Submit a design, earn $2,500 !!

Download the submission kit

You will only need to submit a low resolution version of your design using our presentation templates. Be sure to keep your high resolution version of the design somewhere in case your design is picked!

Tee Templates
Placement Photos
Specialty printing PDF
Decline reasons PDF

Submission Kit

(11.83 MB zip)

Create your design

Design your tee in a vector art program such as Adobe Illustrator®. Or, design in a raster program such as Adobe Photoshop®. If you are designing in a raster program, make sure you design actual size at at least 150dpi. When you are done, transfer your design to the template. If you are using the photoshop template, save off a copy of your design as a gif, jpg or png. If you are using the flash template, publish your file so that you have a swf of your design. Keep in mind, the file you submit is for presentation purposes for scoring. If your design is selected we will ask you for high resolution artwork.

Submit your design

You will need to create a gif thumbnail of your submission. The thumbnail must be 100 x 70 pixels and under 10kb. When you have the files ready, and know what you want the title of your design to be, fill out the form to the right to send us your submission.

What if my design gets declined?

For a full list of decline reasons, please refer to the Decline reasons PDF. Here are a few common reasons.

Submission Needs Work
We want every design submitted to Threadless to have the best possible chance at being chosen for print. Sometimes submissions are declined because we feel the idea could use a little more work to be up to the standard that will give it the best shot. We have a feature called "Critique" on Threadless.com that allows a design critiqued before it's submitted it for approval. By using the "Critique" feature as a pre-submission tool, the community helps to get the potential submission up to par. We're certain this will help improve your designs! Check out the "Critique" feature here.
Duplicate Submissions
A submission will be declined if it's a duplicate. Unfortunately, we don't allow resubmissions of a design that has only been slightly changed. Even if the modifications are based on community comments about the original design, we still treat it as a duplicate. If this happens to you, try starting by submitting your design as a "Critique" to gain feedback before officially submitting. If we do choose to print the original design a declined duplicate submission is based off of, you will be able to provide us with the updated version.
Design Is Too Large For Print
A submission will be declined if it's too large for traditional printing and also not suitable for belt printing. Common oversights with placement include designing across the tee from edge to edge, carrying a design over a seam onto the sleeves or off the top of the shoulder. We love larger format prints, but a design meant for regular screen printing should be constrained to a 15" x 20" (38cm x 50cm) area.
Artwork Has Too Many Colors
We allow a maximum of 8 unique colors in designs submitted to Threadless. Submissions will be declined if the design contains more than 8 colors. Each shade of a color counts toward the eight color limit, as do black and white.
Submission Deemed Inappropriate
A submission can be declined if it contains material or themes that make us feel a little uneasy. That's no small feat! Keep in mind that the community starts at 13 years old!

You must login to submit a design:

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If not, click here to join up then login and come back!

Username:

Password:

What are you submitting this design for?

A regular Threadless submission
(no theme)

Ends 07-15-09
Learn More

Give your design a title:

Select your thumbnail GIF:

This file MUST be a 100 x 70 pixel gif under 10kb

Select your large preview file:

This file MUST be a 640 pixel wide jpg, gif, png or swf no more than 800 pixels tall and under 250kb. Your design must use no more than 8 unique colors and be submitted on one of our downloadable templates.

About your design:

Be sure to describe any requirements for specialty inks or print methods. If you are submitting a loves design, please describe your design's relation to the theme. This will appear on your submission page as a description of your design.

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