You've gotta respect Threadless' transparency.
This week the T-shirt company announced it is launching a version of Kickstarter -- the popular crowdfunding platform -- but not completely out of the selflessness of its corporate heart.
They're using the platform to test the profitibility of their shirts before making bigger runs.
The T-shirt company is now printing four new designs in addition to its usual 10. Then:
Each of these 4 shirts will get a week trial. They'll be on preorder and if they sell well, we'll rush them to our printer and screenprint a large batch. The artist will receive the full Threadless payment as if it was a normal print. If they don't sell well, we'll give the artist 10% of what we sell for that week total, and the rights to the design back to them. This format will allow us to take mega risks on what designs we decide to print. So we'll be able to print crazier stuff, hopefully!
Interesting that they intend to print "crazier stuff."
Maybe this initiative, dubbed Threadless Labs, will truly give a shot to designs that don't get enough votes for wider release. Tough to say, but at least they're potentially letting more artists get their crack at that sweet, sweet pile of sweaty T-shirt cash.
Local
Read the full announcement here.
