The Daily Tee

25 opinions for Design By Humans vs. Threadless

• Russ
  Nov 1, 2007 at 5:26 pm

  DBH has a long way to go before they are a match for threadless.

• Blake
  Nov 1, 2007 at 7:11 pm

  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!

• H
  Nov 2, 2007 at 7:00 am

  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 ;)

• Mike
  Nov 2, 2007 at 9:28 am

  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.

• Kate
  Nov 2, 2007 at 10:36 am

  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.

• Alex
  Nov 2, 2007 at 1:11 pm

  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. . .

• Rangga
  Nov 2, 2007 at 7:01 pm

  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

• Mike
  Nov 3, 2007 at 11:12 am

  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.

• You’re as happy as you think you are.
  Nov 3, 2007 at 11:21 am

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• If You Heart New York… You’d Like this Tee
  Nov 4, 2007 at 7:14 am

  […] or Design by Humans? Cast your vote! Share This Related StoriesCut Out and Keep, No More Heart AttackT-shirt asks you to Heart Your Own […]

• Mike
  Nov 4, 2007 at 12:19 pm

  Threadless is still polling ahead!

• Mike
  Nov 4, 2007 at 12:20 pm

  Polling = pulling… get it ;-)

• Russell
  Nov 4, 2007 at 11:13 pm

  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.

• Kevin
  Nov 7, 2007 at 7:29 pm

  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.

• eck
  Nov 12, 2007 at 12:33 pm

  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.

• Hank
  May 3, 2008 at 11:48 am

  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.

• Tom
  May 3, 2008 at 11:53 am

  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!!!???

• juan
  May 29, 2008 at 10:31 pm

  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.

• Markus
  Jun 6, 2008 at 11:12 am

  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

• ChrisOmlor
  Aug 1, 2008 at 11:45 am

  Can threadless, all the embellishments and mixed media that DBH can do? that’s the question

• Rangga
  Aug 1, 2008 at 5:41 pm

  they can, hopefully…
  http://www.cottonable.com/2007/11/thredless-new-prints-and-inks-do-you.html

• Pinoy
  Aug 5, 2008 at 12:20 am

  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 )

• fouad
  Sep 17, 2008 at 8:21 am

  I LIke both
  but DBH Designs are much better than threadless
  v.unique

• B Duke
  Nov 13, 2008 at 6:38 pm

  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!

• B Duke
  Nov 13, 2008 at 6:44 pm

  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”.

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