Marvel at Cool Spider-Man Tees

Widely known for its collection of online t-shirt designs, Threadless has come up with yet another cool line of tees, this time featuring Marvel’s Spider-Man. Threadless sought out artists to render in a design Spider-Man’s battle against his archenemies, particularly Dr. Octopus, Electro, Sandman, Venom, Lizard, Kraven, Green Goblin, Vulture, Rhino, and Shocker.

Threadless made the contest fun with such entry rules as the prohibition of characters being represented as kids, animals; and the use of likenesses of actors, or any known logos. Of course, the design is expected to be free from blood and guts as well as adult or political content.

The t-shirts in the line can be bought at $23.50 per piece and features winning entries by various design artists. Designs are called by different names from one word such as Inertia by Alan Bao to phrases such as Spider Sense Tingling by Ralph Pykee and Raphael Pereira. Check these cool designs and more from Threadless and really marvel at designs possible on tees.

Favorite T-shirt Story Contest

Everyone has that one t-shirt that means a lot and would keep it over the years or even wear it almost everyday if possible, a t-shirt that brings back memories or simply makes us happy when we see it. Peter Hartlaub, a pop culture critic at the San Francisco Chronicle and founder/editor of The Big Event, put up a contest, The Story of My Favorite T-shirt, that lets people share their favorite t-shirt and the story behind it.

To join the contest, send a photo of your favorite t-shirt to phartlaub@sfchronicle.com by this Saturday at noon. In 100 words or less, explain what it means to you, where you got it, why it is important, etc. Keep the file 1 MB or less.  Horizontal or square photos are preferred over vertical. You can send a photo of yourself, or just of the shirt. Entries are eligible if they don’t violate the SFGate terms and conditions, whether the t-shirt is old and new. The contest will be featured on The Big Event an in the Chronicle next week.

Peter had also posted his top five t-shirts and shared details about them. His top five includes a Charley and Humphrey T-shirt, his  t-shirts under the sub-category he named, “T-shirts that have funny slogans that no one else gets”, a Sons of Johnny LeMaster t-shirt, a 1992 Lithuanian basketball team t-shirt, and a 1995 49ers Super Bowl t-shirt.

Skepoid contest

Skeptoid, if you’re not familiar with it, is a weekly podcast created and hosted by Brian Dunning which exists to debunk or offer otherwise more reasonable scientific explanations for the urban legends and pseudoscience bombarding the public through popular media. Skeptoid’s aim isn’t to be a complete buzzkill, but rather to encourage the general public to engage in more critical thinking, rather than sit back and absorb everything they’re being told without questioning it.

They already have a collection of t-shirts available for their fans, including the official Skeptoid logo, as well as a “just say no” series of shirts debunking specific pseudoscientific phenomena such as UFOs, poisonous foods and the anti-vaccination movement. In a move to expand their line of t-shirts, Skeptoid has opened a t-shirt design contest to the public. The designer of the winning shirt will receive $100 cash as well as an autographed Skeptoid book of their choice, a DVD, a custom recording by Brian Dunning and a selection of t-shirts. Three runners up will also receive a similar prize package sans the cash prize.

There are no restrictions on logo or font, but designers are encouraged to keep things simple in the color department, as Skeptoid wants to keep eventual production costs down on the winning t-shirts. The contest runs until May 20 and the winners will be picked by a self-described “boisterous, liquored-up committee.” Who said that skepticism can’t be fun?

Brooklyn Industries Contest

New York-based Brooklyn Industries is now running its 2012 nationwide t-shirt contest. The winning design will be printed and sold as part of their fall 2012 offerings. The contest is open to entrants 18 years of age and older. The winner will receive a $500 gift card, some t-shirts of their design, and Brooklyn Industries will host a party in their honor. At least two runners up will receive $150 gift cards.

Naturally, they will be looking for designs that fit in with their philosophy of being innovative and fashionable. Whatever the winning design is, it’ll certainly need to be creative to fit in with what Brooklyn Industries is already displaying on their website. Some of their current offerings include a design featuring a postal carrier, labeled as a “mail escort,” a far-out combination featuring an accordion-wielding cat shooting laser beams from its eyes, and a line drawing design of a bicycle, where the frame spells out “Brooklyn.”

The contest runs through May 31, so entrants still have plenty of time to stretch their artistic boundaries and come up with something that nobody has seen before – something that fits in with Brooklyn Industries and Brooklyn itself, where the only constant is that you’ll always be surprised.

The Dark Night’s Wardrobe

The Dark Night rises is one of the most anticipated films of 2012. Christopher Nolan’s first two films in the franchise are widely regarded as masterpieces in the superhero genre. The third and final intended chapter in this phase of the Batman mythology has huge expectations to live up to, and fans are eagerly awaiting what will be Christian Bale’s final silver screen appearance as the masked vigilante.

To mark the occasion, the filmmakers have partnered with Design By Humans to design a t-shirt to mark the occasion. Design By Humans, if you didn’t know, runs contests to design various t-shirts. Artists and fans are welcomed to submit new shirts for consideration. The community votes on the submissions and the winning designs are offered for sale via their website.

The Dark Night Rises contest began this past week and runs through the end of April. Artists may sue the famous bat logo, but they must download and use the official version permitted for the contest. Designs featuring major characters in this new installment such as Batman, Catwoman and Bane are allowed, but characters from previous Nolan movies such as the Joker, the Scarecrow, and Two-Face are not permitted.

There are over $13,000 in prizes up for grabs. Some submissions are already up on Design By Humans’ website, and they reflect the dark tone of the comics and movies. Director Christopher Nolan and producer Emma Thomas will determine the winner from ten finalists selected by fans. The first prize is $3500 plus twelve shirts of the artist’s choice.

Born This Way Contest

Musician, fashion icon and all-around artist Lady Gaga has invited fans to design a t-shirt to be sold during her 2012 to 2013 Born This Way Ball World Tour. Fans didn’t have a lot of time to submit designs, as the contest started on March 14 and ran through March 19. Winners are expected to be announced shortly.

According to rules, contest entrants needed to be at least 13 years of age and hold an online account through Facebook or similar social media website. Ten winners will be selected who will walk away with $500 each. Fans were permitted to use images of Lady Gaga, but only from a pre-selected list approved for the contest. Initial submissions will be judged by Lady Gaga’s merchandising team. Final winners will be determined by Lady Gaga herself.

Given Lady Gaga’s history of shocking and innovating, one can only imagine wide range of submissions received by the contest. Given her tendency to never look the same twice, you can bet that the contest entries are vastly different, one to the next. Based on the name of the tour and resulting contest, it’s probably safe to assume that there will be a good number of entries based on and inspired by her popular Born This Way video.

Scott Pilgrim Contest

WeLoveFine.com has recently announced their new Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World t-shirt contest. Scott Pilgrim, as you know, starrted as a line of graphic novels and was brought to wider audiences and acclaim through the 2010 movie starring Michael Cera.  WeLoveFine, known for awesome and funny t-shirts featuring everything from comic book superheros to Star Wars-inspired designs to classic cartoon characters, has partnered with Scott Pilgrim creator Bryan Lee O’Malley himself for the Scott Pilgrim contest.

Scott Pilgrim fans are encouraged to come up with their best designs inspired by the graphic novels and movie. The contest runs through March 28. WeLoveFine.com will select the winner. The grand prize starts at $1000 and can run up to $2500. The prize grows from $1000 based on the number of ratings the t-shirt receives.

The higher-rated the winning shirt, the higher the prize. Guest judges O’Malley and Christopher Butcher will also select their own favorite from among the submissions to win $400 each. There are also runner up and honorable mention categories – the prized for which are a $150 and $50 gift certificate to WeLoveFine.com respectively.

 

All winning designs will be considered for printing and sale on WeLoveFine.com. The contest runs through through the 28th, so if you’re interested, now is the time to get started.

The weird world of Threadless

If you’ve ever created a t-shirt design, shopped for an online t-shirt or seen a design that was just out of this world, you’ve seen Threadless.  They are a very popular online t-shirt company that gives it’s users the opportunity to create their own designs and sell them for profit.  They regularly hold various contests and competitions, but this one is just weird.

Would you like to win $2000 for a t-shirt design?  I would!  There is only one rule, it has to be very strange, out of the ordinary and unlike anything anyone has ever seen before.  Go into the deep recesses of your mind and pull out that strange idea, creature, design or phrase that you’ve never brought to light and show it off on a cool design for people to vote on.  Check out some of the already submitted designs if you want some inspiration.

Some of the other prizes are a $500 Threadless gift certificate that can be redeemed for $200 cash, the Bathroom Book of Cat Trivia, Air Swimmers remote control inflatable flying shark and a video of members of the Threadstaff sitting in a circle brushing each other’s hair.  Some strange prizes for a weird contest, but of course, it all goes with the theme.

 

Knock Out Hunger T-shirt Design

ShopRite Partners in Caring along with General Mills, unveiled the winner of their new Knock Out Hunger T-shirt design contest in the New York Time Warner Center.  The purpose of this contest was for various artists to show their support for the year long initiative ShopRite was pushing to fight hunger.  The design had to raise awareness about hunger on a t-shirt.

Jeanie Mai, host of the Style Network show “How do I look?” and Korto Momolu from BRAVO’s show “Project Runway” displayed the top 15 t-shirt submissions and of course, winner Oggen Trpeski who lives in Paramus, NJ.  His t-shirt design will be on a special edition box of Cheerios sold only in Shop Rite and will also be displayed on Korto Momolu’s fashion show during New York Fashion Week in 2012.  The second and third place winners will also have their designs displayed on a Cheerios box only sold in Shop Rite.

The purpose of this contest was to find individuals who are concerned with fighting hunger and could artistically show that concern on a t-shirt that could give a simple, yet powerful image with the ShopRite Partners in Caring logo that will catch the attention of others.

Another great way to fight against circumstances that are killing thousands every year.  Leave a comment on what you thought about the winning design above.

Wendy’s T-shirt contest

New York City, one of the greatest places in the world to kick off a contest.  During Wendy’s Investor Day, a huge billboard ad was displayed over the middle of Times Sqaure encouraging people to check out their Facebook page and see their new t-shirt design contest.

The person who “likes” their Facebook page and designs the t-shirt with the most “likes” by fellow fans on Facebook will win $5,000 and get their t-shirt sold on the Wendy’s online store.  Second place will receive free Wendy’s for a year and 10 t-shirts with their design on it.  Third place will win 10 t-shirts with their design.  Even if you just vote, you have a chance to win one of twenty $50 gift cards to Wendy’s that will be given while the contest is going on.

All the earnings from the sales of this tee will go to the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption.  Not only is there a huge chance to win an easy $5,000, the person who wins is able to help adopted children have a better life.  Nobody loses in this contest.

One day after the contest was announced, 7,300 designs were submitted!  A lot of people must really love Wendy’s.  There’s lots of creative juices flowing to win that $5,000 prize so get your design on and give it a shot.  You could be the winner!  You’ll never know until you try and it’s free anyways, so what do you have to lose?