Getting paid to wear shirts

Jason Sadler isn't anyone special. (His words, not mine.) But his new project, I Wear Your Shirt, is something out of the ordinary.

The premise is simple: Companies pay him to wear their T-shirts. Sadler, 26, will don a different shirt every day next year, promoting a variety of companies, from Web start-ups to online clothing stores. (Friends and family have also purchased a few days, so who knows what kinds of get-ups they'll spring on him.)

The price for New Year's Day is $1. Each day after that is a dollar more, ending on December 31 at $365. At the end of the year, providing he finds takers for every day (he's already sold about 40%), he'll have racked up $66,795. "Not bad for just wearing shirts all year," Sadler said.

Of course, there's more to it than that. Sadler, co-owner of a Web design company, will blog, take photos and shoot video of himself on the beach, around his city of Jacksonville, Fla., and traveling the world. He'll spend the rest of his time leveraging a variety of social media tools, like Twitter and YouTube, to get the word out.

"The number [$66,795] is definitely big when you first think about it," Sadler says. "But I'm working on this thing all day long."

He estimates he's putting in anywhere from 10 to 12 hours per day on the website. Factor in zero vacation days and all the flack he's going to get from his girlfriend -- ever tried showing up to a nice restaurant in a T-shirt? -- and it might not be that sweet of a deal.

But the idea was attractive enough to spur a competitor. Jenae Plymale and her father, George, launched Girl in Your Shirt last month, and have already begun releasing episodes.

Plymale, 20, records herself, wearing ...

... branded shirts and discussing the products, five days per week. Like Sadler, she wears the shirt all day long, although right now, she doesn't plan to travel much.

The website launched to much fanfare, thanks to a blog post by TechCrunch's Michael Arrington. Since then, Girl in Your Shirt has upped its prices, from a $75 introductory rate to $199. The Plymales are now in the process of building an online video network based around the concept at inYourShirt.tv. Next up is In Your Band Shirt, a similar website but for musicians.

The "Wear your T-shirt" craze is one of those "Why didn't I think of that?" ideas that's taking off faster than a sweatshirt in the summertime.

-- Mark Milian

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