SpreadShirt.com
Revision as of 13:58, 12 November 2007 by Toastyle1210 (talk | contribs) (→Unternehmensinformationen)
Idea
Design, buy and sell custom apparel
Logo
Concept
Spreadshirt allows private individuals and commercial organizations to set up online merchandising quickly and easily and thereby enables them to benefit from their personal brands, respectively the popularity of their websites. Within a few minutes, users can create an online shop with customized merchandise and integrate it to their websites.
The only requirements for starting up a shop are an internet connection and graphic files for designs and logos. Spreadshirt takes care of the rest: from production, shipping, payment processing to customer services and all online tools necessary for selling merchandise online.
In addition, Spreadshirt offers the "Spreadshirt Designer" shop for anyone wanting to create their own shirt with the design and text of their choice. In just a few clicks, customers can design and order their customized apparel or gift.
Facts and Figures
Over 300,000 internet users - from private individuals, companies, organizations, sports teams to bands and artists - have become Spreadshirt shop partners. They have access to over 80 merchandising articles available for customized printing.
Each week, about 30,000 new designs are submitted to the Spreadshirt platform.
About
In 2002, Spreadshirt was founded in Leipzig (Germany) without the use of external capital. Today, the company employs more than 250 people.
Spreadshirt´s HQ is still located in Leipzig – however, additional European offices have opened up in Berlin, Krakau (Poland), Cork (Ireland), Paris (France) and Utrecht (Netherlands). You can also find branches of Spreadshirt in the US which are located in Greensburgh and Pittsburgh.
Since 2006, Europe´s biggest ongoing design-contest for t-shirts "LaFraise" is part of Spreadshirt.
Executive Board
- Jana Eggers (CEO)
- Lukasz Gadowski
- Matthias C. Spieß
- Michael Petersen
- Chairman of the Supervisory Board: Rezzo Schlauch
Awards
- OnlineStar 2006: Sonderpreis "Gründer des Jahres" für Lukasz Gadowski
- Europe's Top 500: Platz 5 der wachstumsstärksten Mittelständler Europas, Nr. 1 in Deutschland
- Red Herring 100 Europe Award 2006: Aufnahme in die Liste der 100 innovativsten Unternehmen Europas
- Deutscher Internetpreis 2005: Auszeichnung des Bundesministeriums für Wirtschaft und Arbeit
- Mitteldeutscher Unternehmer des Jahres 2005: Auszeichnung Arbeitsgemeinschaft Selbständiger Unternehmer & des Bundesverbands Junger Unternehmer
- HP Business Innovation Award 2004
Contact
Spreadshirt, Inc., 1572 Roseytown Road, Greensburg, PA 15601 (USA)
E-Mail: 
Phone: 1.877.202.0251
Spreadshirt Websites
Spreadshirt Blogs
Additional Information
All internet start-ups have shortcomings but few have squandered their potential in more ways as Spreadshirt has. Spreadshirt used to be the little European company that could, with their site anyone could open a store and make decent quality t-shirts however this fine idea was poorly managed and it is quickly loosing its foot on the market due to a series of very serious and widely publicized marketing errors. More recently they committed what amounts to internet suicide with their inexplicable "relaunch" of a new convoluted and slow interface. Currently the new Spreadshirt website is literally impossible to navigate.
Spreadshirt is very good at blowing their own horn as one of the most successful start-ups in Germany and they did grow considerably fast in earlier years, however, they retained their focus on selling their own products and ignoring their most important sources of income, the individual. They failed to tap into the marketing power of each shop owner and by limiting themselves to one product only they also failed to grasp the success of similar companies like Cafepress and Zazzle.
Despite their modest success in Germany they were never able to adapt to the American market which is more profitable but also more demanding. Spreadshirt costumer service and management in America consist mostly of young and inexperienced employees. Their USA offices are completely dependent on their German counterparts and they act mostly as a façade with little or no managerial significance. The end result is that American shopkeepers are ignored and lack the attention and client pampering required to drum a serious business.
Spreadshirt used to sale products that appeal only to a very young audience as reflected in the dominance of Junior sizes, this limited their appeal greatly to a MySpace-like crowd ignoring the more larger and profitable adult market. It is not clear if Spreadshirt will be in business much longer, their latest management decisions indicates they have lost interest in supporting the individual artist branding and they are aiming at just selling their own canned products again.