Diesel’s “The Most Expensive T-shirt” Is A Perfect Holiday Gift Suggestion
Diesel, the Italian fashion brand, seems to have gone bizzare with its price tags for a tshirt.
The retailer has debuted a new line of t-shirts, with prices ranging from the hundreds of thousands to as much as $5.5 million. But with each, the brand is also throwing in a new condo, for “free.”
This is all actually apart of a campaign for the company’s new business venture: it’s moving into the real estate world with a Diesel-branded condo building in Miami, Florida.
The 143-apartment Diesel Wynwood development is a partnership with real estate company Bel-Invest, and= to promote the new homes, the company has employed yet another out-of-the-box strategy by asking people to buy “the most expensive t-shirts in the world.”
The tees are decorated with floor plans of the apartments that buyers will “receive” with purchase, but a disclaimer in small print below spells the joke out for those who might take it a little too seriously.
Press, OOH and online ads featuring the idea were created for Diesel by New York startup agency Small, the agency that also conceived the fashion brand’s recent “transparent” luggage tie-up with Samsonite.
Founders Luca Lorenzini and Luca Pannese have commented in a statement,
We wanted to create a real estate campaign that was different from all the other real estate campaigns that are around. And this is how ‘the condo t-shirts’ was born. With this campaign, Diesel, once again, decides to challenge conformity to create something totally unexpected.
Each of the 143 tops comes with a printed graphic of an apartment at the Diesel Wynwood condo development in Miami and a price tag reflecting the unit. For example, the “D6-L7” T-shirt costs $1.05 million, while the “F2-L7” shirt costs $5.5 million. “If you buy one, you get a new home for free,” claims Diesel.
The campaign, by creative agency Small and directed and photographed by Hernan Corera, launches today in Miami.
This is the most ambitious project for Diesel Living, the brand’s home and interiors division, which, as reported last year, has partnered with real estate group Bel-Invest.
Founder of the brand, Renzo Rosso told WWD,
Diesel Living is embracing a more consistent and structured approach to the world of contracting, with this first project in Miami.
Diesel Living’s strategy is to strengthen the brand’s presence in the field of private and residential properties with unique collections addressed to the world of contracting, which today represents the most dynamic part of the market.
Diesel Wynwood, which is certified by WELL, the leading tool for advancing health and well-being in buildings globally, includes a pool, a gym, a meditation room, a meeting space and an expansive, open-space lobby with an art gallery area, as well as a courtyard, designed by Diesel as a forest of tropical plants for residents.
Bringing light into living spaces, apartments feature gradient walls and discreetly reflective surfaces. There are 13 individually designed penthouse duplexes and maisonettes with private terraces. “Cosmic swirls of liquid marble cloak the lobby, halls and apartment bathrooms, rendering these interiors nearly hallucinogenic in their effect,” Diesel said.
Tropical greenery is juxtaposed with urban materials such as concrete, golden mesh, pipes and metal. Graffiti-etched cement walls are in sync with the murals that define this artistic neighborhood.
Refracted light installations and infinite mirror reflections add a surreal and futuristic touch to the hallways and lounges.
The building, clad in black brick with minimalist wood screens and broad glass windows, and with a bold gradient finish on the structure, is designed by Zyscovich Architects and developed by Bel Invest Group, which lists offices in Miami, Berlin, Barcelona and Italy’s Vicenza, not far from Diesel’s headquarters. The group was founded by Italian-German entrepreneur Maximilian Beltrame.
Renzo Rosso already has a personal investment in Miami with the Pelican Hotel, an Art Deco building constructed in 1939, which the entrepreneur restored and opened in 1994 on the city’s South Beach strip. The hotel is being renovated.
Dubbed “The Most Expensive T-shirts Ever,” each top shows a photo of one of the 143 apartments and comes with that location’s price tag.