A certain Mr. Kennedy sells shoelaces. They come in silver or 24 carat gold. How much? I’m glad you asked. A pair of silver laces are $3,000. A pair of gold laces are $19,000. And in case you are not in awe yet, consider there is an order limit! Yes, my friends, there appears to be a limit of 30 units for silver and 10 units for gold. I could not believe that limits were needed. I poked around. It may be that these are limited edition. But the order info and language about shipping times varying depending on what is in stock make me think perhaps the limit is a security issue or maybe there are laws about that much precious metal being shipped about. I suppose one could be quite the Auric Goldfinger and smuggle using the laces.
I also love that the name is supposed to be a nod to the inventor of the shoelace but these works also have an odd fair trade labor gloss:
MR KENNEDY WAS THE FOUNDER OF THE MODERN DAY SHOELACE. THESE “ULTIMATE” SHOELACES ARE A HOMAGE TO HIM. WE HAVE CREATED THE WORLDS FIRST PURE GOLD AND SILVER SHOELACES. ALL OUR LACES ARE HANDMADE BY OUR TEAM IN COLOMBIA WITH EACH SET TAKING APPROXIMATELY 120 HOURS TO PERFECT.
THEY ARE MADE FROM SILVER AND GOLD, MINED LESS THAN 10 MILES FROM WHERE THEY ARE MANUFACTURED IN THE MIDDLE CAUCA GOLD BELT AND THEY ARE BROUGHT TO YOU BY “MR KENNEDY”.
MR KENNEDY AND PRECIOUS SHOELACES WAS AN IDEA INSPIRED BY THE CREATIVITY OF THE PEOPLE OF QUINCHIA, COLOMBIA. THE ARTISAN MINING INDUSTRY THERE HAS LED TO A JEWELRY MARKET WITH SKILLS UNPARALLELED AROUND THE WORLD (MAYBE IT’S THE COFFEE).
So we have name from a dead inventor, an invocation of local craft and sources, and an appeal to wealth and exclusivity. Maggie Chon’s work on Marks of Rectitude is a good read to see how fair trade and labor claims are more and more important. These items seem to take the ideal or Whole Foods (or Whole Paycheck as some call it) and go to the limit of the decadent, righteousness.