How to Get a Threadless T Made
Threadless is an Internet company that sells T-shirts, hoodies, backpacks, totes, smartphone cases and even dishes with designs submitted by users. Threadless users also vote and comment on submitted designs, helping Threadless staff members choose each week's new designs. If Threadless chooses your design for a shirt, you win $2,000 cash (or you can choose a $3,000 scholarship), a $500 Threadless gift certificate (or $200 cash) and $500 each time your shirt is reprinted. Threadless also has ongoing Design Challenges, some of which offer a higher cash prize and additional prizes, such as DVDs or books.
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Instructions
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Create a T-shirt design. Use any medium (a graphic design program, watercolor, ink), as long as you're able to scan it for submission to Threadless. Ensure that your design will actually work on a shirt. Threadless can print designs that cover the entire shirt, but you can only use one color for those (not including the T-shirt color). Designs that run onto the sides or back of the shirt can have up to five colors. Designs on the front of the shirt can have up to eight solid colors, or use multiple shades of a limited number of colors using simulated process printing.
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Submit your design to the Threadless community for critique. Though a critique isn't required, the users who vote on designs will be the ones commenting on your design. If you follow their advice, you can increase your chances of having a T-shirt made. The Threadless community includes artists who have been successful in getting T-shirt designs accepted.
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Incorporate the changes suggested by the Threadless community into your design. Make any other changes you'd like to make.
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Prepare your design for submission. Scan your design at a high resolution (150 dpi or more) if it's a drawing. Save your design at 72 dpi as well. Show your design as an image on a T-shirt. Do this by using one of Threadless' templates, or by drawing a picture of a T-shirt, scanning it, and superimposing your design on the T-shirt. Your submission can be up to 640 by 800 pixels, and it should be saved as a .jpg, .gif, .png or .fla file under 250kb.
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Create a thumbnail. A thumbnail is a smaller version of your design that users click on to vote. The thumbnail has to be a .gif file and less than 10kb.
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Submit your design. You'll hear within a few days if your submission has been accepted for voting. If it is, your design will be up for at least one day of voting. After one day, designs that aren't performing well are pulled from the voting, leaving the rest for another six days of voting.
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Promote your design. If you've made it to voting, let your friends know so they can vote for your design. Threadless provides tools to promote your work on several social networking sites. After seven days, voting ends, and you'll find out if Threadless will make your T-shirt.
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Tips & Warnings
Participate in the Threadless community. Post a blog, vote on designs and comment on other submissions.
Don't take it personally if Threadless doesn't accept your design or if your design doesn't make it past the first day of voting. Make significant changes, or try a new design, and resubmit.
