Getting the message on the Tweet shirt
By Steve Mullins. 140 clothing. US Tee shirt maker Threadless is encouraging its customers to nominate and vote for their favourite posts on Twitter. The company will produce the top two Tweets each week and sell them for $18 a pop.
Threadless has just launched its Twitter Tees series with four messages:
‘I’m huge on Twitter’ by @xenijardin
‘140 is the new 420” by @mutgoff
‘In space no one can hear you Tweet’ by @LouisTrapani
‘It’s the messaging system that we didn’t know we needed until we had it” by @Biz.
“We are not your average Tee shirt company,” Threadless says. “The art for our tees is sourced from our ongoing, open-call for Tee shirt submissions from a worldwide community of amazing artists and designers. Once submitted, our community of over 1 million registered users cast their votes which help us decide which designs become Threadless tee shirts. In 2008 alone, we awarded over $1 million to artists around the world for the work – young and old, professional and amateur alike.”
Threadless gives all Twitter users whose Tweets are selected for printing $500 – $360 in cash and a $140 gift certificate). The first nominator of a printed Tweet will receive $140 ($100 cash and a $40 certificate).
“Crowdsourcing is an incredibly powerful way to engage and grow a community,” says Tom Ryan, CEO of Threadless. Since pioneering the trend in 2000, Threadless has built a large, vibrant, and creative community around art- and slogan-based Tee shirts. We believe there is tremendous potential for Threadless to bring the power of crowdsourcing to other passionate communities. We are excited to have done just that today in launching Twitter Tees by Threadless.”
The company has around 500,000 followers on Twitter.
