Threadless

I think their T-shirt design submission and taking votes from the community is a great idea.  However, this model only works if you have community participation.  Also, what I like that they included is that voters not only vote but include critiques.  I believe the “snowball” effect has a lot to do with the community users, which I think is highly driven by the designers and their motive.  These guys put a lot of effort in coming up with their designs which may be requested by sports teams, volunteering groups, other special groups that they promote to.  These groups in turn  are driven to get online  and vote for the best design for their respective group.

If they make a deal with a retailer to sell their T-Shirts they will lose their differentiation of getting all their community /customers to have a vote on the design. However, there maybe a possibility for them to still keep the voting and distribute to retailers for sale.  Nevertheless, I recommend they stick with their process, nowadays a lot of people don’t have time to go to retail shops, delivery by shipping is fine especially if its T-shirts (simple product).

Advertisement