Twenty-four of Threadless' most popular T-shirt and hoodie designs quietly slipped onto the Xbox 360's online apparel store -- likely because this is one of those "let's see what the response is" sorta partnerships.
To those who have never gotten black thumbs from playing Bildren's Haunted Castle or snatching up a heaping pile of chrono crystals to save the princess, the Xbox 360 is Microsoft's home gaming console, but since it's run by Microsoft it's also a device that tries to be many, many other things: You can rent movies off it, listen to music and deck out your avatar with the threads that best suit your style. You can opt for something outlandish (want to look just like Han Solo?) or something much closer to what you actually look like.
Clearly Threadless is intended for the latter, unless you're the sort of person who, for some reason, wouldn't be caught dead in a T-shirt with a cat's head shooting lasers from its eyes.
Dustin Henderlong, Threadless' partnerships manager, had this to say: "Threadless partnered with Microsoft on this project because we wanted to allow our Xbox users to sport Threadless tees on their avatars. Now they can show off their favorite designs on the couch and in their games."
At the moment it's uncertain whether there are more plans beyond this, as that's likely dependent upon the community's response. Nevertheless, it's an interesting new front companies can think about tapping into -- if it's a good fit like a comfy shirt.
David Wolinsky is a freelance writer and a lifelong Chicagoan. In addition to currently serving as an interviewer-writer for Adult Swim, he's also a columnist for EGM. He was the Chicago city editor for The Onion A.V. Club where he provided in-depth daily coverage of this city's bustling arts/entertainment scene for half a decade. When not playing video games for work he's thinking of dashing out to Chicago Diner, Pizano's, or Yummy Yummy. His first career aspirations were to be a game-show host.
