Let's Give Credit Where Credit is Due

When I picked up my mail recently, I  saw that a major clothing retailer--one that may or may not rhyme with Hand's Mend- is now selling kids scratch-n-sniff t-shirts. They are offering shirts in a variety of colors with refreshing scents like lemonade, strawberry, and orange juice.

I'm all for expanding your product, but I have to say, I'm bothered by this for several reasons.

I'm pretty sure that B doesn't need another reason to scratch in public. Frankly, I spend a lot of time telling him not to scratch--himself or others--and this has the potential to completely confuse the issue. He also doesn't need a reason to start asking people if he can sniff them, or to tell them that he can smell them. And trust me when I tell you, O really doesn't need a new reason to start grabbing at people's, uh, t-shirts.

I suspect N would love one of these shirts. The thing she doesn't realize is, we started this trend long before the company that may or may not rhyme with Hand's Mend. I've been putting my kids in t-shirts that smell for years. Plus my selection is better. We have the same scents they do, but ours also include milk, chocolate, chocolate milk, ketchup, ice cream, pizza, yogurt, and beer (OK, so maybe that ones mine).

There's more, but only for the very adventurous.

Not only did we have the idea fist, but I think we just offer a better product. You don't get to just smell the ketchup on our shirts. You get to touch it. And if you think that hot fudge sundae aroma smells good, imagine being able to actually feel the stickiness. Yup, it's true. Ours come with authentic food items right on the t-shirt. And, our product isn't limited to shirts. We offer the same product line in shorts, jeans, skirts, and dresses.

For some reason, though, no one ever referred to our product as scratch-n-sniff.
Clearly this was just poor marketing on my part, and I'd like to correct that now.

Those smelly shirts you sometimes see my kids in? They're not dirty. They're scratch-n-sniff.

In fact, we make it even easier than that.

You don't even have to scratch.