47 Online Ongoing T-Shirt Contests

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.

1. 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 goodies

   How often?
   Weekly.

2. 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 $8500

   How often?
   Almost daily.

3. Uneetee

   Prizes
   $1500

   How often?
   Weekly

4. 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
   €1,000

   How often?
   Almost daily.

5. 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

6. 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.

7. Red is White
   The premier Christian tee design contest site.

   Prize: $500 plus royalties after first 250 shirts
   How often? Perhaps monthly.

8. Bang Bang T-Shirts
   British contest site that focuses on pop culture.

   Prize: £100 – £125
   How often? Occasionally.

9. Edo Label

   Japanese contest site with bilingual site (English and Japanese).

   Prize: 50,000 yen + 10,000 yen  store credit.

10. Code Creations
    Organic apparel for you, your baby and your dog.

    Prize: Varies but mainly based on sales.
    How often? Monthly.

11. 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)

12. Scribtee
    It’s connected to the ShirtCity POD.

    Prize: $300-$500 plus $50 shopping voucher
    How often? Twice a month.

13. 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.

14. Allmightys
    One of the first contests where the prizes were based on sales.

    Prize: $2 per shirt sold.
    How often? Occasionally.

15. Cameesa
    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.

16. Ink Fruit
    India based site.

    Prize: 5000 rupees (about $100)
    How often? Every 15 days.

17. 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.

18. Fair and Bare
    British based site also using Fair Trade cotton.

    Prize: £200 plus residuals
    How often? Occasionally

19. Chimpogo
    British based contest site.

    Prize: £500
    How often? It says every week but I don’t think that is happening. Maybe occasionally.

20. Canvas
    Contest for Christian based designs.

    Prize: Up to $400

21. Ink Hound
    Design hats and t-shirts.

    Prize: $2 per shirt
    How often? Weekly.

22. 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.

23. Full Metal T-Shirt
    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.

24. Teepay
    British site imilar to Cameesa in that the tees won’t be printed unless enough people order them.

    Prize: £2.50 per shirt sold.

25. Tilteed
    Another new kid on the scene.

    Prize: $500
    How often? Weekly.

26. Goodjoe
    Looking for designs that inspire.

    Prize: $1 per shirt
    How often? Weekly.

27. Scopial
    Another India based site that attracts a lot of great designers.

    Prize: About $400
    How often? Don’t know.

28. bookis.org
    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.
29. Metal Ink
    Tatoo inspired designs for tees.

    Prize: $700 cash + $300 store credit + residuals

30. ArtyTee
    Not too sure about this one. Seems to be some type of subscription based store.

    Prize: $2 per shirt (up to $100)
    How often? Monthly

31. SwishSwosh
    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.

32. Syckfits
    Another new contest site by the looks of it.

    Prize: $500
    How often? Monthly

33. Badashell

    Prize: $200 + $50 store credit
    How often? On a break.

34. nomoretees
    This is another site in the same vein as Cameesa. If enough people preorder it will be printed. Nomoretees is no more.
    
35. Camiseteria
    Brazil based website in Portuguese.

    Prize: R$800 in cash, R$800 in store credit

36. BlackEyedT.com
    Don’t know how trustworthy this site is. The fact that it is full of comment spam makes me think that it isn’t being maintained. Last update to their blog was in October and that was a cry for help. The tees are not the best designs I have seen so I am not all that surprised they are struggling.

    Prize: $500 cash + $100 store credit

37. Is This Chicken?
    Netherlands based contest wins prize for most creative name.

    Prize: Don’t know.

38. Collar Free

    Two guys got together to set up this contest site that favored graphic tees. Didn’t go so well and they tried to branch out into another business but it looks like they are coming back.

    Prize: Looks like it will be on a per shirt basis.
    How often? No idea.

39. 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.
40. Wooshka
    Australian based site. No recent activity. I imagine it will just disappear one day.
41. Milk Shop Gang
    Australian site with interesting site design. I have never seen any activity on this site.
42. Righteous Enterprise
    Disappeared
43. ice cream t-shirts
    Say they’ll be right back but they’ve been saying that for a bit.
44. Tasty Threads
    Never made it out of the gate.
45. Teeple
    Japanese t-shirt contest. Shut down recently.
46. tFuse
    Had a short run and then seemed to disappear. It is now a “Reported Attack Site”.
47. Caponocca
    So little activity on this site too I am going to assume it has gone under.

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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.

Sale at itself

itself launched onto the contest scene last July with a huge $4000 prize causing quite a bit of excitement among t-shirt designers and bloggers alike but to this day they have only announced 7 winners. That’s less than one a month. You don’t hear to much about them either. They don’t send out newsletters very often and they haven’t even updated their blog since December. It’s like the owners are not that interested in their own business. To be honest, I wouldn’t be surprised to see it just up and disappear one day like Split the Atom.

Anyway, they are having a sale. If you use the coupon, TLSFSPRING25, at checkout, you will get 25% off. This offer is valid until April 2nd. So maybe head over there and see if you can find something you like because sho knows, it may not be around for much longer.

Making Up For Lost Time

Jsheldon has just had his design printed at t-shirt design contest, itself(TM). It is a pretty sweet design and sells for only $21. Or $28 if you want it in long sleeves.

Boom! Another Winner at itself

itself (lower case intentional) is an online t-shirt competition site that just burst onto the scene a few months ago with prizes of up to $4,000. I have been following it closely as my regular readers will know and it is now after the 4th win that I am starting to pick up on what they are going for. The first t-shirt was a very interesting design and it was difficult to see what direction itself would be heading in but after that there is a distinct pattern. The last three t-shirts, including this one of course, are all cute, pretty and fun. I like the designs. I do but I think we need some more masculine designs because it’s us blokes who are buying t-shirts online not girls (I have nothing to back this claim up except for my powers of deduction).

Anyway, as usual the new design is fun and I am not trying to burst any bubbles. Har-de-har. The artist is PauloBruno and I am sure we will see even more of his work at the competition sites from now on.

Draco Wins at itself

I had noticed the two designs by Draco at itself and I was pretty impressed. In fact I was the first person to post a comment on the two pieces so I wasn’t all that surprised when I saw that his Pandora’s Box design was selected as the third winner at design contest itself. It is a very pretty design printed on a green t-shirt. I am sure it will be more popular with girls than boys though the manga styling will surely get the geek attention.

He wins $1,750 cash and $250 in store credit with the possibility of doubling that if it is reprinted. The prizes and itself are pretty sweet.

After this win I decided to check up on Draco and I discovered that he is an old hand at these t-shirt design contest and that he is a prolific artist racking up wins all over the place including industry leader Threadless, new powerhouse Design by Humans and his Camiseteria from his native Brazil. Below are a selection of my favorites.

This first one is called Good Seed and not only is it a cool t-shirt it is for a good cause. Good to know that Draco is not all about the dollar. Check out the Common Threadz homepage for more information.

Magic is a very funny image and typical of the humor that can be seen over at Threadless but this is available at Pampling.com which I guess is a Brazilian site. You can use Google translate to help you get your shirt though. It would indeed be a great magic trick for a rabbit to pull a magician out of a hat.

This kitten bondage design is hilarious and I don’t know what the caption is. I can guess though. It’s available at European design contest site La Fraise.

The Legendary Smell of Flowers… is available at Design by Humans and I like the fact that the design doesn’t take up most of the t-shirt. The design is awesome too although I am not too sure what the message is. Here in Japan though where hayfever is such a big problem I can almost see this happening in the future. As of writing though it appears to only be available in XL and XXL.

Warning Fisherbot! is available at 2 Many T-Shirts which may also be a Brazilian site. Back to Google Translate. I like this one because of the retro modern feel. What’s with the oxymoron you may ask? Well, it reminds me of the future vision as seen in Bladerunner. You dig?

Beat Up Angel is a great piece that I have seen before. You can find it at Uneetee. The t-shirt speaks for itself.

This next one is actually sold out so if you want to get your hands on one go over to Threadless and request a reprint and hope for the best. It does happen.

Chimp is a very cool and funny design and one of my favorites. No matter what he is attempting to do we are dealing with one smart chimp here. The question is how smart?

The final one I chose is quite different in style from the others and I chose it really to show Draco’s range. I also like the muted colors of this design. It is also available at Camiseteria.

You can find more information about Draco, his t-shirts and his art on his website.

Wotto. On a woll.

Scottish designer/artist Wotto aka Craig Watkins is on a roll at the moment. His design was recently chosen by itself, the new Turkey based ongoing t-shirt contest, as their second t-shirt. A few days ago his design was also chosen by Bang Bang T-Shirts and today it was announced that he won the Design by Humans contest. He is also a previous Threadless winner although as of writing this post there was only one kids t-shirt left.

Wotto has a very distinct style and the theme of the Design by Humans t-shirt (The Assassin’s Birthday) is similar to the itself t-shirt (Never take candy from a strange thing). There is a monster, that is kind of cute, but probably dangerous. The Assassin though seems much more threatening than the strange thing.

Oddbod at Bang Bang T-Shirts while maintaining a recognizable style is a different kettle of fish. It is just plain cute. Or is it? It costs £13.99 and ships free internationally.

Below is is the Threadless T-Shirt of which their is only one left but the great thing about Threadless is that you can request a reprint and if the demand is their you may be in luck. I am sure too, that as wotto’s fame grows, so too will the demand for his shirts and art.

You can follow wotto’s adventures and find out more about his designs and t-shirts on his blog. I’m sure we’ll be seeing a lot more of him.

itself Announce Second Winner

The new ongoing t-shirt contest site has announced its second winner. It is a very cute piece although not something I would personally wear. It is called Never Take Candy From a Strange Thing by Craig Watkins aka wotto. It is a rather complex seven color pastel design and images are reminiscent of children’s story books.

I also just noticed this time around that there is a tag on the bottom of the shirt. I assume it is an itself tag. Doesn’t look so bad.

itself Announce First Winner

I mentioned itself before so if you are wondering what the hell it(self) is check out this post. They have recently announced their first winner and it is a pretty cool shirt. It is called More Tape? by Tang Yau Hoong who hails from Malaysia. Congrats on being the first ever winner of the itself t-shirt competition!

As you can see below, the design is a very simple but fun concept and even works as a pattern t-shirt. You better get over there quick if you want to get one though as the first batch is a limited print of only 3000 shirts. LOL. $21 and ships from Turkey I believe.

itself – T-Shirt Competition

Itself it a new t-shirt competition site that I have been keeping my eye on for a while now. I think they officially opened for design submissions at the beginning of June and they now have 190 designs ready and waiting to be voted on. The company is based in Turkey but of course designs are accepted from all over the world and they ship all over the world too.

The prize money is great too. Here is a blurb from their site.

If your design hits the jackpot and becomes the next fabulous itself item, it will be printed at a limited amount of 3000 and you will receive $1750 in cash and $250 in itself-coins. The printed designs will be available within the Limited Designer Collection. If it becomes a hit and the demand gets unstoppable, there will be one more reprint of 3000 items from which you will receive a further $1750 in cash and $250 in itself-coins. But we know that money is not everything for you and that you love success and fame as well. That’s why we will have your name printed on each item your design appears on.

As it is a new site I noticed that some of their links don’t appear to be working but I am sure they will iron out their problems after a while. Below are some of my favorite designs that have already been submitted.