I haven’t been too impressed with the recent Threadless shirts, so rather than look at the present I thought I would peak into the future. Here are a few designs that I found very impressive and talkworthy:

2 things wrong with shirt: printed on a plain white tee and inverse of the image on the upper left of the back. Other than those two flaws, I think this is a beautiful shirt. I love shirts that are printed off center and printed all the way down to the edge. Similar to the LovesThreadless favorite - Liberty.
Verdict: 4$

It Might Be a While… brings out the obvious: we’re in 2008 and I have yet to see any type of 2008 reference. We have a Presidential election coming up and we have the 2008 Summer Games and yet I have yet to see any mention of 08. Do I have to buy a shirt from Old Navy? I love the color choice and the “waiting in line” flash allows to see what the artist was thinking when creating his piece.
Verdict: 5$

This last shirt caught my attention given that I just watched Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. The real Indiana J is just so simple. Anybody caught looking would instantly understand it. A little cheesy, but I would consider it!
Verdict: 3$

Have a good weekend!

I was browsing this week’s new submissions when I noticed this little note in the sidebar:

That’s right, Threadless has joined forces with Timbuk2 to create limited-edition messenger bags out of three Threadless designs:

All of them are pretty righteous designs on their own, and the fact that they’re available on messenger bags is even cooler. No telling whether this will continue with more designs, but if you’re interested hurry over to timbuk2 - they only made 200 of each bag!

While I respect the artist for having the guts to submit this, it’s possibly the most horrific Threadless submission I’ve ever seen. I don’t even know what’s going on here – from the comments, I gather that it’s (maybe) some kind of obscure reference. As one poster commented, “dude. noone is going to get the random reference. it looks more like dick cheney anyways…” An anonymous source said that they would be tempted to gouge their children’s eyes out to protect them if this got printed. [Me. That was me. I'm the anonymous source.—Chris]

Verdict on Harry S. Trumancorn: 0
View Submission

I chatted with Jake Nickell briefly today and asked him about his recent decision to bounce as CEO and take on a role more focused on strategy and business development, along with what moving to Colorado will mean.

Chris Cardinal: so you decided to sidestep and bring someone else in as CEO?
Jake Nickell: yes so i can focus more on the fun front-end, community stuff, making things awesomer rather than spending so much time figuring out things that are mostly operational problems that have already been solved before.
JN: i’m pretty stoked about it
LT: that’s pretty cool
LT: how are you going to balance the colorado thing?
LT: rather, are you already living in CO?
JN: not till about october probably … and there’ll be a good 10-15 folks working from colorado with me… production, customer service, fulfillment, a lot of tech and all that will still be in chicago … colorado will be more for concepting new initiatives within threadless and advancing/starting other projects.
LT: interesting
LT: that’s real exciting
LT: really looking to finally push some not-so-threadless things, then
JN: yea we’ve had to focus so much the past couple years just trying to maintain our growth and haven’t been able to do as much new stuff as we’ve wanted to. it’ll be nice to separate the maintenance from the new a bit.
JN: as for the not-so-threadless things, N&A definitely will see some major work put into it, we’ve already been working on that like crazy about the past year. and some new, unreleased stuff too… but really the majority of even the colorado office’s work will be threadless things

Some of you may know that my day job isn’t writing about t-shirts. (If it were, my frequency of posts would tend to indicate I’m not very good at it.)

Instead, I run a fledlging web application development company called Synapse Studios. (On whose servers this site is lovingly hosted.) We build enterprise level web stuff. And we’ve started blogging about all the insane things we’re developing and the challenges we’ve had to overcome, wrangling with PHP, MySQL, JavaScript, AJAX and every other piece of bleeding edge code out there.

If that sort of thing interests you even in the slightest, take a look at our blog.

I also just finished writing a piece on web readability, so be sure to check it out as well.

Synapse Studios Web Blog | Understanding Web Readability

It looks like Threadless is expanding their product line beyond the traditional t-shirt by taking a page out of the recipe book of the comic book industry. I remember during my days growing up collecting comic books. Individual artists would create limited edition lithographs of their popular work and sell them to their fans at conventions or by mail order. Let’s see if that formula works here with Threadless as they have introduced 3 high quality 18″ x 24″ prints on French Paper Co. paper. Each print is $35 and is limited to a run of 220 (the homepage headline says it is a limited run of 250). All three are exact representations of their t-shirt counterpart. It also appears that each print is created by their own respective printer: Sonnenzimer, Screwball Press, and The Post Family.

I’m excited to see Threadless’ expansion into limited run prints. They are affordable and they look great. I’m a little surprised that they went with a reproduction of a past design and create a piece of work based on the current week’s prints. From a sales perspective, why try to reinvent the wheel and sell something that may not work. Threadless took a successful design of the past and are trying to push it ever so more.

I’ve been a big fan of the weekly graffiti art, but with only 1 print each and at $250, it’s relatively high barrier to entry. These prints allow me to get a great piece of artwork on my wall at an affordable. I wish Threadless gave a framing option for these, so that I can pay a little extra and have them wall ready rather have to go down to the store and pick up a matted frame set.

I’d like to know a little more from the community if they have any additional information as far as designer involvement. Additionally, if you do pick one up, please comment here and provide us your feedback.

I agree with Big Al - Renaissance is beautiful, and I would place it in the same category as Liberty as far as style and beauty. I’m seriously considering buying this one, even though I can’t afford it. Here’s hoping for more graduation money?
My verdict: 5$

Terrible Wonderful Strange just confuses me. I hope the artist writes a description about it.
My verdict: ???

Surfer’s Paradise is a well-designed tee with a great inspiration - artist Simon Massey di Vallazza says “This illustration spurred from a little day dream of what I wished the real Surfers Paradise was - kept pure, green and natural rather than the Aussie Miami concrete jungle it has become.” Another great tee that becomes even better when you look at the story behind it. It’s not quite my colour scheme, so I probably won’t buy this one, but you should!
Verdict: 5

I mentioned graduation money in my scribbles about Renaissance - that’s because I graduate from high school on Tuesday. I’m super excited. I haven’t decided what I’m wearing yet - we don’t wear robes, it’s a long story - but there’s a good chance it will be Liberty.

Questions, comments, snide remarks? Leave them below.

I received the weekly Threadless newsletter and former CEO Jake Nickell announced they have brought in Tom Ryan as their new chief executive officer. Ryan’s previous experience comes from eMusic, Virgin Mobile USA and EMI Music. From my web research, it’s hard to find Ryan’s detailed background, but working with the aforementioned companies it dictates that he’s well versed in the web and media markets. I’m surprised that Threadless did not go with an experienced executive in the clothing and apparel industry especially one that has worked with brick and mortar stores. In my opinion, Threadless is a t-shirt company first and a web company second. Given their model of high volume, low pricing and quick inventory turnover, you need a chief executive that can increase the company’s overall margins without having to change their successful formula and alienating their strong user base. I hope Ryan’s the one to take Threadless to an even more exciting level.

Threadless is a private company, and figures are not publically available, so it’s hard to guess where Ryan and new CSO and co-founder, Jake Nickell will take Threadless. I have a few predictions as to what will be accomplished over the next few months and years.

My gut feeling is that Threadless will continue to expand their brick and mortar presence. Threadless is unique in a sense that they require their inventory to most very fast. The brick and mortar leaders such as Macy’s or Nordstrom would love to carry Threadless, especially given the brand loyalty of the customers. However, it would be hard for these stores to consistently move the inventory on a weekly basis given Threadless’ new release every Monday. I see the Chicago store as the template for further expansion to a mall near you within the next couple of years.

My next prediction is that Threadless will look into becoming more Dell-like from the inventory perspective. From my experience with Threadless, they are the king of process and operations. That’s why they can sell you great t-shirts at an affordable price. Dells inventory sits on their floor for 2 days or less. Threadless has recently gone from the Fruit of the Loom and American Apparel stock to their own Bangledesh made shirts. This is an indication that if they haven’t already controlled their entire supply chain process they will do so very soon. In addition to controlling the supply chain, order fulfillment can be outsourced to a cheaper alternative. The video footage of watching their employees go through their shelves to fulfill orders will be a thing of the past. Threadless will then film a new short called “Just In Time (inventory) Gone Wild”!

My last prediction under the leadership of Ryan is that he’ll introduce additional products beyond the shirts. We’ve already seen the baby wear and hoodies in addition to their popular shirts. I wouldn’t be surprised if they go beyond this and introduce tank tops, jackets, gym bags or some other crazy item that will capture my disposal income.

Congratulations and best of luck to Tom and Jake in their new roles. I see the MP(3) shirt below as a representation of Tom, Jake and Jacob leading Threadless to new ideas, innovation and an even better product and brand.

Here’s a quick recap of a few shirts from this week’s releases. These are 3 that are definite pickups:

The first one is Renaissance. It brings in the architectural beauty and art inspiration of Florence, Italy. Firenze, as known by the locals, was considered the heart of Italy where many of the world renowned artists originated and found inspiration for the beauty you see throughout the country and all over our planet. I’ve been fortunate to have been to Florence and the Tuscan region of Italy once in my life. It by far is most favorite place of all of Europe. I love the beautiful buildings, bridges, churches and towers. It’s also the resting place of Michaelangelo’s David. I don’t have many shirts with the dark blue background, so I’m really digging the shirt color choice. I’m definitely picking this one up.

Smile… My Shadow brings back a lot of childhood memories. I remember as a kid my greatest fear was the boogeyman hiding in my closet. My boogeyman looked like Grimmace, the purple blob friend of Ronald McDonald. I remember in my nightmares that this purple blob would be chasing me throughout my house. The character in this shirt reminds me of that. Oh… the memories!

Self Destruction also reminds me of the pop culture I was exposed to during my childhood. I recall playing Super Mario Bros. 2 on my Nintendo and one of the characters of the game was a walking bomb that would ignite itself and explode in front of Mario. I believe the character’s name was Kaboom. I would play this game for hours on end. Picking up the bomb guys and throwing all at other enemies. As far as the t-shirt itself, I like the scribble design of the bomb and the incorporation of a Zippo-like lighter. I probably would have printed it on something other than the olive green shirt. A definite pickup!

I thought I’d drop a quick note before the weekend. I was surfing through the design submissions and I came across a couple submissions that caught my eye. Maybe I’m old school or maybe I’m interested in the lost art of Polaroids.

I haven’t held a Polaroid camera in probably 15 years. One of my co-workers turns out to be a huge instant pic fan. I came across her desk and her pile of Polaroid pictures that she took on her way to work. It brought back so many childhood memories. Nowadays we have the digital camera, so you can see your picture immediately. Polaroids were digital camera version 1 in the instant gratification department. It’s a little nostalgic to remember that old time feeling that you had when you took a Polaroid picture, waited a few minutes, waved it around and then magically saw that shot you just took.

The design name Sad SX-70 won’t mean much to the everyday person, but from my research it looks like this camera was a revolution device for Polaroid aficionado’s and the world of instant photos. The design is dead on like the camera on a black shirt. The only error that one Threadless commenter caught was that the picture is coming out in reverse. If they adjust that, this shirt will be great!

Verdict: 5$

Here’s another Polaroid inspired submission with a little inspiration coming from Harper Lee. The latest buzz here at lovesthreadless.com has been the Liberty shirt. I finally received my shirt and I love it. I think a lot had to do with the maroon color. I don’t own too many dark red shirts and I think the choice of shirt color makes To Spill a Mockingbird an awesome shirt. It also brings a little crime scene investigation theme. I like it!

Verdict: 5$

Hi All,

I just want to introduce myself. I’m Big Al. I’m a late 20-something Threadless fan. The whole way Threadless does business is awesome. It’s fun and addicting. Over the last few months I tried to become as involved with the Threadless lifestyle. I came to know one of Threadless guys in Chicago and Chris of lovesthreadless.com. Since this is an introduction of myself, I just want to drop a few t-shirt that are really special to me:

One of my friends gave me See You At The Show. It’s a Type Tee on a Fruit of the Loom shirt. It’s a really loud design on a natural colored shirt. This is what started my Threadless love.

The Battle of E-5 is the first shirt that I ever purchased. I was looking for a dark colored shirt and the whole detailed chess theme caught my attention. It has a fallen bishop on the side, knights coming out of the King mobile and it has tank wheels! So much detail. I also was curious about the Threadless tee. I’m a fan of American Apparel cloth and the Threadless tee material is just as good, if not better.

This last t-shirt You Sank My Battleship is one of my first reprinted t-shirts that I ever purchased. I liked the whole Battleship game concept and the design was offset on the upper-left of your chest. I’m a big fan of offset designs.

I was sitting down with one of my friends and we discussed the philosophy of reprinted t-shirts. His belief is that Threadless should not reprint t-shirts. He feels that part of the fun is to buy t-shirts when they come out and be rewarded with that somewhat rare shirt that nobody else can ever get. If a shirt is so popular, it raises the bar for other designer to create an even more kick-butt design. I agreed with my friend. I used to collect Air Jordans and it didn’t sit too well that they reissued (aka retroed) the older Air Jordans. The shoes that I kept in prestine condition now became less special because people could walk into the store and pick up almost the same exact shoe. As I become more attached to my t-shirts, I feel that I will have that same feeling once some of my older shirts get reprinted.

Big Al

It’s Monday, and you know what that means! We all need more coffee. Oh, and there’s 9 new Threadless shirts – 7 new prints and 2 reprints.

This is a really clever, thought-provoking shirt. While the colour scheme isn’t what I’m used to, it works well with this print, and it all comes together to tell an important story about our society.
My verdict: 4$

This one’s just cute. It’s a very simple one-colour design, but it looks good!
Verdict: 5$

Judging from the comments, this one is a must-have for chem students and anyone who works in labs. And it’s great for anyone who likes cute Threadless shirts.
Verdict: 5$

Questions, notes, snide remarks? Leave them in the comments.