The headline of this post is the motto of a new clothing brand named 2600 Strange Ave. A summer cruise with close friends birthed the line, which mocks that latest craze of expensive t-shirts with tattoo-like designs made popular by Ed Hardy. I’ve had a particular disdain for this style of shirt so it’s a relief to see that I’m not alone.

These guys take it to another level and let you choose a charity to donate to when you buy a shirt from them. The amount is small but the idea is sound, and I imagine they are only making enough profit to cover their bases. It’s an interesting take on t-shirt sales that we’ve seen before, but not quite like this.

The only criticism I have is the low amount of designs. As of the writing of this post they only have five shirts available. The designs they do have are pretty good, and they show a unique brand of humor that I hope to see duplicated in the future. If you do happen to buy a shirt from them, take a picture and send it to. They’ve got a cool little map with pictures from people that have bought their shirts, a nice touch!

Artwork Junkies is the latest contest site to hit the internet, and so far they are doing everything just right. They haven’t been up for more than a few months and they already have a large selection of very high quality shirts. Their prizes, while not as large as some of the more prominent sites, are very reasonable.

All it takes is to download their templates, design some shirts, and then submit them. Once approved each shirt is eligible for their weekly contest and if you’re a winner you can make up to 3000 euros! The full awards system can be found on their site, but it definitely benefits the more popular designs. A brief glance shows that they do anything in their power to help the winners reach their goals. This is done by giving each shirt of the day prominent billing on their front page.

The shirt of the day on my visit I particularly liked. It’s title is Birdhorse, by kndll, and it’s just what the name would lead you to believe. It shows some chimera’s of horses and birds. I really like how the colors work together and there is more than meets the eye when you take a good look at it.

There are still some problems with the site, although that is to be expected since they are so new. I’m sure they’ll clean up those issues, and they are nothing that will get in the way of the primary function of the site. I really like what they’re doing and I can’t wait to see how they evolve over time. It’s always great to see new opportunities for t-shirt designers, the more options the better!

Another new t-shirt shop that I’ve been informed of is Emulsion Apparel. They feature designs from local artists in Boston and some of them are quite unique. They have the typical brand shirts with just their name on them but even those look really great. I don’t usually dig those types of shirts but in this case I can make an exception. Most of their designs are catered towards the skater culture with a heavy artistic tint.

One thing I didn’t realize until I started to grab links for this post was that their shop runs on Big Cartel. I’ve written about them before and it just goes to show how powerful their platform is. I’d recommend it to anyone looking to start their own brand.

The design Shroomwhale really caught my eye. I hope it’s something I can see more from them in the future. It was done by Sean McCabe and hopefully he does some more designs for them soon. It’s got a lot going on but the composition of the elements really makes it visually pleasing. If designs like this are any indication of what’s to come from Emulsion Apparel, consider my excited!

I’ve recently been made aware of a very new t-shirt site called Made With Awesome and their designs are just as advertised! It was created by two frequent Threadless contributors. That style carries over into their designs, which feature extremely unique concepts that are expertly created.

They don’t have a lot of shirts right now since they just started in August, but the designs they have are top notch. It’s good to see a site focus on quality instead of quantity. I particularly like Lunch Break. It features two movie monsters (Kaiju) taking a break from their day to have some lunch. There is a lot going on in a design like this and that attention to detail carries over into their other shirts as well.

I’ll be keeping an eye on these guys in the future and I’ll let you know if they come up with any great designs!

Retro Campaigns is a t-shirt site that I’ve recently learned about and that I’m really liking. They have a political theme, with a heavy focus on memorable campaigns in American history. The shirts themselves have a great weathered look to them and are printed on high quality American Apparel shirts. They scream vintage, and if I didn’t know any better I would think they were the real deal. I wouldn’t be surprised if others think the same.

In addition to the shirt, my shipment came with a Retro Campaigns button, and a history printout relating to the design itself. It’s little touches like these that let me know these guys are in it for, not just the shirts, but the entire package. Much of the information contained in the printout can also be found on the website.

All things told, Retro Campaigns provides a way to show off the political geek in anyone, and in the most stylish way possible!

Their ranking system is happily robust. There are many factors that work to give a shirt it’s rating. This includes (but is not limited to) twitter votes, page views, click through, and purchases. I’m glad to see a lot of thought in a ranking system since most sites are surprisingly shallow when it comes to that aspect.

All in all Daytee has a solid concept and delivers on it very well. There is nothing flashy about the site, which is not a criticism by any means. The only gripe I can think of is that the logo is not clickable so it’s hard to return to the front page easily. I’ll be anxious to see how they grow!

Shirts Taste Good is a new t-shirt site I’ve found that makes their designs entirely based on viral videos. It’s kind of a shame that I didn’t think of this myself. The built in audience for all of those videos are an automatic source of buyers for their products, as long as you can reach them. The good thing is that Shirts Taste Good makes shirts that are high quality, hand made, and hilarious.

If you’re new to the Internet and don’t get the references, they include the associated videos under each design. You can also suggest your favorite videos to them which might net yourself some free stuff. They have shirts for some of my favorite videos: We’ll Do It Live, Flea Market Montgomery, Miss South Carolina, and my personal favorite the Grape Lady which you can see to the right. There are a bunch more so check in to find your personal favorites. If you visit frequently the new shirts they release are available for 15$ for the first week.

I really like their site, and their silk screened shirts are top notch. I’m worried that their demand will outpace what they can put out by hand, but only time will tell. Hopefully they stay on the pulse of the Internet and continue to release topical shirts in a timely manner. If they come out with any that I particularly like I’ll be sure to let you guys know.

tFuse is a t-shirt contest website that has been recently re-designed. It’s built around a lot of community features and community ratings factor heavily into the decision of whether a design is chosen. Once uploaded and approved your design will be available for voting for 60 days. At any time during this period the design can become a winner. If the tFuse team chooses your design you will win 4$ per design (up to $3000) and a free shirt featuring it!

Like I mentioned, tFuse has a lot of other community features. In addition to t-shirt designs you can upload videos and photos. There is also a referral program which will net any individual $2 for every shirt that someone purchases. Choose rsalsman to become referred by yours truly! There is also fairly standard profile management tools as well.

Designs that are chosen are available for pre-order for only $10. That’s $9 off the normal price! Iff you buy 3 shirts you can get one free. On top of all that, readers of this blog can get an additional %10 off by using the discount code TF3GY. If you play your cards right you can get 4 shirts for just over $40!

tFuse seems like a design site with a small but growing community. If you’ve been submitting your designs to other more popular sites I would definitely give them a shot. Their prize money is somewhere in the middle of the pack, but it’s entirely based on what you actually sell. It’s a shame they put an upper limit on the amount you can earn. I would’ve liked to see them continue commissions but at a diminishing rate as you sell more and more shirts. This may be remedied in the future because it seems like they are making continual updates to the site. I’ll keep you posted on any news related to them, in addition to any great designs that I find there as well.

I think this service could be great for those serial contest designers that have a bunch of high quality shirts laying around doing nothing for them. It’s also good for companies that are looking for good designs but don’t want to pay a premium. The service is currently invite only, which assures a baseline of quality among their catalog.

“Midnight in the Forest of Rock & Roll Nightmares” is my favorite of the current designs available. It’s got great color and composition. If you’re interested it can be yours for only $400!

I’m interested to see how this service evolves over time. Right now they have only a handful of designs available. They’ll have to expand their selection without sacrificing quality to continue to grow. Convincing companies to visit and view their new designs regularily will also become important in their overall strategy. All in all, this looks like a site that will provide good services to both artists and companies.

I’ve been following a new contest site called teextile. They are growing fast and, in my opinion, doing fantastic. Their age is the only thing that kept them from making an appearance in the Top 10 Shirt Design Contest Websites. If they keep up the good work I will have to make some revisions to that list! Until then, I’ve decided to provide a review of their site. This is by no means comprehensive, but you should get the general idea of what they’ve got going on.

Rules / Prizes

Unlike most contests, teextile’s winning designs are available for only one day. There is a new design posted each business day. Winners are chosen from a variety of criteria. Number of votes, the types of comments, and the integrity of the voters are all factored into the final decision. Winners receive $4 per shirt for the first 500 shirts sold, $2 per shirt for the next 500, and $1 per shirt for every one sold after that. If your design sells 1,000 shirts that totals $3,000, a very competitive prize compared to most other design competitions. For more information see their frequently asked questions.

Site Design

The design of their site is one of the first things that caught my eye. It’s easy to use and very clean. They have a lot of effects that are used tastefully to add functionality instead of just becoming eye candy. One great detail is the countdown timer on their main page. This counts down how long you’ve got to order their shirt of the day. It’s small things like this that really make a difference.

Free Shirts?

If you’re the first to order the shirt of the day, it’s yours for free! I really like this feature, and combining it with a giant countdown on the main page is a recipe for success. Another thing I’ve found is that if you vote on a specific design, and it’s later chosen as a winner, you’ll get free shipping when you order it. This really gives the community a reason to vote on their favorite designs, I just hope it won’t get abused.

Conclusion

The only thing missing for teextile is a large active community. Once they get that the quality of their submissions will increase, as will their sales! They’re doing a lot of things right and I really hope they succeed. If you’re an active participant of other contest sites I suggest you go check them out. Their community is really young right now, so if you can get in early it will pay off in the long run.