subject: T-shirt maker Threadless will design for Dell [print this page] T-shirt maker Threadless will design for Dell
Threadless announced on Thursday that it had partnered with Dell to offer 11 of its designs on the lids of Dell Mini or Dell Studio laptop PCs/dell laptop battery. And on Monday, it will announce a separate venture to offer six of its designs, including two new ones, on high-end Havaianas flip flops.
The partnerships highlight moves to extend the Threadless brand and the artistic expressions of its 80,000+ artists beyond the well-known T-shirts. Company executives also have had discussions about putting designs on water towers, beverage containers and integrating them into video games.
For both the Dell and the Havaianas deals, Threadless queried its community members about their interest in such ventures because the company wants to steer clear of becoming too much of a mainstream corporate venture.
"That was part of the consideration for us, whether a corporate company like Dell is the right brand for us," said Cam Balzer, vice president of marketing for Skinny Corp., Threadless' parent. "There have been situations where big chains wanted to use our designs and we said it doesn't feel right."
Dell, however, had a connection with the company. Tom Ryan, Skinny Corp.'s CEO for the past two years, previously worked at EMI Music Publishing with Rachna Bhasin, Dell's general manager of strategic partnerships and personalization.
Threadless selected some of its designs that it thought would reproduce well on laptop cases/dell laptop battery case, and asked the 32 artists if they could show them to Dell. "Within 12 hours, we had positive and very enthusiastic responses from 30 of the 32 artists," Balzer said.
The 11 designs selected by Dell feature a diversity of artwork and artists, and additional designs will be added as the long-term partnership evolves, Bhasin said. The covers will feature the artist's signature in the lower left land corner and the Threadless name in the lower right hand corner.
Participating artists also receive a licensing fee for agreeing to let their designs be used on laptops or flip flops/laptop battery.
