Articles

Top 10 Shirt Design Contest Websites

In my previous post 5 Shirt Related Ways To Make Money Online, I mention using shirt design contests as a way to make some extra cash. When I first decided to write this article I was going to write about any contest sites that I could find. I was surprised to discover that there were more of these sites than I could possibly cover in one article. Instead of covering as many as I could, I decided to focus on just ten of the best.  Quality of submissions, prize amounts, and designer rights where some of the many criteria I used to decide which sites were the best. What follows is a brief summary of each site, and any necessary information in regards to submission and prizes.

1. Threadless

This is the most famous contest site on the Internet. There is a ton of competition and many talented designers in the Threadless community. If your design is chosen you will receive $2,000 for the first printing, and $500 for any reprints. Winners also get a $500 Threadless gift certificate. If you win design of the year in their annual Bestee Awards you will receive an additional $20,000! The Bestee Awards also give smaller prizes in many other categories. Anyone can submit a design, and once submitted the community will vote on your design for 7 days. The resulting score helps decide whether your design will be a winner.

2. Design By Humans

Design By Humans is another popular site which runs more than one design competition at a time. In addition to their main contest, which runs daily, they run a wide selection of special contests. These contests vary in their theme and their prize selection. Winners of the daily contest receive $1,000. Daily winners can receive an additional $1,000 and $1,750 for winning the Shirt of the Week and Shirt of the Month contests respectively. If your design is particularly good, you’ll get additional cash as your design reaches certain sales milestones. See their contest rules and prizes page for complete details.

3. Woot Shirt

Each week Woot runs a contest called the The Derby. These contests are themed, and a new theme is posted every Thursday. On Friday  designers can submit their designs. Voting continues on the submissions until the next Wednesday. The votes are then tallied and the top three designs go on sale that weekend. Winning designers receive $1,000 and $2 for each shirt sold after the first day it’s available. This contest is unique because the themes keep the designs fresh and interesting. You can find more information about the entire process on their “What Is Shirt.Woot?” page.

4. itself

The eligibility period for itself designs are a whopping 60 days! This means that for approximately two months the community will vote on your creations. At any time during that time period your designs may be chosen. If your design is chosen you will receive $1,750 and 250 itself coins. These coins are redeemable for purchases at the site. The initial printing is 3,000 shirts, and if it does well they may make an additional run of 3,000. You get the same prize for this second run, so you can win up to $4,000. They also print every shirt with your name on it, as if you didn’t need the ego boost already!

5. la Fraise

I have previously discussed la Fraise in much greater detail, so this will be a brief recap of that post. They are a European website and, as a result, their shirts are not available outside of Europe. However, they accept design submissions from anywhere in the world, so you will still get paid if your design is chosen. Similar to Threadless, submitted designs are shown for 7 days and then la Fraise uses this information to choose their winners. Designers will receive 1,000 euros, and they retain full control over their designs.

6. Allmightys

Unlike most contests, which have short durations, each Allmightys contest lasts more than a month. They only have one going on at a time, so new contests appear once every few months. Because of the time allotted, the quality of submissions is very high. Once the contest deadline is reached three winners are chosen (Bronze, Silver, and Gold).  Any number of Special Selections may also be chosen. Compensation is received in the form of commissions, and the commission rates are decided based on how well a design did in the competition. If you’re interested, take a look at their prize structure.

7. Uneetee

Every Monday Uneetee announces their grand prize winner. The community can vote on submitted designs for 21 days. After the voting period they are still eligible to win for 90 days from the original submission date. If your design is chosen you will receive $1,750 of cold hard cash. Keep in mind that Uneetee retains exclusive rights to your design for printing and selling purposes. The quality of submissions here seems hit or miss. If you’ve got designs that haven’t won other contests, I would definitely give Uneetee a chance.

8. teetonic

At teetonic, there is an ongoing competition without any theme. Designs are limited to 4 colors, which I could see becoming a concern. Submissions are eligible for 30 days. The resulting vote is used to determine any winners. They typically choose one shirt per month, but that isn’t set in stone. It’s a Scottish company, so the rewards come in pounds. Winners receive £100 initially, and 50p for each individual shirt sold. You also get a free shirt featuring your design! Keep an eye out because they will occasionally run competitions alongside their main.

9. springleap

Every two weeks springleap chooses a winner for their contest. Winners receive approximately $750 (based on an exchange rate), a hand drawn rendition of their design, and royalties on all shirt sales. You may receive additional prizes based on any active sponsorships. They promote the designer heavily, which I find quite interesting. Shirts are branded with the designer’s name, and shipped with a postcard containing information on both the design and the designer. They also interview the winners, and show their picture alongside their creation!

10. Chimpogo

The £500 prize at Chimpogo might not seem like a lot, but the designs there are of slightly lesser quality than the other contests I’ve listed. Each week one winner is chosen and that design becomes available within a few weeks. Like Uneetee, Chimpogo retains exclusive rights to any design they choose as a winner. This is a relatively new site so in the future their quality of submissions and prize amounts may increase. They also run a slogan contest called “Say What?” that anyone can enter. Winners of this contest will receive £100.

Conclusion

As I mentioned above, I can’t possibly cover every design competition on the Internet. There are blogs that focus on this niche, and one of the best I’ve found is compete-tee-tion. They update regularly, and they have a comprehensive list of t-shirt contests. If anyone has any questions or comments I’d love to hear them. I’ll be keeping you updated on any contest related news I encounter. I hope this list was informative, and I wish you the best of luck with your contest entries!

© 2009 Ryan Salsman