Sunday, September 24, 2006

Threadless.com

I heard about Threadless.com from a friend almost a year and a half ago, though it has been on the web since 2000. She mentioned them to me because she knew that I liked graphic tees, and also because I like sales. One of the best things that they have are the $10 sales, which come at perfect times like right before school time (when I'm in need of clothes) and holidays like Christmas. Or, they'll have sales just for the heck of it.

What I think is really cool about Threadless is that the designs on the tshirts are designed by people like you and me ... think of it as an ongoing t-shirt contest, and we the people get to vote and comment on what shirts we like. The winners get their design made into a tshirt, and receive a cash prize. I think it's a great opportunity for designers to get their stuff out there, and a great opportunity to get their stuff critiqued. They also have a forum available for people to talk about anything. It doesn't have to be about the tshirt designs ... some people talk about TV and stuff. The site has a lot of content... both fun and insightful. A lot of new stuff has been added over the years. I think one of the most recent things they did was extend the tshirt contest into one where you can create slogans for tshirts. They even supply templates for you!

Most of the designs on the site are really fun and interesting. Some are just ... well, weird. But I think it's really cool to be able to have a hand in what gets put onto a tshirt. And I also think Threadless is a great place to share designs and ideas with others. The people on there seem like fun, too.

Here's a link to an interview with the founder, Jacob DeHart, to find out the bigger story behind Threadless.

And, I thought it'd be cool to share some of my favorite designs. I have two of these shirts ... the other two I wish I bought when they had it, but now I have to wait for a reprint. And a $10 sale. It's wishful thinking.




1 Comments:

At 1:12 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

This is an interesting site. I like a lot of the designs I'm seeing. It seems like this business has a little bit of a buzz around it, Threadless recently got a positive write-up in the Chicago Tribune.

One of the driving ideas behind this company is called "Crowdsourcing" s term coined by Wired magazine that describes a business model in which companies try to replace selectively hired, trained and managed workforces with mass volunteer participation and self-organization.

While the basic idea isn't bad, I somewhat dislike the fact that Threadless retains all the rights to chosen t-shirt designs and the "source" of a design, its vector graphics file is not available for download. Making the vector file available for download would allow for more collaboration and creative possibilities, Threadless members could "remix" and improve upon each other's work.

 

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