A Silicon Valley Bank bag. An FTX hat. A Fyre Festival hoodie. While buzzy companies have collapsed, their corporate merch is getting a second life on resale marketplaces.<\/p>\n
Many years ago, it might have been difficult to acquire items from scandal-ridden or recently-dissolved companies. But thanks to the internet, a new type of economy has risen around demand for merch from corporations with a spectacular fall from grace.<\/p>\n
Over the years, people have increasingly rushed to eBay and Facebook Marketplace to buy and list everything from backpacks to keychains from fallen corporations once branded as the next big thing. The recent collapse of SVB has been no exception. Google Trends for the phrase \u201cSVB swag\u201d peaked March 11, the day after the bank was shut down by federal regulators. On Poshmark, a sweater labeled as a \u201cvintage SVB Christmas sweater\u201d sold for $35. Sellers on eBay have listed a $1,000 SVB-branded blanket, a $249 wine and cheese board with the SVB logo on it and a $340 Patagonia backpack with an SVB patch. Some of these items have racked up dozens of bids in a matter of days.<\/p>\n
One listing on eBay, for a navy blue Rains backpack with the SVB logo on it, belongs to Becky Jacob. Her friend had gifted her the backpack about six months ago, she told Modern Retail. The two heard about the demand and interest in SVB-branded items, and Jacob decided to post the item on eBay and \u201csee what happens,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Jacob listed the backpack for $150 because the same item normally retails for around $110. \u201cIt\u2019s brand new,\u201d she explained. \u201cSo, I figured that\u2019s what it would go for normally. And then I just added a little cushion.\u201d<\/p>\n
Publications such as The Wall Street Journal,<\/a> Business Insider<\/a> and Entrepreneur<\/a> have documented the incredible run on SVB merch in the wake of the bank\u2019s collapse. Many entrepreneurs are also stepping up to make their own parody merch. David Coley, an options trader in North Carolina, told the WSJ that he bought a T-shirt from Etsy that said \u201cSilicon Valley Bank Risk Management Department.\u201d In 2021, The Guardian<\/a> documented the popularity of Elizabeth Holmes-inspired merchandise, such as phone cases with her face on it and a sweatshirt with her quote, \u201cFirst they think you\u2019re crazy, then they fight you, then you change the world.\u201d<\/p>\n This parody merch can generate thousands of dollars for its creators, many of whom have uploaded listings to eBay or Etsy. Non-parody merch can also pop up by posing as actual company-branded items. The rise of knock-off merch \u2014 and the increased interest in authentic merch from the likes of SVB and FTX \u2014 can make it difficult to acquire official items, Christina Warren, a software developer and former journalist, told Modern Retail.<\/p>\n Warren has been collecting merch from dissolved companies for years. Her collection started out with items she had acquired from tech conferences, like Pop Sockets and shirts. So far, Warren has 30 to 40 items from failed companies. These include an FTX-branded Golden State Warriors bobblehead, two shirts from Fyre Festival, a Lehman Brothers business card and pin and an Enron mug. She acquires these in several ways: from websites like eBay, from friends or from the companies\u2019 own merch sites.<\/p>\n Warren is especially drawn to merch from companies that \u201care touted as the next big thing,\u201d she explained. \u201cIt needs to kind of hit the cultural zeitgeist for me. Those the ones that I go after.\u201d Still, Warren is careful to note, \u201cI know that for behind every one of these failed products or failed events or failed companies, there were real people who lost money and had their lives upended. And I don\u2019t want to in any way be insensitive to that.\u201d<\/p>\n