November 1, 2007 by Mike
Filed under Design By Humans, Threadless
Since DBH has been launched for awhile now I’d like to know which tee company everyone prefers. Is Threadless still the king of user submitted t-shirt designs?
I won’t vote on this poll but I’ll let you know what I think once it’s over. 
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Franca works at the b5media office in Toronto and is very excited to have found herself right at home here in the media industry. Franca went to school for Multimedia design and production where sh... more
DBH has a long way to go before they are a match for threadless.
DBH has done a great job having only been around for a few months. Threadless, I believe, is 7 years old! I am sure their community and revenue is much higher, but, relatively speaking DBH is killing them with their art and print techniques!
Threadless is older, bigger and better known, which makes the risk of bumping into someone with the same t-shirt a lot higher… So just out of undergroundness, I’ll go with DBH
Yeah, I don’t really like it when I see other people wearing the same threadless tees as me. It really ruins the “undergroundness” of it. I’m yet to see any one wearing anything from DBH. But at the speed they are growing I’m sure I’ll start seeing them around soon.
Threadless is still king, but DBH is definitely an interesting, upcoming site. I’ll probably buy most tees at Threadless, but it’s fun to get artsy ones at DBH to supplement my wardrobe.
I have a bunch of shirts from Threadless, whom I love, but I really love the newness of dbh. Threadless is kind of like the first ipod – when it came out everyone loved it and everyone had to have one – then along came the iphone – which is just more. so for me its kind of like dbh is the iphone and threadless is a really trustworthy proven ipod from 2002. maybe thats a lame analogy. . .
DBH is like jazz music, great technique but very unique… unfully exposed and appeal to only few group of people so far.
On the other hand, Threadless is like pop star. It has good technique but a bit too common. And people is not going there only for T-shirts but to make friends also.
Threadless will go mainstream, see how everyone is talking about them now, including some media mentions — partly because some of Threadless’ competitions involve celeb and bands.
They’ve even built their own brick-n-mortar shop. I don’t know when they start selling on amazon or big store in your town
but why not?
DBH? we can’t say much until next year…
haha my 2 cents
It’s been very interesting to watch this poll. DBH had a huge lead at the beginning and throughout the first day. But as the poll has been up for a longer period of time Threadless has caught up and surpassed DBH in votes.
Could this be because DBH draws a more “t-shirt enthusiast” crowd while Threadless is more the mainstream average buyer? The t-shirt enthusiasts probably also check this site much more often while the more mainstream buyers noticed the poll later.
Or I’m probably just reading into this too much.
We’ll have to see what happens as more readers see the poll.
Threadless is still polling ahead!
Polling = pulling… get it
This may sound weird to some of you but I heard of DBH first and then another friend told me about Threadless. Having spent just a little time and both sites, I got kind of lost at Threadless, although they have some hilarious shirts. For me DBH just fits with the style of shirts I like better. Maybe if I was still in high school I would like Threadless.
DBH for me. Threadless is too mainstream. DBH is really unique right now and I support them in their growth. Must be tough taking on the 800 pound gorilla.
I love the designs on DBH. Much more adult and artistic than Threadless.
However, their girls shirts are a really weird cut and fit on me, which is keeping me from buying too many DBH shirts. I wish they would switch to American Apparel girly shirts or some similar fit.
Threadless blows…sure they’re cool if you’re an “Organic-vegan-eating-bright-organge-crocs-wearing struggling artist / barista as Starbucks” then, yea, you love them.
You also like slam poetry and give change to bums. Threadless – thumbs down. DBH…much cooler. Mad props.
Threadless…give them another two years, they’ll blow just as much as Dillards.
I’m and artist / graphic designer and I have a great idea…let me know what you think…
I wish there were some company I could sumbit my artwork to, be voted on by a community which doesn’t really matter since the company can override any vote, win based on my artistic capabilities (or by knowing someone who works there), get f**ked in the arse compensation-wise without a reach-around and proceed to sit back and watch “said” company make thousands and thousands of dollars off of my talents.
Is there ANYWHERE I can do that? Fellow artists, will you join me!!!???
DBH has styles that I prefer. The Threadless designs seem to fit the jolly couples they spotlight on their site. I have only ordered a few shirts from DBH and the quality seems very good. The shipping was fast. I am not a designer just a regular Joe (ok juan). I love the ability to look at so many designs and have a unique shirt. I personally prefer the not so popular designs to have themore unique.
Threadless designs have consistently got worse and lame over the years. I bought a bunch of shirts back in ‘04 and from there everything has turned to stupid cutesy cartoony crap. DBH’s style is a ton better. They may not have the recognition that Threadless does, but my money is going to DBH
Can threadless, all the embellishments and mixed media that DBH can do? that’s the question
they can, hopefully…
http://www.cottonable.com/2007/11/thredless-new-prints-and-inks-do-you.html
DBH vs Threadless?
I am an artist, I do submitted and contributed designs/works on DBH and Threadless.
I will do comment on an contributor’s perspective. Threadless makes artists think about concepts as far
as his imagination and composition can go with the usage of limited colors,
which is for me it is a bit more challenging. And the closest thing Threadless can offer
for their customers or buyers are the cartoony effects of their prints, which made some average fellas like
and some artsy fellas will really love, like me.
While on DBH, an amount of concept and an amount of coloring techniques is not enough,
you should go far beyond within the reach of your imagination so that you can compete
those very creative artists with a higher caliber in order to go to the top and show some muscles.
Buyers love good designs and images with so much kicking power to go on to their desired wanting.
Artists who will contribute works/designs on these two sites has different perspectives.
Even to those people who just come by and go on has too.
Mine, is to show my artwork and can be noticed by somebody, if Threadless or DBH will have to print my
design then, that is a plus, plus I will farm enough bucks to pay my credits, hehehe. These are some of the turning
point why contributors/artists submits his works/designs.
So for me, these two sites really helped artist who are wanting or needing their creative hunger to be satisfied.
But somebody has got to vote, my choice is DBH, they are far more experimental. ( and not biased )
I LIke both
but DBH Designs are much better than threadless
v.unique
Threadless is and always will be the top dogg! DBH is just plagerism! They have some nice work and the prizes are better but the overall concept and point of it all is missing! Unless the point is “Hey look, over here, we couldnt come up with a good idea so we copied threadless” In which case they are a raging success… of sorts! Bless em!
Oh and to whoever says threadless’ technique was ‘a bit too common’ and ‘would eventually sell out’…. Their technique is used in Business literature for the past 3-4 years as an example of a pioneering method of business innovation (design-by-democracy) and Nickell has already stated that he has no intention of selling out, having already recieved offers from UrbanOutfitters and Target, rejecting them both because “it would ruin the whole point”.
Personally, I find Threadless community to be a bit too haughty at times, and their designs a bit redundant. Naturally, I voted DBH.
Being new to both and going by “one of a kind” t-shirts, Design By Humans gets my vote! The most original way to buy custom designs!!!
I think it’s funny how EVERYONE thinks these new websites has carbon copied Threadless and that Threadless came up with the contest concept on their own and did not copy. Has anyone read how Threadless started? They first won a tee shirt contest, then stared their own on the internet. It was nothing new, just old ideas repackaged through the internet!!!
I’m an artist/designer. I voted for DBH, but maybe I’m a bit biased because I have a shirt up for vote there, haha.
When I finished my t-shirt design and was considering what site to submit it to, it was really a no brainer. I chose design by humans. Why? First of all, as a lot of people have mentioned, threadless is overpopulated with cutesy cartoon usually saying something ironic, or gag shirts. This is not my style. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve seen some great designs at threadless that stray from their norm, but they seem to be the exception to the rule.
At DBH I feel like I could be myself with my design, and still have a chance. And I was right because my shirt is doing really well there so far. If I posted it at threadless I feel like I would’ve probably lost.
Another thing, at threadless I often see some pretty douchey comments on shirts. At DBH, it doesn’t really matter if your shirt sucks balls, people will just ignore it rather than go out of their way to insult it.
I don’t like the threadless rating system either. Either you’d wear a shirt or you wouldn’t, I think judging it on a scale of 0 to 5 is unnecessary.
The only thing I prefer about Threadless is the turn around time. Designs are up for voting for 120 days at threadless. Which is a super long wait.
So I like DBH better. Their designs are more diverse.
I like DBH – smaller outfit (like me), and I’ve actually had interactions with them on Twitter, whereas Threadless is too busy printing money LOL. I’m a fan of both, but it’s been alot of fun watching DBH rise up this past year and a half.
Love both Threadless and DesignByHumans, I find the irony and simplicity of most Threadless shirts to be hilarious, but I also am enamored with the artistic quality and tantalizing designs of DBH shirts.
But I vote for DBH for one reason only:
DBH ships to American Samoa, and Threadless does not.
American Samoa is where I live.