Threadless: A Crowd Sourced Success Story. And A Look Inside The New Book.

If you're anywhere near Brooklyn today, you should stop by the the launch party for the new book about the history of Threadless. (info at the end of this post).



Threadless, in case you are one of the three people on the planet who has never heard of them, officially began in 2000 as an online user-generated design, crowd-sourced, voting-produced, limited edition T-shirt company.





They have since grown into an enormous online and offline success featuring some of the most interesting and hilarious t-shirts around --with user uploaded designs that are voted into limited production by registered users. The online store spawned a Chicago brick and mortar store, an art print store and a cultural phenomenon inspiring cake baking contests, collaborations with Dell computers and more.


above: the Chicago store interior, photo courtesy of motherboard.tv

I've actually been a registered user since 2003 and own over 40 of their t-shirts. Below is a photo of me wearing one of my favorites (forgive me, my vegan friends):




The Book


Started by Jacob DeHart (no longer with the company) and Jake Nickell, who met in an online design forum when they were still in college, this story of how an internet T-Shirt company has led to livin' the dream has just been published in book form to be released October 10th.

A few spreads from the 200+ page book which contains over 300 images:









About the book (courtesy of Abrams)
Threadless.com is the phenomenally successful T-shirt company with more than 4 million tees sold since it began in 2000. It pioneered the online business model of crowd-sourced or community-driven design, in which people submit designs that are voted on by the site’s 1 million users and printed. Over the past 10 years, the company has amassed a vast archive of very cool, very hip, and often very entertaining designs, and Threadless is a spectacular showcase of 400 of the very best T-shirts created by the community—a barometer of art and design over the past decade.

Much more than a book of extraordinary graphics, Threadless tells the extremely interesting story that inspired Inc. magazine to hail Threadless.com as “the most innovative small company in America.” There are also profiles of individual designers and “think pieces” from influential admirers, including design guru John Maeda, Jeff Howe of Wired, and bestselling business/marketing writer Seth Godin.

Author Jake Nickell

Jake Nickell, above, is co-founder of Threadless.com and lives in Boulder, Colorado.
(photo courtesy of motherboard.tv)

Buy Threadless: Ten Years of T-shirts from the World's Most Inspiring Online Design Community
Threadless Book Launch Party Today In Brooklyn!
Threadless and Abrams are launching the Threadless Book at the epic Powerhouse Arena in Brooklyn today. Threadless Founder Jake Nickell plus a handful of awesome featured Threadless artists will be on hand signing copies and undoubtedly, causing as much trouble as possible.

As an added bonus, their pals from the Etsy Labs will be there for an afternoon of making hands-on recycled t-shirt projects as part of a special edition of Craft Night. You can try your hand at reconstructing and repurposing t-shirts into necklaces, skirts, totebags, and more.The fun starts at 2pm.

If you're already planning to check out the DuMBO Arts Fest, be sure to pop in and say hello. Tasty drinks will be graciously provided by AriZona Beverages.

Powerhouse Arena
Sunday, September 26, 2010 from 2:00 PM - 5:00 PM (ET)
37 Main St.
Brooklyn, NY 11201

All My Friends Are Dead. The Book, The Video, The Authors.

Released by Chronicle Books on August 1st, All My Friends Are Dead is a funny and bittersweet illustrated book by two young guys with a wonderful twisted sense of humor and a love of the absurd; Avery Monson and Jory John*.



If you're a dinosaur, all of your friends are dead. If you're a pirate, all of your friends have scurvy. If you're a tree, all of your friends are end tables. Each page of this laugh-out-loud illustrated humor book showcases the downside of being everything from a clown to a cassette tape to a zombie. Cute and dark all at once, this hilarious children's book for adults teaches valuable lessons about life while exploring each cartoon character's unique grievance and wide-eyed predicament. From the sock whose only friends have gone missing to the houseplant whose friends are being slowly killed by irresponsible plant owners (like you), All My Friends Are Dead presents a delightful primer for laughing at the inevitable.








The book is getting lots of buzz and already sold out/back ordered at Chronicle. But can be purchased here

A companion video by the authors:


*About the Authors:
In addition to writing books, Avery and Jory have a site (combination blog and online store) named Big Stone Head which sells shirts, books, cards and pillows... all with their witty illustrations and sayings.

You can see from the following t-shirts, they had a few designs in mind for the lonely Dinosaur which ended up gracing the cover of the book. These are presently available as t-shirts on their site:



Buy the above t-shirts here.

Other examples of their collaborative items:
Greeting cards:

Ira Glass Pillow:

Other t-shirts:


Shop Big Stone Head.


above left: Avery Monsen is an actor, artist, and writer; above right: Jory John is a writer, editor, and journalist.

They are friends, and neither is dead. Yet.

Put That iPad In Your Pocket. That's Right, I Said 'Pocket'.

Australian designed and made iClothing sells white and black unisex tee shirts and a little black dress, both of which feature a giant pocket in which you can stash your iPad.



The iTee (white or black):

Sizing:
Men's sizes: Small (S), Medium (M) and Large (L)
Women's sizes: Size 8 (XS), Size 10 (S), Size 12 (M), Size 14 (L)
100% black cotton jersey, padding polyester/polypropylene
cold gentle machine wash, cool iron and do not tumble dry, soak, bleach, dry clean
buy it here


The iDress (Black only):

Sizes (Australia): 8 (2-4 USA), 10 (4-6 USA), 12 (6-8 USA) and 14 (8-10 USA)
100% cotton sateen, padding polyester/polypropylene
cold gentle machine wash, cool iron and do not tumble dry, soak, bleach, dry clean
buy it here


Who is behind iClothing?

above left: Fashion entrepreneur Davina Reichman developed the unique concept of iClothing. and is also the Managing Director of Being Born Again Couture. above right: Luke Staley, Creative Director of iClothing and the founder of Alconleigh.

Apple is a trademark of Apple Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries.
iPad is a trademark of Apple Inc. iPad not included.

Shikisai: Alternative Interactive T-shirts

When is a T-shirt more than just a T-shirt?

When husband and wife designers, Noto Hirotsugu and Noto Miyo, add ribbons, chains, plastic, tags, buttons and more to screen printed line art to turn the clothes on your back into interactive art.


Above: talented husband and wife team, Noto-fusai ( * "Noto" is their last name. "Fu" means husband. "Sai" means wife. All together, Noto-Fusai stands for "Mr. and Mrs. Noto".)

And they call it "Shikisai"

What is shikisai?
In their words:

Incorporating the interactivity,the mundanity, and the sense of fun, SHIKISAI is trying to explore the alternative possibilities of t-shirt design, through the use of black print on white surface.

The Products

The Reversi Shirt ( In Japan, Reversi is a very popular family game for children first to learn the hierarchical relationship.):




The Blinds Shirt:




The Shoelace Shirt:




The Faucet Shirt:



The Bathtub Plug Shirt:



The Tricycle Shirt:



The Shoulderbag Shirt:




The Umbrella Shirt:



The T-shirt Shirt:



The Book Shirt:



Power line Shirt:



and they also makes shirts for children and even dogs, too!


for Kids:



And, at Design Tide in Tokyo 2006, they newly introduced a series of "shikisai dog T-shirts", which is a collaborated work with the San Francisco-based modern pet furniture company Everyday Studio.

For Dogs:




Purchase the shikisai doggy shirts here.

The Designers:

Noto-Fusai: husband (Noto Hirotsugu)

after his sudden resignation from teaching history at high school, he learned design from the designers like Susan Kralovec (everyday studio), Aaron Lown (built new york), Ted Noten and Gijs Bakker(Droog Design). Now in japan, on his native land, he is looking firmly at what he want/can/should do. shikisai is his first project.

Noto-Fusai: wife (Noto Miyo)

graduated the same design school as her husband, KIDI parsons, she chose the career school to learn technical aspect of fashion, like pattern and sewing. at the same time she started her career as an assistant of the costume designer Anan Asuka, under whom she takes parts of accessory design, hair and makeup arrangement for models. the original pictures of shikisai t-shirts are all hand-drawn by her.

Where can you buy these fabulously creative shirts?
Right here.