Threadless
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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| URL | http://www.threadless.com/ |
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| Commercial? | Yes |
| Type of site | Online retail |
| Owner | SkinnyCorp |
| Created by | SkinnyCorp |
| Launched | 2000 |
Threadless is a community-centered online t-shirt store run by skinnyCorp of Chicago, Illinois since 2000.
Users (professional illustrators and amateurs alike) may submit t-shirt designs online, which are then put to a public vote. A small percentage of submissions are selected to be printed and sold through the online store. Creators of the winning designs receive a cash prize.
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[edit] Operation
There are virtually no limits to the variety of designs seen at Threadless; however, the Threadless community favours artistically provocative and humorous designs. Designs can range from political and personal opinions to abstract or surrealistic. Controversy in t-shirt designs sparks debate in the blog forum and on the comment wall of submission. Vulgar designs are usually deemed "tasteless" and often get low scores from voters.
The success of this concept has led to several spin-off projects by the same company, including ongoing design competitions for t-shirt slogans at OMG Clothing and neckties at Naked and Angry. However, they later integrated the competition from OMG Clothing into the main website. Multiple other companies have adopted the community model created at Threadless. Nevertheless, in mid-2006 Threadless expanded in a more traditional direction, adding shirts designed by selected artists to their store, which are not subject to the voting process.
In the media, the Threadless concept is sometimes called "open source". However, since the designer and the company retain all rights to the chosen t-shirt designs and the "source" of a design, its vector graphics file, is not available for download, the term "crowdsourcing" is a more accurate description.
The shirts are run in limited batches. When shirts are sold out customers can request a reprint. However this only happens when there is enough demand and is ultimately up to Threadless. New shirts are released on Mondays.[1]
[edit] New Private Label Brand of Tee Shirts
In November of 2006 Threadless announced that they will begin printing designs on their own proprietary brand of tee shirts. Threadless posted in the Blog Forum on Threadless.com:[2]
Imagine a tee that is less boxy than a Fruit of the Loom, but not as skinny as an American Apparel. Imagine a tee whose fabric is softer than American Apparel but not as thin.
The first design printed on the new shirts was titled "I Heart Threadless" and features the threadless logo on a charcoal-colored tee.[3] This change in tee shirts has long been encouraged by Threadless community members, although there have been some complaints regarding the sizing of the new girl shirts.[citation needed]
Beyond this, complaints have also been posed regarding the side seams on the new tees. Worried customers have been voicing their opinions of the new shirts on the Threadless forum and in effort to ease the concern, Threadless employee Craig Shimala posted "We're still toying with the specs [of the new tees]."[4] Furthermore, Shimala posted on January 3, 2007, "[Threadless] made some changes based on everyone's input and should be receiving the revised samples soon."[2]
