Persuading someone to sign up for a subscription is a great business idea. One signature on a direct debit form and you’ve got them for life, more or less.

SockRush is a global sock-delivery service based in Hong Kong. Its slogan is “One less thing to worry about”. It will send you four pairs every month, two months or three months until you tell them to stop. Men understand this; women sometimes struggle.

T-post is a cross between a T-shirt and a newspaper. Every six weeks, the company will send you a T-shirt inspired by a news story. It says, “You might not always hear about your T-post’s story from traditional news media but in our opinion, you should have.”

The Tape Project is for high-end audiophiles who want old-style reel-to-reel tapes of classic albums, made from the original masters. For £4,000 you get ten classic LPs on ¼in tape, which is a bargain for the kind of people who spend £8,000 on cables.

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