What part of Poland's image do you think is the most exportable?

I've toyed with the idea of opening up a small shop here in NYC to sell clothing and other odd things that are either from Poland or inspired by it. Initially I thought of clothing with prints that evoke a sense of Poland's rebellious attitude under communism and other symbols from polands communism era. like cool, well designed prints of people or even just slogans in polish. But I'm having a hard time coming up with a list of things that can be associated with Poland. Such things can be objects, pictures or slogans that might inspire pride or admiration for poland, while also poking fun at it.

But in general this has got me thinking about the things about Poland (past and present) that can be exported in an appealing way, kind of like how apple pie is associated with USA, or Yankee caps, rock stars like hendrix, morrison or elvis, nike, wall street, hollywood, etc..

any ideas?

Kaczynski face.

a sausage?

a population's ability to think outside the box

peoples doggedness in the face of force communism

super economy (currently)

hehe...

winged horsemen. on posters, t-shirts, mugs, ceramics, metal figures. flags. football attire.

Polish talent in the realm of graphic design is renown. You should sell quality prints of Polish posters and most especially Polish movie posters. See this forum's thread here: The Legacy of Polish Poster design

And the article that inspired it here: smashingmagazine.com/2010/01/17/the-legacy-of-polish-poster-design/

There is also a rich history of Polish graffiti. I like the Polska Walczy sign.

That's hardly marketable. you can't sell Polish graffiti in NYC. nobody cares.

would posters not sell ? i don't mean in huge numbers though.

posters of what?

also, what makes these posters "Polish"?

The subject of the posters may be of almost anything. In most cases it would be the clever design of the posters that the purchaser would value.


Being created by Polish people and usually containing Polish text.

i meant posters of graffiti images

Having a bad day? How about your own suggestion for every one you shot down?
The OP mentioned slogans in Polish, so assumption was that the market was people that actually know something about Poland.

Des Essientes wrote:


Which simply isn't marketable in NYC. this is why I'm asking in the first place. T-shirts with writing on it and subject matter that only Poles understand? I don't think that's a good marketing scheme.

Not T-Shirts, Fuzzywickets, posters, and people are not put off by foreign text in a beautifully designed poster as is evinced by the many French language posters to be found in American homes. I attended an exhibit of Polish posters at a local museum, which you can read about in the first link provided in post #7 of this thread, and believe me when I say that if Toulouse-Lautrec's poster art can sell so well in America then so can the supremely clever poster art of the Polish school.

Americans would mostly identify with a picture of Doda.

There might be some classic PRL era posters. Also the political posters of 1920s are a good piece of work.
As for the symbols: Wałęsa can be a good theme for some pop-art t-shirts (he is alsmost like a Marylin Monroe), or some folk designs (check łowickie wycinanki - in Poland they are very popular patterns used from jewellery to interior design).

masks98
One question, who are the suppose clients? Polish Americans or non-Polish Americans?

Alas, you forget something - French is sexy and cool, Polish just...isn't.

Now, if you want to sell something to Polish-Americans, this is what sells - Dumb products for dumb people.

What about white eagle , patatoe and sausage ...together

limited editions of photographs and prints. framed and large. mountains, city views, lakes etc.

That is a profoundly stupid and Polonophobic statement.


Say stupid things like you.

Really? See many Poles, do you? In Europe we actually see the real thing. And though there are some virtues in what we see, sexy and cool are not among them.

So you will admit that Poles have some virtues but not those two. I suppose you think Poles should count themselves lucky that a person from the enlightened West deigns to grant them even that, but let me tell you that you are making an utter fool of yourself generalizing about a nation of millions of people like that. You are a bigot and you should be ashamed of yourself.

I sell Polish industrial products in export markets all the time. You need to build an image of high quality and low price, which is largely true for Polish industrial products.

Maybe not sexy but Moho carpet is cool. I think that maksks should look for Polish design products and set up an apparaler & interior store. I think that's what can be sold, especially that modern Polish designers recently like to get their inspiration from folklore... and it really works!

Have you actually been to Poland in order to see what part of their image be exportable? No, thought not. Or know first-hand how the million recent migrants are perceived in the UK? Another no? That's right.

As I said, sexy and cool isn't part of anyone's perception.

Mods?


Mods?


Indeed, anyone living here for...I dunno, two seconds can see that "sexy and cool" is most definitely not Polish. Such attempts in Poland tend to be utterly laughable - in fact, for me, the nicest thing about this country is that it's not trying to be that.

Poland is very much like the UK and Germany.


I think it's quite obvious that you know nothing about Poland from such statements.


That's pretty much the image of Poles too - decent quality, low price.


As the poster says above, Poland's exports (people, cars, etc) are high quality and low cost. It's not a bad thing to have for Poland for now - and when they become more expensive, they should be able to build a German-style reputation for being no nonsense, seriously good products.

A great example - I'm negotiating for someone to supply some locally-produced fruit juice. It's not "sexy", the bottles aren't "cool" - but the juice is great and it's cheap. It's Polish.

Time to change that. It's a matter of a promotion and a good idea. Polish posters are fine, one can build a national brand on 3 categories:

- Polish propaganda communistic posters
- Polish school of posters - works of Starowieyski, Wałkulski, Tomaszewski are world-widely accoknoledged
- A year ago or two I saw in my city an exhibition of Polish antibolshevic posters from 1920. They are a nice art nouveau peace of work and if there had been a possibility too buy one I would have surely done it!

Perhaps, but is it possible?


That sort of thing was big 20 years ago.


I quite like that sort of stuff myself, but does it have mass appeal?


Likewise.

Like it or not, the perception of Poland around Europe is predicated by mass emigration which does not suggest chic.