When the buyer wants the smart-shirt off your back - a variation on Back-to-Front margin?

Step-improvements in supplier-retailer relationships notwithstanding, and despite high level assurances of progress from pre-financial crisis days i.e. suppliers are now 'our best friends', NAMs may be puzzled to find that on occasions, some buyers may still want the shirt off your back, literally....

However, rather than being a variation on Back-to-Front margin, this may simply be a reaction to the launch of the Ralph Lauren Smart Shirt;

Sensors attached to silver threads inside the shirt pick up the wearer’s movement data as well as heart and breathing rates, which can be monitored on an accompanying smart phone app and, potentially, uploaded to the cloud for analysis, via the shirt's removable slightly-larger-than-credit-card-sized Bluetooth transmitter.

We all know that a wealth of data is generated in the average buying meeting – not just in what is said, but who says it and the manner and tone of voice in which they say it. The smart shirt therefore represents an obvious leap forward for a buyer wanting to compensate for possible shortfalls in body language interpretation skills, and wishing to gain a competitive advantage before GSCOP adds an appendix...

NAMtip:
NAMs wishing to remain leading-edge can anticipate and circumvent this latest buying tactic by purchasing two smart shirts, wearing one in an extremely relaxed, non-pressured social situation and covertly swapping the card transmitter during handover of the 'selling-shirt'...  

HT to Tim Manasseh for pointer to article