Case Study

1. THREADLESS
Threadless, for example, is a hugely successful and iconic consumer
driven company. Customers are invited to submit their own graphic
artwork for printed T-shirts and other decorated merchandise, the
online community then vote for their favorites, and the most
popular designs go on to be produced and sold back to the
consumers as limited editions. This rigorous consumer engagement
process results in popular products that always sell out fast. The
company limits the production of each design as they have no
shortage of innovative, proven popular, incoming ideas. These
limited editions in fact create an air of originality and uniqueness
definitive of the company’s brand.
However back in 2007 Threadless opened their very own retail
outlet in Lakeview, Chicago. Effort was made to construct a three
dimensional ‘brand-scape’ that remained true to the company’s
core identity, with the walls decorated by a blend of the week’s
most popular consumer generated designs. The outlet proved
profitable and plans emerged to develop a chain of stores across
the country, calling into question the future integrity of the
company’s original identity. One consumer wrote on Threadless’
store announcement page, “please promise me that this will be the
ONLY store you will be opening…I’d hate for a franchise to saturate
the market… It kinda takes away from being genuine.” The title of
another post on a Threadless fan website read, “Threadless To
Launch Retail Stores, Everybody Panic…”
The CEO’s reaction to this was that of inevitability. He likened the
company to a popular new band, the core fan base of which moves
on as the band becomes mainstream. Threadless’ consumers,
however, did not abide wholly by this conventional analogy as they
additionally form the core production team; the actual producers of
commercial value. Subsequently the company’s plans for retail
expansion stalled, and in January 2014 the Lakeview store closed

2. down along with the cancelation of plans for other branded retail
outlets. The company announced that they now intend to focus
more attention on developing and improving the web platform to
better serve their creative community.
ANKIT SHA