It seems, that the panel I was part of at SXSW caused a bit of a stir.
How big a stir? Read through the Twitter comments that streamed in during and after (It was a trending topic for a good 3-4 hours). Near the conclusion of the discussion, I got into an argument with Mike Samson of crowdSPRING. I suppose it was less of an argument, and more of me calling him out on things he said that were said to incite me rather than forward the discussion. Clearly he was successful because I lost my cool.
I won’t apologize for what I said. I don’t feel bad about it. I meant every word, and it all came from a good place.
Unfortunately, I know there were a lot of people in the audience who didn’t understand the genesis of the argument and didn’t understand why I was so passionate in my response to cS’ position on their business model’s proximity to Threadless’.
After the panel, and especially after reading the misconceptions and reactions in the Twitter stream from the panel, I felt it would be best to write a post explaining where that passion came from. We’ve all been worked up over issues that deeply matter to us, and like my dad used to tell me, I’m glad I counted to 10 before writing this post.
Now that its been several days since the panel, the adrenaline and emotion generated has subsided. I’ve realized that writing a post filled with examples of how cS uses comparison to Threadless as a way to prove that they’re not doing anything wrong, or telling people that regardless of what I say, Threadless works on a spec model, is pointless.
It doesn’t exactly take investigative journalism to uncover these facts. Just google “Threadless crowdSPRING”. The reality is nothing that I can say will stop them from comparing themselves to Threadless since they have clearly seen success through the brand association to draw in more designers and companies to their “community.” (why else would they do it so often?)
When it comes to our company I have an insane amount of passion. Yes, Jake and Jacob founded the company, but I have been there from the beginning. I have put my heart and soul into skinnyCorp and its community, and when Threadless or the Threadless’ community is misrepresented, its brings out the fight in me.
I have a huge amount of pride in what we’ve accomplished with Threadless and the benefit that we bring to the design community. Creating more opportunities for the artists in our community to learn, grow and interact is our primary focus. Creating more opportunities for our artists to be printed, and thereby having them see a financial benefit more often, is a huge priority for us. Without our community, there would be no Threadless, and no matter how big we get, or old we are (we are going to be 10 next year!), we know that simple fact, and it drives everything we do and everything we have (and will) become.
When a company comes along that consistently represents themselves as a similar business to Threadless, yet in reality are merely a design marketplace focused on transactions (which creates a highly competitive relationship between it’s so-called design community), I get offended.
Let me be as clear as I can be: Threadless and cS not only are not the same business, we will never be the same business.
Our focuses are different; our goals are not aligned. Much like Etsy, Moo or Flickr, our community drives our business, whereas with cS and marketplaces like it, their business drives their community.
It’s not easy to be a designer these days. It can feel like walking aimlessly through the desert in order to find work. And, unfortunately, for many designers, that means there’s plenty of food for the vultures. I just happen to find it more rewarding to have a company that acts as an oasis. That’s the difference, I suppose. Threadless is a company built by designers, for people that appreciate design, so we do everything in our power to make the designer’s experience the best possible.
The sad thing is no designer (myself included) will ever win an argument about cS as long as they keep the focus on spec work and make it an emotional issue. This is a fact that cS is fully aware of. Don’t forget, their main spokesperson online is a lawyer, and it’s to their advantage that the discussion remains about the emotional process their company uses, not the cut-and-dry mechanics of a marketplace.
I encourage you to check out my friend Micah’s post on this subject. He comes to the table with a non-emotional, non-designer’s perspective and explains why as long as the debate is about spec-work, cS will always win.
And with that, I’m done talking about crowdSPRING. It’s a waste of my time to be focusing on such negativity. It doesnt help Threadless’ community or our business, and there are just too many awesome projects at Threadless for me to be working on. BTW, have you seen Charlie’s latest video? Or our community’s latest designs? Perhaps our latest giveaway through our Twitter account or Facebook page? Sorry, but I cant help but be passionate about what we have going on!