Starbucks T-shirts Part II: The Let Down

Exclusivity? Sure! Create cache around something special in limited quantities to drive up demand.

But if that's what Starbucks was trying to do with its My Starbucks T-shirts by designer Mychael Knight, it's going about it all wrong. If you saw my entry a couple days ago, Clothes Off Our Backs was auctioning off stylish Starbucks tees customized to a handful of celebs. Expensive T-shirts for a good cause.

At the same time, the coffee company promised a big announcement for February 15. So, I wasn't surprised to find on the site that I could create my own tee. It made sense with everything else they're doing. And I wasn't surprised that the shirts were gone as fast as they were. What did surprise me was how they handled it. "We're out of shirts." Seriously. There was the accompanying text that explained that the shirts were free (what?!!!!) and that they're gone and you should check back later. But what was so disappointing was that it felt like for no good reason. They make it sound like a supply problem, which I can't understand, versus an exclusivity issue, which actually makes me want one more.