There are now tons of websites holding design contests as a way of sourcing designs for t-shirts and this is probably the most comprehensive list you are going to find. So if you are creating some awesome designs you now know tons of places you can submit to.
- Threadless
Of course Threadless would have to be at the top of this list as it is often credited as being the first to use this business model. It is also the biggest and probably the most successful of all the t-shirt contest sites.Prizes
$2000 Cash
$500 Threadless Gift Certificate (can be redeemed for $200 cash)
$500 in cash each time your design is reprinted
Up to $22,500 more if you win a “Bestee” in the Threadless Awards
Alumni Club membership including a Medal of Honor and other goodiesHow often?
Weekly. - Design by Humans
At just about 2 years old Design by Humans is one of the most talked about tee contest sites and is famous for its large prints.Prizes
Shirt of the Day: $500 cash plus $250 store credit
Combined with Shirt of the Week/Month and the Rock Star program you could earn up to $8500How often?
Almost daily. - Uneetee
Prizes
$1500How often?
Weekly - LaFraise
Probably the largest t-shirt contest site in Europe. Owned by Spreadshirt they have a lot of resources. Specialize in cartoonish designs. Multilingual web site (German, French and English).Prizes
€1,000How often?
Almost daily. - Look- Zippy
France based site I believe, multilingual (English, German, French and Spanish) and specialize in fair trade organic garments.Prize: €300 for 200 shirts, €75 for every 50 more printed
How often? Monthly - Springleap
South African based contest. Don’t expect to get paid soon. It is about one and a half years since I got runners up there and still haven’t seen a dollar which is probably about all I earned as the runners up prizes were probably the worst prizes ever for a tee contest. A few days ago I received an email saying that they are finally going to pay the winners but I’ll believe it when I see it. My advice: avoid this contest.Prize: About $900
How often? Bi-weekly. - Red is White [dead]
The premier Christian tee design contest site.Prize: $500 plus royalties after first 250 shirts
How often? Perhaps monthly. - Bang Bang T-Shirts
British contest site that focuses on pop culture.Prize: £100 – £125
How often? Occasionally. - Edo Label [Closed temporarily]Japanese contest site with bilingual site (English and Japanese).Prize: 50,000 yen + 10,000 yen store credit.
- Code Creations [Disappeared]
- Shirt.Woot
They have a Derby (contest) regularly as well as accepting submissions for their daily tee. Famous for $10 t-shirt deals.Prize: From $500 (I think)
How often? Weekly (perhaps) - Scribtee
It’s connected to the ShirtCity POD.Prize: $300-$500 plus $50 shopping voucher
How often? Twice a month. - teetonic.com
British site. I haven’t notice much activity around here in a while.Prize: £100 plus 50p per shirt sold.
How often? Rarely, if ever. - Allmightys
One of the first contests where the prizes were based on sales.Prize: $2 per shirt sold.
How often? Occasionally. - Cameesa [Closed]
This site added crowdfunding to crowdsourcing to build what should be a risk free contest site. They don’t print the tees until they are paid for.Prize: $200 cash, $50 credit plus $2 per shirt after the first 125 sold.
- Ink Fruit
India based site.Prize: 5000 rupees (about $100)
How often? Every 15 days. - Monsieur Poulet
Based in Paris, France, this is a bilingual site in French and English that uses fair trade cotton garments.Prize: €2 per shirt sold
How often? Several times a month. - Fair and Bare
British based site also using Fair Trade cotton.Prize: £200 plus residuals
How often? Occasionally - Chimpogo [closed]
British based contest site.Prize: £500
How often? It says every week but I don’t think that is happening. Maybe occasionally. - Canvas
Contest for Christian based designs.Prize: Up to $400
- Ink Hound [gone]
Design hats and t-shirts.Prize: $2 per shirt
How often? Weekly. - Teextile
Fairly new site that sells t-shirts for one week only.Prize: $4 per shirt for first 500, decreases after that for some reason.
How often? Weekly. - Full Metal T-Shirt [closed]
This site is wild. Like a cross between Dungeons and Dragons and bikers if you could imaging such a thing.Prize: $100 cash, $100 credit plus $5 per shirt (or print) sold for one year.
How often? Weekly. - Teepay [Closed]
British site similar to Cameesa in that the tees won’t be printed unless enough people order them.Prize: £2.50 per shirt sold.
- Tilteed
Popular t-shirt contest site with Tilteed Limited Edition shirts as well as a regular contest.Prize: $500
How often? Weekly. - Goodjoe
Looking for designs that inspire.Prize: $1 per shirt
How often? Weekly. - Scopial
Another India based site that attracts a lot of great designers.Prize: About $400
How often? Don’t know. - bookis.org [closed]
Similar again to Cameesa. This time though the designer can set the profit he wishes to make per shirt. Based on the Chinese idea of “tuangou” where a group of people get together to buy in bulk from the wholesaler. - Metal Ink
Tatoo inspired designs for tees.Prize: $700 cash + $300 store credit + residuals
- ArtyTee [closed]
Not too sure about this one. Seems to be some type of subscription based storePrize: $2 per shirt (up to $100)
How often? Monthly - SwishSwosh [closed]
New site from the UK.Prize: £1100 + 50p per shirt sold for first place, £101 + 50p per shirt sold for runners up
How often? Monthly. - Syckfits [Disappeared]
- Badashell
Prize: $200 + $50 store credit
How often? On a break. - nomoretees [Retired]
- Camiseteria
Brazil based website in Portuguese.Prize: R$800 in cash, R$800 in store credit
- BlackEyedT.com [Died.]
- Is This Chicken? [gone]
- Collar Free [Retired]
- itself
Turkey based tee contest burst onto the scene about two years ago with a $4000 prize. Selected just a few tees and then no activity. While they appear to be accepting designs and if you dig around you can find a voting area I suspect there is no longer a contest. The last submission was in July. The last tee was chosen about a year ago. - Wooshka [Closed]
- Milk Shop Gang [No activity]
- Righteous Enterprise [Disappeared]
- ice cream t-shirts [Gone]
- Tasty Threads
Never made it out of the gate. - Teeple [Retired]
- tFuse [Reported Attack Site]
- Caponocca [Gone]
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Note: These are all just websites that I have come across over the last while or so. I didn’t search the web for t-shirt contests so I am sure there are some that I have missed. On top of that I am sure I have made some mistakes in the details. These things happen.
If you know of any other t-shirt contest sites or can see some mistakes I have made please leave a comment below and I will do my best to rectify the situation.
Great article-thanks!!!
You’re welcome!
Great list – great job! Thanks!
Great list, thanks!
The only thing that would have been great is the legal rights and re-use info for these contests if your design is chosen (and even if it’s not in some cases).
College District has a Submit Your Own Design project that pays $250 for each design printed, plus a $2 residual per t-shirt sold.
Lots of t-shirt stores have this system. It’s off topic though.
this is really good one that you left out http://www.err-ordesign.com
[...] that long ago I posted a list of t-shirt contest sites and I bet if I went through it today I would find more that have gone and could probably find a few [...]
Nice list! I’m in the business and have trouble keeping up with all of them.
I think at this point, we’re no longer the ‘new kids.’ 9 months is like 52 years in online t-shirt contest years, eh?
You’re totally right. Some of them just last a few weeks. If you want to write your own intro I’ll edit the post. I believe you print your own tees (Am i right?) so are less likely to go out of business than some of the others.
There’s a new site that just launched called ShirtScuffle.com. They have a free t-shirt design contest. Each week, they announce a new theme called “category of the week.” Designers can submit their artwork fitting the theme. If your creation is one of the top 4 designs or the staff pick, it will be printed. Winners will receive $500 plus an additional $1 for every shirt sold.
http://www.shirtscuffle.com/create.html
[...] Junkies is another ongoing t-shirt design contest to add to Rude Retro’s ever changing list of t-shirt design contests. They are a German site and fairly new if I am right. I have no idea where I came across this one. [...]
Miink (My ink)
Brazil based website in Portuguese.
Prize: R$2000 in credit
http://www.miink.com.br since 2008!!
Thx
Thanks a lot! You made a great favor for all those who designs t-shirts!
Goodjoe.com
Weekly Themed Contest with 2 $500 winners every week (+ commisions and store credit)
They also partner with Charities and hold ongoing shirt design contests for them.
Thanks for the update. Will make a new list soon.
Here is the first Greek Tee Design Contest. It´s based on the Facebook pages of Greek Shirts and T-Shirt Stamp. The whole contest (submissions, approval and voting) is only at these pages. Both Contest themes are Slogan Type Tees with only one ink color. It´s the first attempt to establish something like that in Greece.
Greek Shirts https://www.facebook.com/greekshirts?sk=app_255558194495800
T-Shirt Stamp https://www.facebook.com/tshirtstampgr?sk=app_254553244581393
Wow. Web design like you would expect to see in Geocities 10 years ago.
Pretty new online Tee shirt design shop, still going after a couple of months. We offer a limited run of only 250 numbered shirts of any one design. The designer can win up to $1,000.00 NZD if their shirt sells the full 250. Its nice to give back to the design comunity, we all know who hard it is or can be to make ends meet so we hope this helps a bit. getting some cool designs up but still after more as always.
Go check it out and see what you all think.