Started by Jake Nickell and Jeffrey Kalmikoff in 2000 with just $1000, Threadless tapped into a universe that was aching to be found. Here’s how it works: Designers 
upload their t-shirt designs to the website, where visitors and members of the “community” score them on a scale of 0 to 5. On average, around 1,500 designs compete in any given week. Each week, the staff selects about ten designs. Each designer selected receives $2,000 in cash, a $500 gift certificate (which they may trade in for $200 in cash), as well as an additional $500 for every reprint. Winning designs are created, purchased and shipped to all points of the globe… literally.
Threadless also has the unique distinction of “igniting” some of the incredible momentum the Chicago tech scene is currently experiencing, in no small part due to some of the heavy lifting and community “gluing” by co-founder and former CTO, Harper Reed (seen above alongside Mayor Daley), Scott VanDenPlas and several others. Combined, their leadership has contributed to much of Chicago’s and the Ravenswood Tech Corridor’s prowess as a hotbed of innovation and startup activity. Threadless was also a 2007 winner of The Chicago Innovation Awards.
A bit over 10-years old, Threadless was bursting from its headquarters at 4043 Ravenswood, an area where it also held a lease on a larger warehouse space to accompany its growing t-shirt design and distribution efforts. It had been a perfect home, supplied in partnership with a progressive real estate owner who saw good things in the company years back and has allowed Threadless the flexibility to breathe, grow, and above all, be creative with space for the duration. And creative they were… complete with a 1962 Airstream camper (converted into a podcasting studio, of course), a skateboard half-pipe to keep the creative juices flowing, and in-house graffiti master on staff to keep the art true to the Threadless bones.
To accomodate its growth Threadless will move to a combined 45,000 sq.ft. HQ/Warehousing facility at 1260 W. Madison Street Chicago’s West Loop next month. It is a significant move for the company, but a critical one in order to streamline and combine warehousing and operations for an aggressive growth plan moving forward.
Chicago has benefitted greatly as the city that Threadless calls home, a city where they currently employ more than 50 people with plans for more in the future. Threadless’ expansion into its new home is a prime example of how yesterday’s Chicago start-ups, are today’s thriving tech powerhouses, producing the best and the brightest and positioning Chicago as a premier destination for technology.
