As many of my readers know, I like featuring Starbucks t-shirts and talking about the stories that they represent. I kind of think that most Starbucks t-shirts have some history lesson behind them, and it’s fun to take a look at pieces of Starbucks of yesteryear.
This is the third episode of Starbucks promotional t-shirts. The first two are here:
And without further delay, another short episode of Starbucks promotional t-shirts:
I bought this t-shirt at 15th Avenue Coffee and Tea when that was a new “experimental” Starbucks. I think I got it sometime in late 2009. In January of this year, 15th Avenue Coffee and Tea adopted the Starbucks logo and branding again. As a result of the re-branding as a Starbucks, all the previous merchandise featuring the “street level” and “15th Avenue Coffee and Tea” branding has long since been discontinued. 15th Avenue Coffee and Tea opened July 24, 2009, and three years later I still feel sentimental about this store. It’s warm and welcoming, and has knowledgeable partners. This is a great store.
This Sorbetto t-shirt is something that I found on eBay. I had been looking for one for a while. Sorbetto was a delicious test beverage from 2008, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. It came in several flavors and I personally liked the yogurt-based Tangy Sorbetto flavor best. I have a little more information about Sorbetto in this previous blog post here:
Starbucks Sorbetto: The 2008 delicious test product that didn’t make it.
Howard Schultz talks about Sorbetto in his new book, Onward, How Starbucks Fought For its Life Without Losing Its Soul. I recommend reading Onward, (please consider using the Amazon.com widget in the right side column to buy stuff, as you can help support and offset the expense of the blog) and for those who are curious, here’s a short excerpt about Sorbetto:
On July 15, 2008, three flavors – a yogurt-based Tangy Sorbetto, a slushy Citrus Ice Sorbetto, and a mix of the two, Tangy Citrus Ice Sorbetto – would be available in more than 300 stores in Southern California. The base product had been shipped from Italy to our warehouses. Partners were being trained to prepare the drinks, and the in-store merchandising was bright and bold. …
The margin, it turned out, had been whittled down by higher than anticipated cost of goods and unforseen complications. Although we planned to manufacture the base ingredient in the United States, for now we were buying and airfreighting it across the Atlantic at great expense, and the weakening value of the dollar against the euro was jacking up the already high costs. What’s more, because of the consistency of the beverage, the company had to purchase hundreds of new machines to mix just the dairy-based Sorbetto drink, an investment we could not have predicted back in Italy.
It was too late to turn back, and hundreds of California stores were decked out in promotion pink decor. Brightly colored oversized “splat” spot had been stuck on store windows and floors.
The lesson learned from Sorbetto: Success of a product doesn’t always have to do with how toe-curling delicious it is.
The “Vivanno Nourishing Blend,” as it was originally called, was launched by Starbucks in the middle of July 2008. It was part of Howard Schultz’s determination to keep the innovation DNA of Starbucks alive, and to bring a health and wellness category beverage to the business. Originally, there were two flavors: Banana Chocolate and Orange Mango. There were Vivanno aprons for partners to wear, and the Vivanno even had their own special cups! These t-shirts were part of the promotional materials from that era. I found this shirt on ebay, and gladly bought it right away, knowing that piece of Starbucks history. The Vivanno really had a significant amount of advertising, on top of the in-store tools like these t-shirts and the aprons. Some readers, perhaps, will remember that there were door signs that had a bunch of fit characters.
I love this shirt! It’s this year’s Starbucks shirt signifying community service. I picked up this shirt on April 30, 2011, at the Seattle marquee community service event. Starbucks held six very large community service events all over the world this year, and at each one, partners, customers, and numerous volunteers wore these green shirts. There was a blog post in the official MyStarbucksIdea.com blogs here talking about the six events. Even better, there is a roundup blog post here in the official Starbucks blogs talking about what the events were. Also from the Starbucks official blogs, here’s the article about community service in Shanghai, and a really amazing article about community service in Vancouver BC where Starbucks volunteers renovated a garden. (The Vancouver BC article includes a great before and after photo.)
Last but definitely not least, here is my blog article from the April 30, 2011, event in Seattle, Washington where partners, customers alike restored a playground, improved a local park, and improved the Mount Baker neighborhood in Seattle.
April 30, 2011 Seattle Community Event – Melody’s blog post – Includes lots of photos
The official Starbucks blogs have a post about the April 30, 2011, Seattle event too – There needs to be more photos in this! Neighbors Spruced Up Schools and Parks.
There is not too much to say about this t-shirt. I bought this at 15th Avenue Coffee and Tea about one year ago. It was briefly sold there, and as I recall, they really didn’t have very many of the shirts. I’m not totally clear what the thinking was behind this shirt because it was not a shirt that partners wore in the stores to promote this new coffee lineup. In August 2010, Starbucks launched the Reserve Coffee line, offering premium single origin whole bean coffee. The first of the Reserve Coffee offerings was the Galapagos Island Coffee, and I even went to a roasting event for this coffee at the headquarters. Some of you might remember that I wrote two blog articles about the Galapagos Island coffee:
Starbucks Galapagos Island coffee roasting event at the headquarters.
Hope you enjoyed these t-shirts too! I do love these t-shirt episodes. Every single one of them has a story behind them.
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We call the Vivanno the “Vivian.” Of course, now it’s simply a “smoothie” – something that I think Baristas were forbidden to call it back when it launched. And of course, there was also the short-lived Karate Guy…Thanks for the trip down memory lane!
I enjoy seeing all these tee shirts. I have seen partners wearing the Vivanno shirt. Actually, I have noticed different shirts so many times that I wonder how many new shirts are issued in any given year. Great post again Melody.
I never knew Starbucks has produced so many T-shirts of its products. Its great though, at least it reminds us of what was once on the menu, on still currently on the menu. Great post by the way… =)
I really like the look of the ‘Reserve’ tee. and, I really wish they would come out with more partner tee shirts again…especially at holidays or new products. I miss seeing those.
I’m wearing the Special Reserve Tee right now!!
I’m much more of a hoarder than I thought I’d ever be with T-Shirts. Each Starbucks shirt has a memory for me. Whether its the community shirt or a Starbucks VIA one. 🙂
I want a reserve tee!! So jealous
Cam, that’s very cool you have a Reserve tee. By looking at the comments, that’s the t-shirt everyone would want!
1i actually like the tees they give out at the pride parade, so i guess i’ an oddball? also, good think i sent warren that 15th shirt, oh so long ago!
Right after I left my old store, the store manager bought everyone a t-shirt that says “Let’s do shots” with an image of espresso shots. I was very sad I missed out on that one! Although, I never wear crew-necked Tshirts because I think they look terrible on me so I’d never have worn it anyway.
All of these shirts like you said represent a part of Starbucks history. I like the ones that aren’t flashy in the starbucks logo. In Evanston a couple of weeks ago I saw a woman with a starbucks shirt that was simply a huge starbucks logo front and back. Talk about walking billboard. The green one from April rocks my socks! I love it. Also the 15th ave shirt is quite unique. There could be quite the niche market here if Starbucks decides to go the threadless route with its t-sherits perhaps… BTW I guess I will just need to go to Italy for Sorbetto like treats sounded oh so good.
Love these shirts! And agree about the Starbucks history, almost like a time capsule of discontinued products or tests that never made it to mainstream. Wonder if they will bring back holiday shirts?
Did they do t-shirts for when they introduced the however you want it Frappuccinos? I can think of some catchy things they could have done with it, but I don’t remember seeing shirts.
@Hayley, I don’t recall there being However-You-Want-It t-shirts. I don’t think I’ve seen any major, wide-spread to every single store, promotional t-shirts since the Vivanno t-shirt. And I’d love to see the return of the red shirts this holiday season! I love your description of them as a time capsule.
Why can’t I ever buy Starbucks clothing merch. (That’s rhetorical, although, do you work for starbucks? :P)
Spencer my dear, it’s amazing what you can find on ebay! 😉
Melody – you need to get an Onward tee shirt, and have Howard sign it.
Now I wish I’d picked up a 15th Ave t-shirt!
here’s a vague distant memory,….I do belive they offered black Sbux t-shirts, with green logo, in some few stores here ~96. ? I feel like I bought one and then sent at as a gift to a moved-away Sbux friend. It seems like I can remember looking at them in the store and deciding what sz. ? but, this could be my imagination;) there really was so much more STUFF back then and STILL way more emphasis on COFFEE than now. (well, if you minus the frapps, the sandwiches and now the VIAS, there’s lots of Sbux space) and then those really good manual pulled-shots….
@Nancy – that is a great idea!! Now if we could only get Howard on board! 🙂
@Denise I really don’t remember t-shirts in the stores but boy there was soooo much merch in the late 1990s to early 2000s. People complain that there is too much merch now but it is totally different. We have Via now which does take up shelf space and there is only a fraction of the mugs, and other creative merch that there was before.
I understand why a larger variety of ‘stuff’ to buy seems interesting to customers, but for me there are a few reasons why you should stick with a ‘core’ product plus promotional items.
First off, it makes the shelves look crisper and cleaner and prettier. I LOOOOVE to merchandise (which was one of my fav things about my last job) and when you start getting too many different items, the shelves start to look cluttered and unappealing.
Secondly, it’s expensive to carry all that inventory. By putting lets say 10 different mugs on the shelf, you have to have sourced 10 different mugs – possibly from different suppliers, you have to store them in a warehouse somewhere, you have to ship them, then the stores have to unpack, merchandise it – in limited space and store whatever won’t fit on the shelf (also in limited space).
Thirdly, there’s always a risk involved in buying a product that it won’t sell. And there’s a cost involved in a) carrying the inventory for a long time b) taking a markdown on the item and then c) marking it out of inventory completely. If you go with a few simple pieces that are eye catching then they’re going to sell and you don’t have to worry about them not selling.
I don’t know that this is Starbucks’ strategy with this – I just work in a store. But it makes sense to me, based on my previous experience. And, I’d really rather have stuff on the shelves that will sell than a large variety that just sits and requires dusting all the time.
Some of my partners have those Vivanno shirts. I have a Community shirt from this year as well. I wasn’t able to go to our large Community event in Toronto this year as I was out of town, but I did volunteer at an event our district took part in a couple of weeks later.
Hayley – we did not get However-You-Want-It-Frappuccino shirts last year. They gave us a few aprons to wear in the store and also wrist bands. Unfortunately the wrist bands fit pretty tight and cut the circulation off in most of my partners arms…so we didn’t wear them. They were a cute idea though.
I didn’t realize till recently that US partners didn’t get Christmas Blend t-shirts. We got them last year and the year before that.
(oops, sorry Melody – I kind of rambled there…and not on topic)
I need a lost & found t-shirt…
I love the shirts! It tells a history of it’s own! We have cups & tumblers, but the t-shirts are a special genre all it’s own.
Melody – great stories! Thank you!
Ooooh, I’d love to have a Reserve shirt!! I bought a Reserve mug, and always secretly imagine it stands for “Rachel”, not “reserve”. 🙂
(@Rachel: I feel that way about the Reserve mugs for my surname)
@Michelle: I understand what you’re saying but really, as I wrote before, back when there WAS more “stuff” were the days of huge coffee emphasis, recipe booklets for coffee drinks, coffeeware, and still quite a variety of ‘stuff’. Now, our shelves look pretty bland to me. The “summer’ beans bags (ice-blue) just blend right in with the for – iced VIA and all the VIA apparatus. and VIA VIA everywhere. (including the register-area sampling) and all the rest is mugs, tumblers and the few lbs of coffee that still remain. I have a couple pics from in the stores in the ’90’s and the just look so colorful and full. and it wasn’t junk.
Denise I agree that the stores are beginning to look too bland for my tastes and actually there does not seem to be any new merchandise that wows me to purchase. Recently when I had a chance on vacation to go to different SB stores, I noticed some of them were very engaging with placement of products and artwork on the walls while others were just bland. Certainly, it seems the international designs have not invaded here for shame.
Great post! It’s funny how they each really do tell a story. When I started in the mid 90’s, we were given a new t-shirt for nearly every promotion. Of course I imagine it was easier to supply 425 stores with shirts as opposed to 17,000! Now I want to go up in the attic & see if I still have some… In 1996 we had tie dyed shirts for our 25th anniversary. It was such a big deal at the time 🙂
@JennMcP – Yep the scale probably has something to do with how t-shirts have recently dwindled down to none. Maybe if we gave up on MyStarbucksRewards, we could pay for t-shirts for partners for 17k stores! I would vote for that! Thanks for the great comment. Oh and that tie dyed shirt was awesome – I have a pictures of it somewhere in one of those old t-shirt blog posts.
I love the Reserve Tee! I want one so badly!!! haha
The company released a white T-shirt with a coffee stain design on it and the company logo mixed in. The high price tag is a result of a partnership with department store Nordstrom and designer Alexander Wang (the top New York Fashion Week designer). It’s been suggested by some that you could just spill coffee on yourself and keep the change, but those people don’t understand T-shirts as high art.
@Elvira – I’m not totally sure what to make of your comment. I wish I had the ability to move it to the right thread – You can read about the high fashion t-shirts (which come with a free drink coupon no less!) here –
http://www.starbucksmelody.com/2011/09/25/nordstrom-is-now-selling-starbucks-inspired-designer-t-shirts/