Last week Fortune called Whatnot "the wildly-entertaining, FOMO-inducing, $5 billion shopping app you’ve never heard of." The article about the six-year-old live auction platform is mostly focused on baseball cards and doesn't mention what I've been using it for over the last few months, which is to overpay for vintage shoegaze t-shirts. (Followers of my Instagram know that is my true passion and running Stereogum is a side hustle.)
For the first time on Friday night, I also watched a concert on Whatnot. DIIV's Zachary Cole Smith, a man who knows a thing or two about both shoegaze and capitalism, made a special appearance on FADED’s King Of The Hill show, which is a recurring vintage t-shirt sales battle between various dealers. After host Ryan Haas of Disorder Vintage sold a blue, long-sleeve Sonic Youth Dirty shirt for $1,590, Cole was revealed behind him, sitting with an acoustic guitar and a laptop playing backing audio and visuals.
He played “Frog In Boiling Water,” “Everyone Out,” and “Reflected” — all from DIIV’s excellent Frog In Boiling Water, one of the best albums of 2024 — while viewers entered a giveaway for an all-over-print John Lennon shirt. Then Cole himself auctioned off '90s Fiona Apple and Daniel Johnston tees, for $460 and $360 respectively.
I didn't bid on anything, but stuck around for a bit and saw Gilbert Trejo (actor/director/Danny's son) auction a couple of '80s grails too. Gilbert, who's directed videos for DIIV's "Skin Game" (2019) and Jack White's "Archbishop Harold Holmes" (last week), apparently has quite a collection. His black Psychic TV "Unclean" shirt (XL, Screen Stars tag) and white Redd Kross Neurotica shirt (XL, Stedman tag, signed by Tannis Root Prod. on the inside hem) went for $461 and $1,470, respectively. Gilbert directed Redd Kross' "Candy Coloured Catastrophe" video last yearand I wonder if that's how he acquired this insane piece.
I'd logged off by the time it happened, but a Ride Nowhere shirt later went for over $4,000. Cole sent me this screengrab on Saturday:
That is apparently a steal. In December, Disorder sold what might be the same item for $6,000.
Here's what Cole tells Stereogum about the experience:
"It was an insight into the highest levels of a world i’m completely unfamiliar with lol. i felt some culture shock in one sense but also could tell that the love of music tees usually comes from a deep love of music which i can relate with. the history of a piece of music merch can tell a story that runs parallel with the story of the music which is an interesting side of things i’d never really considered. also full disclosure that fiona tee was not in fact from my collection because my collection now lives in tee shirt heaven 😢"
You may remember Cole lost his home in the Altadena wildfires in January and fans raised funds to help him, his pregnant wife, and their young son get back on their feet. At the time Stereogum interviewed some music fans about the pain of losing entire vinyl collections in the wildfires, and losing a vintage band t-shirt collection is perhaps even more painful as that's more difficult to replace. You can still donate to the Smith family at GoFundMe. Or, if you have the opportunity to catch DIIV's tour in Europe this summer, buy a shirt (and hold on to it for at least 30 years).
Watch Cole's FADED performance below.
