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

I chatted with Ross from Threadless today to better understand what’s going on with the new prices. Here’s a relatively cleaned, slightly paraphrased version of our transcript:

LT: I’m trying to get a feel for the plastisol/chino
LT: is $17 the new baseline combo?
LT: or is there some cheaper thing, like if it were a 1-color/chino?
LT: that would bring it back to $15
Ross: 1 color chino/plast is $15

LT: what’s the deal with “chino”?
Ross: it’s an additive to the ink
LT: ah
Ross: on lighter shirts we can use less “ink”
Ross: so it is not as thick
LT: so the chino additive goes over the base color’s dye, or as part of it?
Ross: seems more like it’s part of the shirt
LT: that’s what i was thinking
Ross: the chino goes into the actual ink
Ross: discharge and waterbased actually seem like they are dyed into the shirt
Ross: esp. after a wash

LT: so the practical difference in a 4 color, regular process plastisol is just that you’re using closer to AA quality material, which is why it’s “up” to $17 for those now?
LT: i guess i’m trying to identify what’s changing for people used to paying $15 for most the designs
LT: (read: guys)
Ross: think of the shirt as a painters canvas
Ross: now they are geting a much higher quality canvas
LT: ahh
LT: if all my shirts feel like the selects feel, i’ll be happy
Ross: so I guess what you said was right

LT: are you using up your stock of AA/FOTL and then bringing their prices up to $17?
Ross: yep, $15 for 1-colors though
LT: right.

LT: are the new shirts in the thriftee hopper, too?
Ross: yep

LT: what’s gonna happen with sales?
LT: $5 off or some such?
Ross: ha yeah… not sure if I can say
Ross: but you might be on to something with that

LT: do you think artists will shift what they’re using for print methods now that there’s a “cost penalty” to the end user?
Ross: we’ll just have to wait and see
LT: yeah
Ross: I’m sure it’ll be on there mind if they are contemplating adding one extra color
LT: yeah

LT: well thanks for letting me bug ya about that
Ross: no prob

Read their full announcement here or get shopping.

I just got back from my visit to SkinnyCorp’s awesome offices. The guys were absolutely great and spent time showing me all manner of new and exciting features soon to be unleashed upon the wild, hoisted upon the unwashed masses, say, next week. (They were flighty about giving a specific day, in case they don’t hit it and make me look insane.)

Unfortunately, they embargoed me from giving away any of the details, but I’ll say this: The developments are exciting and substantial, and change the way a few things are handled.

Tomorrow’s the Threadless meetup. Translation? Pizza and free shirts that smell… completely like… burning leaves. “Snorky ad brambish” as Hobbes would say. (They’re invidually numbered!)

I will say this about the changes. They’ll probably be a bit controversial. Some may get their panties-in-a-bunch, and I’m not even sure where I land yet on it… But I like their approach and how they’re integrating everything…  And there’s some *really* good news everyone will be happy to hear coming up, too.

That’s all I got for now. Oh, and that I know what’s coming out on Monday. Hot stuff.

We usually focus on Threadless the company and it’s goings-on, but what’s truly fascinating to me is the plethora of talented people which Threadless attracts. Some use the site as a creative outlet and a fun hobby, others use it as a jumping off point for other projects and a way to get their names out there.

Whatever the reasons, we all win (fellow artists and consumers alike). A continual stream of awesome work is the product of these fascinating personalities. I had the opportunity to chat with one such artist, slaterock, on Sunday. He recently started his own t-shirt website labeled “Cotton Werks“. Rather that just give a blurb about the site with my own opinions, I thought it would prove more entertaining for our readers if I gathered firsthand information straight from the creator himself. The interview starts below and continues after the jump. Enjoy!

Loves Threadless (Bree Lundberg): First off, please introduce yourself.

Michael B. Myers Jr.: I go by slaterock on the WWW, but in real life, my name is Michael B. Myers Jr. I’m finishing up my Bachelor of Fine Arts degree at Iowa State University, in which I’ve successfully taken a 4 year program and stretched into a 7 year nightmare. I am married to my beautiful wife Kristen and we have a 2 year old son named Davin. I live in the beautiful town of Boone, Iowa.

LT: So, what are your connections to Threadless and how do you participate at the site? (Blogging, submitting designs, etc.?) Read the rest of this entry »

Site I’ve never heard of Juxtaviews let me know about their pretty cool interview with Jeffrey of Threadless fame (and lore).

It’s a pretty tasty interview indeed, and definitely worth the click if you want to find out more.

Oh, and they’re giving away a free shirt. So that can’t be half-bad.

Read The Interview

We got (read: pestered until we were granted) the chance to chat with Jacob DeHart, SkinnyCorp/Threadless co-founder and all around cool guy. He let’s us in on some of the details surrounding the next revision of the site, and when we might expect it to break into the wild.

Oh, and he was kind enough to grab just the tiniest, most adorable screenshot of the new site. Squint, really hard.

Chris Cardinal: Could you start off by telling me who you are and what you do at threadless? (obvious eye roll)

Jacob DeHart: I’m Jacob DeHart and I’m one of two founders of skinnyCorp/Threadless. Jake and I are responsible for coming up with new ideas for Threadless and other businesses. We also do all of the programming for the sites.

LT: (wow. really?)

LT: heh; what I mean is, is it just you two programming?

Jake answers this question and a bunch others, plus, some very tiny teaser images of the new site, after the jump.
Read the rest of this entry »