Business of Hype: Peter Lundgren

Business of HYPE is a weekly series brought to you by HYPEBEAST Radio and hosted by jeffstaple. It’s a show about creatives, brand-builders and entrepreneurs and the realities behind the dreams they’ve built. On today’s episode, Jeff welcomes Peter Lundgren, founder of T-Post — a company that fuses T-shirts with magazines. 

Based in Sweden, T-Post began in 2004 as an experimental idea that Peter claims, “wasn’t supposed to work.” The shirt is an all-in-one magazine, with a graphic displayed on the front and magazine feature written on the inside. It includes an in-depth interview with a topic or subject that reflects on current events, even featuring our own host, jeffstaple. Packaged and distributed like a monthly magazine, T-Post is delivered right to your doorstep for $39 USD a month, a price that Peter has kept the same for the past 14 years.

“I don’t care too much about money. I care more about the creative process, so we actually have the same price as 2004. We did everything at our shop from the beginning as we started, then as the prices increased, I moved the production over. We decreased our cost by moving it. I kinda wanted it to be not too expensive.”

At around 1,500 subscribers, T-Post aims in keeping its audience exclusive in order to keep up with its high-quality content. It remains loyal to its subscription service by not being sold at retailers, as it fulfills the core idea of executing Peter’s idea. For him, it was never about money, but more about collaborating with artists and telling stories in a creative way.

“How to display it is really important. If you don’t get it, the magazine part of T-Post is just a T-shirt. So we worked with [Urban Outfitters] for a while, but they couldn’t really display it in a way that people got. T-Post is a subscription, and I want it to be that.”

Peter firmly believes in staying true and passionate to his ideas regardless of adversity.  Leaving the comforts of an agency job, he felt convicted to start T-Post. He admits that quitting has never been an option, almost to the point of fault. But for Peter, solving problems, whether they be creative or production-related, is always exciting.

So tune in to hear Peter define the importance of staying authentic to his medium and perfecting his craft.

This episode features references to the following:

3:45 – T-Post concept
5:57 – Packaging
9:39 – Early beginnings
10:48 – Production
11:13 – Subscription Cost
15:23 – Death Penalty
20:09 – Staffing/Employers
20:58 – Wins & future vision
26:07 – Urban Outfitters
29:31 – Shokunin philosophy
29:56 – Advice