For the last decade, Threadless has been printing t-shirts. And creating community. And tossing the standard small business model on its head. Oh, and inspiring others with a passion to build on that dream, make it real, and introduce brands that matter.
The history of this business and brand—called “the most innovative small business in America” by Inc. magazine—has been captured in Abrams Images perfect-bound book, titled Threadless. Written by co-founder Jake Nickell, this colorful and graphic time capsule is as much a chronicle of the brand’s growth as it is a witness to the growth of the community that defines and invigorates the brand and the artists and designers that are its lifeblood. Big, bold, and beautiful, tee by tee, the author guides us along on an amazing journey, from the prototypical “office in a bedroom” to a warehouse that requires go-karts to get around.
If you’ve never visited the threadless.com site, you may not know that this industry-altering company—a multimedia case study for Harvard Business School, no less—is based on a crowd-sourcing model. Designers submit designs. Community members provide feedback and vote on their favorite design. And the top vote-getters are printed and sold, weekly and worldwide through the site’s online store. This book brings that all to life and showcases the art and artists that have come to define the brand.
So, while gurus have been tapped to contribute and their “think pieces” add a certain heft to the book, what stands out are the profiles of the individual designers and artists who have found a welcoming community and nurturing home in the online space that Threadless has carved out and claimed. Going beyond what one might assume crowd-sourcing to be, the submit-critique-vote process that’s at work affords real-time feedback on an artist’s work and enables those who hope to “win” (top vote-getters are printed each week) a real shot at the title.
The visuals—t-shirts designs, original artwork, point-and-shot photos of the people and places that are Threadless—turn this from a history book to an art book. If you know printing, particularly screen-printing, you’ll delight in the designs and processes that this company has brought to market over the last ten years.
Inspiration and innovation are on every page, proof positive that a brand built with passion, trust and transparency can not only thrive but chart a completely new course.
(In the interest of full disclosure, I am a threadless.com fan and customer, and my “Ninjas vs. Luchadores” t-shirt is one of my prized possessions.)