts in bulk at a discount so that they can re-sell them to earn a profit, which they could then presumably use to purchase clothing more in line with their palate.

But as we see, all these answers, from creating a need, to product transformation, to emotional appeal, to extended distribution, to joint marketing and re-selling, kinky and interesting as they are, require a lot of ingenuity and hard work, fraught with risks of misrepresentation and reputation risk.

Maybe the answer to the question of "How do you sell a pink flowery t-shirt to a goth?" is that you don't. 

There are so many products out there and so many client segments, so keep this for the hippies and bring in some black ones with skulls and chains for the goths.

Don't force a fit.

Drop us a line with your solution!   We'd love to hear your innovative answers.