Half a croissant, on a plate, with a sign in front of it saying '50c'
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Dead Man's Pants

Sweet pants! Let me guess... heart disease?
  (+12, -6)
(+12, -6)
  [vote for,
against]

Who's there? Its a thrift store that sells the clothes of dead people (which, I realize, many already do).

However, this idea would work in one of both of the following ways:

1) Pricing by Method of Death: In this scenario, family members must provide an official certificate of death or obit clipping that describes how the previous owner of the pants/shirt/etc went. Stroke pants may fetch $35 bucks at resale. Fatal familial insomnia? Man-o-man, we're talking $500-1000.

2) Celebration of Life Method: In this scenario, donors include a history of the decease's lifetime accomplishments, life lessons, philosophies, etc. The Market and Personal Psychology will set the prices for these as people will identify with similar personalities and/or the aspirations of the previous owners and see that as value in the pants.

*death/life info could be displayed on a collectible "toe tag" attached to the clothes*

[update 8/11: A more tame version of this would be to have the donors sign up voluntarily, while still living, to have their clothes donated to the store(like organ donors). They could fill out their own toe tags with all the info they want future random strangers to know about them.]

frosto, Aug 10 2007

A Dirty Job http://www.amazon.c...d=1187199010&sr=8-1
Say! That new jacket has soul, man! [Noexit, Aug 15 2007]


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Annotation:







       'scuse me miss, are these pants R.I.P.-ed?   

       Very bad, creapy, evil idea, even for my taste. Not getting on this ride [-]
evilpenguin, Aug 10 2007
  

       ....but where would you go to get a plaid suit ? A most excellent idea, and welcome to the Bakery mr/ms [froso] +
xenzag, Aug 10 2007
  

       A friend and I attended our University ball in Dead Men's Suits, where everyone else was in rented tuxedos and the like. I think we had about 12% more fun than everyone else.   

       I'm with [xenzag] [+]
theleopard, Aug 10 2007
  

       Actually, with the rise of fashions based on the clothing of criminals and gangs, I'm surprised not to have seen clothing with pre-made bullet holes and bloodstains to give the impression, for example, that the shirt you're wearing is a memento from a close friend's violent gang-related death.
hippo, Aug 10 2007
  

       Maybe you are not old enough to remember the Punk Era, but at all the clubs everyone wore ripped up and stained clothes to look like they came out of a fight.
xandram, Aug 10 2007
  

       This is the Murder/Suicide House Real Estate idea, but with beltloops.
elhigh, Aug 10 2007
  

       Just stopping by to feed the autoboner[+]
the dog's breakfast, Aug 10 2007
  

       Would they have any pants from a guy who'd beaten his cancer only to be hit by a bus on the way home from the hospital? They'd be self-irony.   

       <looking through discount bin when approached by salesman "Yes, sir. These pants are half off because their original owner was run over by a train..." >
Canuck, Aug 10 2007
  

       For some reason, I can't help imagining this store next to a shady restaurant with a palm-greasing relationship with the health inspection and a daily special on "mystery meat burgers".
Veho, Aug 10 2007
  

       What would be creepy is, if the same pants kept showing up again and again and again...
leinypoo13, Aug 10 2007
  

       ooh, kind of like the website where you can register a dollar bill and see where it's been? interesting...
k_sra, Aug 10 2007
  

       [evilpenguin521, Beep] Check the update and maybe your hatin' might be quelled a bit. The point of this is 1) to have people (customers of the store) look at dead people's lives with curiosity and also hopefully gain more empathy for people who are still living. 2) we're all gonna die. humor is a great way to cope with tragedy. [Canuck] those irony pants would be wicked valuable. [2 fries shy of happy meal] Nice!
frosto, Aug 12 2007
  

       Tragedy + Time = Comedy
theleopard, Aug 15 2007
  

       You could have it next to a psychic / fortune teller shop and see whether different items change your destiny....
Hairy Sock, Aug 15 2007
  

       this idea feels nasty, like moldering clothing falling off a cadavre. i don't like it. sorry, [frosticles].
k_sra, Aug 15 2007
  

       Pretty cool idea. I might like to know that my new, utterly tacky polyester suit was formerly owned by a university physics professor.
Noexit, Aug 15 2007
  

       In the second house to the right at the entrance to the small village of Yishii, where I used to live, an old man was very sick and his son called the doctor from the nearby town of Bet Shemesh.   

       It was 11:30 when the doctor arrived, and stayed till 2:30am, checking the patient and seeing that he has only an hour or two more to live.   

       "Listen" said the doctor, "I'm giving you this signed death certificate with the name, date and everything filled in, except the time. You can fill that in yourself, there's no need for me to stay."   

       The next morning, the old man woke up and went out to work in his field, knowing nothing about the past night. And for the next 7 years, proudly lived with his death certificate hanging on the wall.
pashute, Dec 18 2013
  


 

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