The case of Steve Jobs’ iconic mock black turtlenecks keeps getting curiouser and curiouser. After a post on their web site mourning Jobs’ demise while offering to give $20 of every $175 turtleneck of a certain style sold to fight cancer, it now seems the Apple icon might not even have worn garments from the company.
The Smoking Gun digs into the case of the Minnesota company, which furthered the idea that that their sold-out Style 1990 turtleneck was the very same Jobs wore.
Immediately after Jobs’s October 5 death, officials with Knitcraft–which produces the pricey St. Croix clothing line–claimed that Jobs religiously wore its $175 mock turtleneck, which they refer to as “Style 1990.” In fact, Knitcraft founder Bernhard Brenner even claimed that Jobs purchased two dozen turtlenecks annually and would occasionally call him to say how much he liked the St. Croix garment. “Obviously we’re going to miss Steven Jobs as a customer,” said the 72-year-old Brenner.
Oh but then there’s the problem of an upcoming biography of Jobs, which asserts that his signature look was made for him by his designer friend, Issey Miyake.
The site formerly stated that Jobs was a “great innovator and fan of St. Croix.” They’ve removed that phrase, but still have a picture of Jobs up set inside one of a man wearing a similar shirt.
Even if they’re donating to charity, it’s a pretty scummy thing to profit off a man’s death in order to sell some ridiculously expensive shirts.
Previously: Everyone Wants One Of Those $175 Mock Turtlenecks Steve Jobs Wore
After Cashing In, Clothing Firm Admits Steve Jobs Was No “Fan” Of Its Mock Turtleneck [The Smoking Gun]
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Geez … it’s just a black mock turtleneck. Here’s $20 – buy 10 at Target if you need to wear them so much!
Yes, but will the Target mock turtlenecks be made from the woven threads of Coffee’s black, black soul?
If not, then nobody wants it.
+ 4 Million (In honor of the record breaking 4 million 4S iphones sold)
Coffee’s soul is the warmest too; I just crocheted a scarf out of it. There’s not much left over though, maybe enough for a pair of socks…
It’s like gortech and llama all rolled into one! I’m not sure how it got to be so warm considering he is devoid of all light.
Silly, he’s not devoid of light, he absorbs all light. Hence the warmth.
Like a black hole.
O.O (mind blown)
To be fair, everything that I’ve ever bought from Target has fallen apart pretty quickly. I’d rather go to the thrift store and spend less on a lucky find (I get all my jeans from there).
That said, $175 is still a lot of fucking money for a mock turtleneck. It had better be spun out of either spider silk or unicorn hair.
I guess I’m pretty lucky; I buy a lot of my work clothes at Target and they’ve stood up well to frequent wears/washings. It’s the crap from Ann Taylor Loft that falls apart almost immediately; I refuse to shop there anymore because their quality is so low and their prices are ridiculous.
“That said, $175 is still a lot of fucking money for a mock turtleneck. It had better be spun out of either spider silk or unicorn hair.”
Or made of actual turtle necks.
I make my own fucking money at home!
“…it’s a pretty scummy thing to profit off a man’s death in order to sell some ridiculously expensive shirts.”
See: etsy after any celebrity dies.
My 3 months sober Amy Winehouse chip from Etsy is holding up nicely, thank you.
Haha! Nice
No really?!
I feel no sympathy for the ones who paid that much $ just to have something associated with Steve Jobs. For just a few more bucks they could have preordered the iPhone 4s
You almost made me spit out my tea. lol
I feel no sympathy, nay I feel a delicious sense of schadenfreude at the CrApple fanbois who paid 175 USD (!!) for a faux piece of Darth Jobs memorabilia. In fact, I am giggling madly.
As a fan, though not necessarily a fanboi, of Apple, I completely agree. This is pretty ridiculous. It’s a turtleneck. It’s black. Big fucking deal. *sigh*
A company exploiting our sympathies? Shocking!
Remember yesterday’s story about the roadside scammer wanting $9 to pay for a tow truck?
Does anyone else equate companies declaring X dollars of your purchase will go to Y charitable cause as another form of panhandling? ‘Cuz I do.
“Does anyone else equate companies declaring X dollars of your purchase will go to Y charitable cause as another form of panhandling?”
No, because I’m not stupid.
I’m glad we could have a mature discussion about this.
It’s impossible to have a conversation when you’re redefining words, because I don’t know what any of your words mean. “I’m glad we could have a mature discussion about this.” could mean “I plan to have a ham sandwich for lunch” for all I know.
The reasoning is simple, even for you.
Panhandling/scamming is accomplished through pulling on the old heartstrings and creating false sympathy, and then guilt when you don’t aid the person in need.
Claiming to put X dollars to charity when you buy is a similar situation – creating sympathy for the purpose of gaining marketshare.
I’ve always thought the “buy stuff and we’ll give something to charity” to be a big boondoggle. Especially when “a portion of the proceeds will go to…” really means “I’ve written a check for $25 to go to the charity; the rest goes to me”.
It’s a form of rationalization, much like “treat yourself; you’ve earned it”.
Thank you for enlightening me. It is clear now that selling something for the price you would normally sell it for and donating a portion of that price to a charity is comparable to a beggar lying to evoke sympathy so you will give them money for nothing in return.
No wait, that comparison really IS stupid.
Again, your lack of maturity is quite telling.
No, I don’t think so. They’re not trying to sell me something I wouldn’t otherwise buy, they’re just incentivizing my purchase.
What I do consider panhandling are the unsolicited guilt-laden “free” return address stickers that come in the mail.
Not so guilt laden. If they aren’t too stupid looking, I throw away the idiot solicitation junk and keep and use them. I haven’t had to print up any return address labels in five years.
This Issey guy probably just bought them from St Croix, cut the labels off and jacked the price up to $500.
Totally awesome and $17.50. http://bit.ly/qFahvB
OMG just go to LL Bean and order one for $19.95 plus free shipping!! If I had $100 million dollars, I would not spend $175 for a stupid mock turtleneck! That’s how stupid people and their money are soon parted.
They’re selling Mock Steve Jobs Mock Turtlenecks?
“Even if they’re donating to charity, it’s a pretty scummy thing to profit off a man’s death in order to sell some ridiculously expensive shirts.”
I figure it’s pretty lame to go spend $170 on a shirt ’cause you think somebody else wore it. There’s one born every minute
If people want to part with their money in such a manner then that’s their business. People get so bent out of shape about how other people spend their money, I don’t get it.
As to the company, shady as hell, but this will not be the first or last time some company tries to cash in on a celebrity death. I’m pretty sure the Catholic Church has been doing this for centuries, at least this company isn’t offering Job’s fingers. People want a piece of Steve Jobs; how they go about getting it is up to them.
*Possessively clings to Steve Jobs turtle neck recently purchased by a company who shall remain nameless.*
In the end, it turned out that Steve Jobs made his own turtlenecks at home.
As a Minnesota resident, I would not for a second put it past a local company to desperately claw their way to some sort of connection to the outside world.
There was once an article in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune about a Minnesota company that made the socks that Jeff Bridges wore in True Grit. Yeah. The socks that no one saw.
Now that the truth is out, anyone who paid that outrageous price should CANCEL their order and donate $40 dollars to fight cancer. They will still have $135 dollars to buy shirts or whatever and Steve Jobs would probably be pleased with a real donation inspired by him.
I worked for this company for a couple years. They always hinted that Jobs wore their shirts but I had read elsewhere that it wasn’t a St. Croix shirt. I left the company because they did several scummy things and treated their staff poorly. Going so far as to demote a long-time manager while she was on vacation! She came back to work and they informed her that she was no longer the manager of the store and they had a replacement.
Who cares…
Minnesota Company Might Not Have Ever Sold Steve Jobs Those Turtlenecks
At $20 each, they’re donating more than Apple ever has to charity.