Back during the first internet bubble, mobile computing was already a hot thing and people start having ideas about how to connect things and people. One of them was Skim which enabled a sort of physical to digital connection through a identification number written a piece of clothes that you can text or email. To some extent, it's about sending a note to your I.D. number that will be forwarded to your skim.com e-mail address. Your t-shirt could tell others how to get in touch with you BUT they won't know you're real identity.

The whole process is summarized here:

"There is a "unique mailbox number" on every fashion piece. It is six figures long. On the T-shirts it is on the sleeve, on the jackets it is on the pocket etc. In the packaging of the product there is a card with an "access code" on it. Together the "unique mailbox number" and the "access code" give you access to the world of skim.com. Your skim.com mail account is now "unique mailbox number"@skim.com. This is yours forever. It is private to you. See our privacy promise. You can give the email out to your friends, collegues, dates etc. To help you, some of our products come with business cards with your special number on it. To check your mail, simply log on to the skim.com website, and go to the communications section. Then it is simple: enter your "unique mailbox number" and your "access code" and you can check/send mail."

Why do I blog this? looking for service failures for my "tech failure" project. This skim.com thing is interesting in itself but obviously failed for some reasons (I'd be glad to know more about them). I guess the project was also an enabler of social comparison ("you have it, you're part of that community")

It's also important to note the perpetuation of such ideas since reactee is a create-your-own-tshirt platform that also allows to display a code on the tshirt (to txt the person who wears it).

Thanks Luc!