January 29, 2019

The Pohawk Plus

Sent by Jonathan Stark on January 30th, 2019

Mischa Lampert makes a line of winter hats called The Pohawk Plus.

They are crocheted out of extremely chunky Merino wool and feature five extra large pompoms running from the top all the way down the back.

The Pohawk is unusual looking. It’s clearly not for everyone. It’s a conversation piece that happens to keep your ears warm.

When I saw the hat, my first thought was:

“That better be expensive because if it’s not, it’ll never sell.”

Sure enough, it’s $495.

To put that price in context, you can get a knit winter hat with a pom pom on it from Amazon for one actual cent (plus a few bucks for shipping).

Even if your total price was $10, The Pohawk Plus would be about 50x more expensive than a regular knit hat.

Here are three reasons why I think this was a smart pricing decision:

Someone who is in the market for a crazy hat - by definition - doesn’t want a regular hat. Regardless of how much it costs to produce, slapping a regular price on this thing would send the wrong signal.
Furthermore, if you are the type of person who would wear a hat like The Pohawk Plus, you probably also want to be the only person around who’s wearing one. The high price will help ensure that you’ll be the only person in line at Starbucks with a Pohawk on.
Finally, a high price gives the seller a budget to splurge a bit on materials (e.g., Merino wool and “ethically sourced fur” whatever that is) and production (e.g., 100% handmade, using only spinning wheel and crochet hooks). These splurges give the buyer a few post-facto data points to rationalize their decision to purchase a $500 beanie, AND something for the wearer to talk about when someone inevitably asks about it. It becomes remarkable, in the literal sense, which means word of mouth will spread.

(Heck, I just told 5000+ people about it... that’s some sweet free advertising that never would have happened if the price was $19.)

Here’s the thing...

Price is probably the strongest and clearest marketing signal that you can send to your ideal buyers.

So... Why not be the most expensive?

Yours,

—J