T-Shirt Math, Printing Money Via Chicago

Honorary field agent CJT sends in this article from the Chicago Tribune (you may have also heard about it on 37 Signals. It’s the story of Threadless, a Chicago-based design and t-shirt shop that is building a community around it’s vertical product and service.

When I was in college at Iowa, my friends and I would joke about “t-shirt math.” Don’t over-complicate something, get it done and if it works, it works. We figured, as the article points out, that you could have t-shirts designed for about $5.00 each and sell them for $10-15. Gearing them for the college, rowdy football crowd groups they would have clever sayings like “Muck Fichigan” on them. For the most part, all were money makers. Enough about me, on to the team that is making this work and then some.

Threadless has utilized the net to improve this model and include designers into their community. Here’s the basic concept:

That idea: Conduct a running on-line T-shirt design competition. Take the winning des igns and print them on a limited number of shirts, as many as six new designs every week. Sell the shirts to the people who voted (and anyone el se on the mailing list or who visits the site). It's virtually no risk and, if you can build a community of users as large and loyal as Threadless', very high reward.

The article highlights some great insights about successful brands, communities, and understanding the symbolic space you wish to own.

1. They’ve embraced common-sense, not business school research.
2. They scaled back on promotions when they realized they “were spending too much time talking about what they do and not enough actually doing it.” In other words, they’re serving their customers and communities – talking to Target and Urban Outfitters doesn’t help them do that.
3. “They’re building and audience and selling them what they want.” They have a community around their brand and are gaining loyalty and grace. People (customers and designers) have used the product, formed an opinion, and are now advocates. Think diffusion of innovation.
4. My favorite quote from the article, highlights a post-modern element of the here-and-now phenomenon:

"T-shirts are such a fantastic medium," King says. "They're this instant sort of disposable notion of your own identity and you can change it at any moment.