Compete-tee-tion

In celebration of Chinese New Year, Threadless‘s new t-shirt design competition is all about Year of the Rabbit. Here’s what they’re looking for…

The rabbit, the fourth sign of the Chinese zodiac calendar, represents intellect, patience, and luck. According to folklore, the Jade Emperor held a cosmic race to determine the order of the zodiac. Upon reaching the river portion of the course, the rabbit acknowledged its own limitations and decided to hop across stone by stone rather than swim. When he started falling behind, he was luckily able to grab onto a floating log that swiftly washed him to shore.

Now that we’re in the Year of the Rabbit, a time of resting and self-reflection, we want you to make a new design inspired by the resourceful, puffy-tailed creature. Maybe you’ll retell the story of the Great Race or look elsewhere in ancient folklore for inspiration. In Chinese culture, the rabbit is also a symbol of peace and is associated with the moon, which may be a visual element you’d like to incorporate. Alternatively, you can show a rabbit chilling in its natural habitat or tie in a motivational phrase about working smarter, not harder.

Submissions open on March 3rd, 2023. Enter before March 31st, 2023 for your chance to win. First place wins $1250 cash and a $250 gift code. Second place earns $500 cash and a $250 gift code. Third place gets $250 cash and a $250 gift code. All designers printed will earn up to $20 per item sold (learn more about Threadless artist payments).

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Threadless celebrates Pantone’s Color of the Year with their new Viva Magenta t-shirt design competition. Here’s what they’re looking for…

For more than two decades, the Pantone Color Institute has presented its Color of the Year as a way to set the tone for the next 12 months ahead of us. They picked Viva Magenta for 2023, which they describe as a “brave and fearless” color “whose exuberance promotes a joyous and optimistic celebration.” For your next challenge, we want you to incorporate this powerful hue into a new work of art.

Rather than simply adding it to your normal color palette, first think of what Viva Magenta represents and the feelings it can convey. It’s expressive, it’s audacious, and it can symbolize strength. Maybe you’ll incorporate it in a design that delivers a powerful message we can all rally around. Or maybe you’ll use it to express your individuality or intense passion for an issue. If you’d prefer to take a different approach, you can always look to Mother Nature for inspiration (flowers, bugs, sunsets, hummingbirds, etcetera).

Channel Viva Magenta’s electrifying energy with your next challenge.

Enter before March 3rd, 2023 for your chance to win. First place wins $1250 cash and a $250 gift code. Second place earns $500 cash and a $250 gift code. Third place gets $250 cash and a $250 gift code. All designers printed will earn up to $20 per item sold (learn more about Threadless artist payments).

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Go back in time to the year 2000 with Threadless‘s new Y2K t-shirt design competition. Here’s what they’re looking for…

Just when you thought the 2000s were dead and buried, here they are, ketchup-dancing their way back to relevance. If the crackling sounds of a dial-up modem still haunt your memories, then you probably have nostalgia (or disdain) for the Y2K aesthetic—obnoxiously bright, futuristic, with a heavy dose of kitsch. For your next Design Challenge, we want you to teleport us back to the turn of the millennium with a brand new work of art.

How will you capture the early-2000s vibe? Maybe you’ll find inspiration in obsolete technologies, like clunky computer hardware or retro video game graphics. Or maybe you’ll focus on the cyberculture of the time, reminiscing about chat rooms, messengers, and early forms of social media. To really nail the Y2K look, you could incorporate chunky 3D effects and textures like chrome and glitter. Vaporwave is a great example of an art style that hits the nostalgia notes.

Enter before February 3rd, 2023 for your chance to win. First place wins $1250 cash and a $250 gift code. Second place earns $500 cash and a $250 gift code. Third place gets $250 cash and a $250 gift code. All designers printed will earn up to $20 per item sold (learn more about Threadless artist payments).

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Make plans for Threadless‘s new Resolutions t-shirt design competition! Here’s what they’re looking for…

All jokes aside, a new year gives us an opportunity to reevaluate what worked and what didn’t in the last 12 months. It gives us a chance to say NOPE or YEP to whatever we feel is important… or not. For this Design Challenge, we want you to create a new design that shows what resolutions really mean to you.

Will it be poignant and meaningful (because, after all, the world isn’t still quite what we all hoped it would be, so a little positivity and a fresh start might just help)? Or will you go full tongue-in-cheek mode and say what we’re all thinking deep down inside? Whether abstract, illustrated, typography-based, or whatever unique style you bring to the table, make a resolution to submit to this challenge. You could win cash and Threadless credit!

This contest opens for entries on December 9th, 2022. Enter before January 6th, 2023 for your chance to win. First place wins $1250 cash and a $250 gift code. Second place earns $500 cash and a $250 gift code. Third place gets $250 cash and a $250 gift code. All designers printed will earn up to $20 per item sold (learn more about Threadless artist payments).

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Get into the western spirit with Threadless‘s new Yee Haw t-shirt design competition! Here’s what they’re looking for…

Howdy, partner! Did you hear? There’s a new challenge in town. So saddle up and head home, home on the range, where the deer and the antelope play. Just like in the Old West, anything goes in the Yee Haw Design Challenge.

Take us to the desert where we’ll find cacti, buzzards, and cow skulls baking in the sun, or show us an action shot of a cowboy on a bucking horse. You could make a wanted poster for the most dastardly outlaw you could think up, or illustrate western-style flash art you’d see on the wall of a tattoo shop. Washed-out colors and sepia tones will help you achieve a vintage aesthetic (if that’s what you’re aiming for), and classic garb like 10-gallon hats, boot spurs, and chaps will give your subjects a distinctly western look.

Before you ride off into the sunset, submit your best design to the challenge!

This contest opens for entries on November 4th, 2022. Enter before November 25th, 2022 for your chance to win. First place wins $1250 cash and a $250 gift code. Second place earns $500 cash and a $250 gift code. Third place gets $250 cash and a $250 gift code. All designers printed will earn up to $20 per item sold (learn more about Threadless artist payments).

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Just in time for Halloween, Threadless is celebrating the 15th anniversary of the classic movie with their Trick ‘r Treat t-shirt design competition. Here’s what they’re looking for…

The rules of Halloween are simple:

Wear a costume.

Pass out treats.

Never blow out a jack o’ lantern.

ALWAYS check your candy.

The fans have spoken, and for the first time ever the classic horror film, Trick ‘r Treat will be released in theaters this October! You are invited to help celebrate this milestone and the film’s 15th anniversary by creating your own to-die-for designs. Express your love of Sam, your own take on any of the tales in this anthology horror, or even Sam’s rules of Halloween.

Do’s & Don’ts

Please don’t utilize actors/actresses from the film in your designs (unless they are wearing a mask!).

No graphic violence, sex, gun or drug references.

No deadline is currently listed for this contest (although presumably entries should be submitted in time to be worn on Halloween). One Grand Prize winner will be featured in the 2023 Spirit Halloween Collection and receive a Trick ‘r Treat prize pack, Mike Dougherty autographed DVD, and $250 Threadless gift code. One Second Place winner gets a Trick ‘r Treat prize pack, Mike Dougherty autographed DVD, and $250 Threadless gift code. One Third Place winner receives a Trick ‘r Treat prize pack and $250 Threadless gift code. All designers printed will earn up to $20 per item sold (learn more about Threadless artist payments).

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Threadless has teamed up with DesignerCon for the new Video Games That Don’t Exist 2 t-shirt design competition. Here’s what they’re looking for…

For many of us, video games are an escape from reality, which is probably why we get so nostalgic over them. Who could ever forget incinerating planets in The Adventures of Otis the Space Otter? Or unearthing lost treasures in Dumpster Diving 2K11? Or navigating the moral dilemmas of Oops, I Joined a Pyramid Scheme: Game of the Year Edition?

Don’t remember those video games? Well…that’s because we made them up. And that’s exactly what we want YOU to do for your next Design Challenge, presented in partnership with DesignerCon. Power up your brain and make a new design inspired by a video game you make up entirely.

Think of this challenge as a sandbox game. You can go in whichever direction you’d like! Draw inspiration from your favorite genres, like fantasy, strategy, sports, first-person shooter, fighting, or trivia. Make your design look pixelated, hyperrealistic, or somewhere in between. Create your own characters, build your own imaginative worlds, and amaze us with whatever you create!

Enter before October 14th, 2022 for your chance to win. One First Place winner will earn $1250 cash, a $250 gift code, and a DCON exclusive Bearbrick 5 pack. One Second Place winner will get $500 cash, a $250 gift code, and a DCON exclusive Bearbrick 5 pack. One Third Place winner will receive $250 cash, a $250 gift code, and a DCON exclusive Bearbrick 5 pack. The winner of this challenge will also be featured at the Threadless Artist Shops booth at DesignerCon 2022. All designers printed will earn up to $20 per item sold (learn more about Threadless artist payments).

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