Gallery: How Disney and Threadless Built a 200K-Person Design Team

  • Image may contain Toy Green Plant and Vegetation
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    threadless-monsters-inc-mike-w-doors-wired-design

    One of 487 submissions in the Threadless/Disney design contest, the winning submission, shown here, earned its designer $2,500 and some serious bragging rights.
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    02

    threadless-monsters-inc-mike-w-faces-wired-design

    Designs in these competitions cover a considerable range of design styles from impressionistic interpretations to hard, flat, colorful representations.
  • Opening up valuable media properties to crowds can be dangerous this design references posters that came out of the...
    03

    threadless-pixar-monsters-inc-sully-psychadelic-wired-design

    Opening up valuable media properties to crowds can be dangerous; this design references posters that came out of the drug-fueled psychedelic scene of the 1960s, but more overt references to substance abuse, sex, and other adult matters are strictly prohibited.
  • Image may contain Leisure Activities
    An image from the interior of TROLLS (Text copyright © 2012 Wendy Froud; Illustrations copyright © Brian Froud)
    04

    threadless-pixar-monsters-inc-key-holes-wired-design

    Disney and Threadless have figured out how to unlock the potential of a global creative team, creating value for all of the stakeholders.
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    05

    threadless-disney-pixar-doors-wired-design

    Subtlety is a common theme among designs that win these competitions. None of the marquee characters are present in this design, but fans would immediately recognize the reference.
  • Image may contain Clothing Apparel Human Person TShirt Sleeve Boris Palmer and Shirt
    06

    threadless-monsters-inc-mike-w-wired-design

    While some designs push the envelope of content or style, others are just well executed interpretations of the characters that could have easily originated in Disney's famed "Imagineering" labs.
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    07

    threadless-disney-marvel-iron-man-watercolor-wired-design

    *Monsters Inc* is the latest Disney title to get a Threadless contest, but they've previously sponsored design competitions for *Iron Man*, *Muppets*, and others, birthing new t-shirt designs like this expressionistic watercolor, an homage to *Iron Man* that would almost certainly be rejected at a Disney design review.
  • Image may contain Emblem Symbol Wristwatch Building Architecture Column and Pillar
    08

    threadless-disney-marvel-iron-man-latin-wired-design

    *Iron Man* meets *Low Rider* — another design that would be unlikely to come from Disney's officially sanctioned design team.
  • Image may contain Human Person Skin Clothing Apparel Sleeve and Katarzyna Grochola
    09

    threadless-disney-marvel-iron-man-launching-wired-design

    This minimal design subtly evokes *Iron Man*, without featuring decidedly uncool elements like a logo.
  • The author's copy of FAERIES the seminal fantasy art book by Brian Froud and Alan Lee first published in 1978
    The author's copy of FAERIES, the seminal fantasy art book by Brian Froud and Alan Lee, first published in 1978 (Photo: Ethan Gilsdorf)
    10

    threadless-disney-marvel-assembly-wired-design

    Global media brand meets hipster ethos in this DIY-inspired design.
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