That question is something that all shirt collectors, may have asked themselves on more than one occasion. Initially something caught your eye and your brain really couldn’t fight the resistance, of making the purchase.

Was it the ‘fear of missing out’? That one grail you have waited for? Or, could it have been something extremely random and it just caught your eye in that moment?

Previously, I mentioned about the decision making process and something that gets above a certain threshold, which then pushes you to execute a certain action. In shirt collecting, you will have had your attention caught (shall we say) and then you act on the stimulus. The only thing stopping you from getting this shirt and allowing your cravings to control you, is the money!

As we know, it doesn’t grow on tree’s (as much as we would like) and eventually it will run out. The problem that so many people face, especially with online shopping, is that you don’t actually have the money in your possession. As all of your money is online, it may feel like an easy decision to make, as you can’t actually see it. Paying on ‘plastic’ is the given thing now, especially after COVID and this can allow for spending to get out of control.

Have I asked myself this question, in the past? Yes, I have and I do have a couple of regrets. Previously a bought 3 or 4 shirts that when I look back now, have no real place in my collection. I like anything from QPR (the club I support), Italian, South American, German and anything else, that really takes my fancy. My emotional attachment to QPR and the selected countries, is far higher than anything else around the continent. That said, that doesn’t mean I could make a ‘random’ purchase.

Take an old, vintage, classic shirt for example. This could be an ‘original’, from a top European club, that was hugely successful. We’ve seen this on social media a few times I’m sure and the following sounds familiar….

Social account – “I have a rare shirt dropping tonight at 7pm”. The word, rare, catches your attention and you draw your own conclusion, of what it could be. You may now be keen to see what’s ‘dropping’ at 7pm. You then clock watch as you don’t want to miss this! FEAR is now triggered in your brain, as it could be that something you’ve been waiting for.

….7pm arrives. The shirt is there in all of it’s glory. Mint condition and someone else has even said, “wow, this shirt is amazing and at this price, how has no one bought it?!” This may now trigger GREED in your brain. There is only 1 shirt available, you really need it (or you think you do) and then finally you may experience the next trigger. This last one is SOCIAL PROOF.
“I really want the shirt to show off on my page, add to my collection or to get those ‘likes’, when people see it”.

Before you know it, you’ve gone through the check out and the confirmation is in your emails. It’s cost you £150 and all of a sudden that dopamine hit has warn off. Do you ask yourself that familiar question, “why did I buy that shirt?”…

While this isn’t obviously exclusive to every shirt or collector out there, there might be occasions previously, when you could possibly have ignored the question marks raised in your brain. Did you ignore them or just by-pass, straight to the check out? You didn’t want to ignore those 3 previous triggers of FEAR, GREED and SOCIAL PROOF, so you gave your brain what it wants…the purchase of the shirt!

The collecting industry and shirts in particular, is a very good one to be part of, if managed correctly. You can most definitely build a collection on a budget and spend anything up to £100 plus, quite easily. While smaller purchases won’t (hopefully), bankrupt you, you can see how easy it is in spending money.

The self control that one has to have, in order to keep spending within their means, is something so important to enjoy this journey. I’ve only be actively participating for a number of months, but have experienced regret, excitement and disappointment already. When zooming out you have to ask yourself the question, “does it really matter that I can’t afford it or that I missed out?”. In al honesty, it doesn’t at all! We all have different circumstances and ones that allow us certain things in life. Respect the shirt collecting industry and what you can afford, then I’m sure you will be active for many years.

Next week, I’ll go through a number of methods on how I plan my spending each month and what I want to buy!!

Note – I have no regrets with the purchases in the picture, attached to this article!

Thanks for reading…..