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What Happened to Threadless?

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Re: What Happened to Threadless?

#2

Post by soniman »

The article fails to mention that there is a ton of competition and Threadless has been trounced by Redbubble, Society6, Teepublic, etc. Plus, t-shirts alone is not enough to sustain a site. Stickers, iPhone cases, mugs, etc etc. Threadless is a good example of the dangers of premature profitability.

Re: What Happened to Threadless?

#3

Post by nicpottier »

I really loved Threadless back in the day and this was an interesting read. While it did a good job of covering what changes Threadless made that ultimately changed the culture around it and led to its fall, it didn't cover the why.

Was their model no longer profitable? Were they facing outside competition (and what was that competition doing better?). Did they take money and have to grow big / fast and therefore started selling to big box stores to increase revenues?

I don't see any reason why Threadless couldn't still be a profitable business (god forbid a lifestyle business) even today if they had maintained their cachet but maybe I'm missing something.

Re: What Happened to Threadless?

#4

Post by kawsper »

> Concerns about controlling quality make sense given that artists on Threadless’s forum complain that they’re unable to promote their work because the print quality has dropped to the point that designs flake off after a few washes. Reviewers say the sizing, feel, and weight of Threadless’s shirts is inconsistent and getting worse over time, with some customers reporting that shirts bought five to 10 years ago are still holding up better than those purchased this year.

This is exactly what happened to me, I used to wear a lot of their t-shirts, and needed a couple of new ones, so I did an order, and the fit had changed completely and they started loosing their print after a few washes.

I didn't bother contact them, since I did not want to get into a "ship items back, receive item again and pay import taxes again"-cycle and wrote them off.

They have been turning on their marketing emails a lot with me last couple of weeks, I think they are bleeding.

Re: What Happened to Threadless?

#6

Post by tome »

kawsper wrote: post #4

> Concerns about controlling quality make sense given that artists on Threadless’s forum complain that they’re unable to promote their work because the print quality has dropped to the point that designs flake off after a few washes. Reviewers say the sizing, feel, and weight of Threadless’s shirts is inconsistent and getting worse over time, with some customers reporting that shirts bought five to 10 years ago are s…

When I bought Threadless t-shirts (around 2006 I guess) they used to be printed on the inside with "Do not wash. Buy again from Threadless.com". I guess that was supposed to be "ha ha only serious".

Re: What Happened to Threadless?

#7

Post by foepys »

nicpottier wrote: post #3

I really loved Threadless back in the day and this was an interesting read. While it did a good job of covering what changes Threadless made that ultimately changed the culture around it and led to its fall, it didn't cover the why. Was their model no longer profitable? Were they facing outside competition (and what was that competition doing better?). Did they take money and have to grow big / fast and therefore sta…

There is https://www.qwertee.com for more "nerd-oriented" stuff. But I never used them, only looked at some designs.

Re: What Happened to Threadless?

#9

Post by speps »

vasilia wrote: post #5

Are there any alternatives to Threadless? Tees from my last order have a completely horrible quality.

I switched to http://www.fangamer.net ages ago because of quality issues and didn't regret a thing. Even if you don't know the video games references, they're good looking.
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