the digital haze.

i can't believe i haven't posted about this before, but i wanted to discuss something VERY near and dear to my heart:

threadless.

threadless is...amazing. basically, it's a t-shirt printing company (skinnycorp) that prints designs submitted by users based on the ratings they receive from the "threadless community" of registered users.

absolutely anyone can submit as long as the design is original. there are guidelines about what can be submitted like number of colors, certain messages, etc, but generally it's a pretty open forum.

and the designs aren't necessarily submitted as absolute finals, either. many users submit potential designs, get feedback, edit the design, and re-submit it to be voted on again.

this is a great example of collaboration between users in an online community to create a product that benefits all. the user gets the fame of having their design printed (as well as $2000 and a $500 gift certificate to the store), the company makes a profit, and the site's users get t-shirts that they voted on and like. it's a simple concept, just stepped up to make it as easy as possible.

i don't see the success of threadless stopping anytime soon. while the shirts range from around $15-25 at full price, they still sell like hotcakes. (and sometimes you can get ahold of them for $5-10 during clearance sales.) i've been known to browse designs for hours, and the 15-20 shirts currently hanging in my closet are proof that i just can't get enough of those witty, whimsical, sometimes ridiculous designs.

collaboration, folks! gotta love it.