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Threadless + Sesame Street

April 26, 2012 by · Leave a Comment

The good folks at Threadless have done it again. This time, they’re paired up with Sesame Workshop – the nonprofit organization behind the legendary Sesame Street for their latest contest, to design a t-shirt featuring Sesame Street characters. The winning design will be sold through Threadless. The grand prize is $2000 cash. Second prize is a $250 Threadless gift certificate. Third through fifth prizes are autographed Sesame Street-themed books by series creators and participants.

The contest runs through May 3, and there are already a multitude of wonderful designs up for display on Threadless’ site. Some of them include a rather pensive-looking Oscar the Grouch, one featuring Bert and Ernie as the Men in Black, and one with a certain blue monster riding a bicycle with gigantic cookies for wheels. Given the show’s long history and the diversity of fans, there’s little to no repetition in the designs currently submitted. The variety of other cultural references included in these shirts is impressive. One shirt, called Abbey Street, takes some of the furry characters and places them on the Beatles’ iconic Abbey Road album cover.

Yet another mash up takes the Sesame Street logo and combines it with the classic video game Street Fighter to create Sesame Street Fighter. Another Cookie Monster-themed shirt shows him as Pac Man. If there’s any theme to the designs already submitted it’s that there is no theme, and that there are seemingly no limits to what designers can do with these characters. If you’re feeling creative, you have until May 3 to submit a design.

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From Crowdsourcing to Crowdfunding

April 5, 2012 by · Leave a Comment

Some of the most innovative and influential companies in the t-shirt world of today wouldn’t be where they are today if not for the concept of crowdsourcing. Crowdsoucring is exactly what it sounds like – harnessing the power of a group of people. In this case, it involves soliciting new art, ideas and designs from the public for use on t-shirts. This business model has proven successful for many, with notable companies such as Threadless leading the pack.

The idea of crowdsourcing is starting to spread globally. One notable example is Chilean Alan Earle’s online company, Magna Corta, which gets its t-shirt designs from independent artists and designers. In under a year, Earle’s company was selling shirts with designs from many independent artists, all who earn a commission on the sales they generate.

It only makes sense that when Earle wanted to expand Magna Corta’s capabilities, he turned again to the public, this time utilizing crowdfunding, to generate the necessary capital to grow his business. Crowdfunding functions in the same way as crowdsourcing, except that the goal is to gather monetary contributions. Earle was able to raise the $4000 he needed in 40 days with the help of 25 contributors, with which he was able to grow Magna Corta, giving it a chance at even greater success in the future.

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Crowdsourcing Difficulties

March 28, 2012 by · Leave a Comment

Crowdsourcing is the act of tapping a large group of people, often with the help of the worldwide web, with the goal of finding new funding or ideas. This concept is alive and well in its application to the t-shirt industry in the US, as evidenced by pioneering retailers such as Threadless, which solicits its designs from independent designers and artists, and the idea is starting to go global. This hasn’t been without its problems, though, as it has been implemented in India.

Crowdsourcing, in this case, hasn’t always produced the best results. India’s Tantra, for example, does accept submissions from the public, but is still relying on its own designers for 80% of their final products. Similar retailers Chimp and Mumbai’s Inkfruit are experiencing similar problems sourcing ideas from the public. One of the reasons cited is that while there are a great many talented artists out there, a relatively small percentage of them have the computer graphics skills necessary to capture and represent their ideas in the proper format.

Another problem is lack of originality. Many submissions are unsuitable as they’re complete knockoffs of earlier popular designs, or simply incorporate others’ intellectual property, such as well-worn quotes. However, once the people and the computer technology are better in sync, Indian retailers can expect better results from using online crowdsourcing.

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T-Shirt Vending Machine

December 5, 2011 by · Leave a Comment

Have you seen one of these before?  A T-shirt vending machine!  Yes, they exist, and they may be popping up around your neighborhood soon.  Threadless Tees, a popular online t-shirt company who in 2007 opened their first brick and mortar store, has got together with Coinstar to have their own vending machines selling their products.

From small to extra large, accepting credit cards, debit and prepaid cards, they will not only be selling shirts but hoodies also for both men and women.  Is this something that might catch on to other locations?  Of course, they are hoping so but we can only wait and see.  They have three locations at the moment, all in Illinois.  One is in Yorktown Mall, another at Dominick’s 2550 N. Clybourn Ave, and another at 2940 N. Ashland Ave.  If thing go well and they produce lots of sales, then they will begin to expand to other areas.

What are the pros about this when it comes to selling t-shirts and the clothing industry?  Anything that is new and worthwhile will definitely be picked up by other companies, or somehow copied in one way or another.  Threadless Tees needs to keep their eyes open to see if they have struck gold, or just wasted their time and money.

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