“Spread-X” is an internal training series which we run here at Spreadshirt where our employees spread their specialized knowledge to their fellow colleagues.

These events occur about once a month where the theme covered and participation is completely voluntary. Our fellow Spreaders in offices in Berlin, Paris, Boston and Greensburg can join in on the Spread-Xs via video conference.

Tomorrow at 11 a.m. EDT we will be having a Spread-X about the topic “Social Media” led by fellow blogger Tobias Huber who will be talking about how you can use Social Media to strengthen your brand.

We would therefore like to invite you to join in on this event and watch Tobias’ presentation as we stream it live on Twitcam. The link for the stream (where you can also comment via Twitter) will show up on www.twitter.com/spreadshirt shortly before the presentation starts. (That is, if it all works like we’ve imagined it to :-))

The presentation will cover the following topics:

• What is Social Media (about)?
• How does Social Media impact communication?
• Why is Spreadshirt using Social Media?
• How is Spreadshirt using Social Media?
• What do you have to do with it?
• What else do you want to know?

See you tomorrow!

The official start to summer is just a little less than a month away, well and warmly accompanied by the International T-Shirt Day.

We want to make sure that as many people catch wind of this celebration as possible and are able to plan their own festivities (some ideas which came to mind: Boston Tee Parties, Dry T-Shirt Contests, etc.). So that’s why we are starting off another Blog Safari with the theme “Favorite Shirt”. The idea would be to promote t-shirt designers you might know or expose up-and-coming t-shirt labels and get them some publicity which they might not normally get.

If you aren’t familiar with a Blog Safari, here’s how the whole thing works:

We are calling for all who love t-shirts and want to participate to publish a blog post next Monday (June 1st) with the headline: “My Favorite Shirt” which includes:

• A picture of you in your favorite shirt,
• A link to that shirt’s designer/shirt label/shop where you bought it (if the link is available).
• A reference that the International T-Shirt Day will be celebrated on June 21st 2009.

That means – grab your favorite tee out of the dirty laundry, take a pic with your webcam and if you are better at editing images than typing, go ahead and use the T-Shirt Day Banderole on your image.

It would be really great if you passed along the word so we can cover the widest selection of different shirt designs possible.

P.S. Above you can see me in one of my favorite Spreadshirts: one with a design from LA Lewis. If I had pictures of me in one of my many other favorites, I most likely would have linked to Amorphia Apparel, blend apparel, laFraise, Glarkware, Loukotka or The Tee Party. But, I hope that you guys are able to cover these and many more platforms and designers. Show us and your blog readers what great tees you’ve got!

I love blogging - for me blogging has been an incredible way to share stories, promote causes and sell t-shirts.

T-shirt Magazine has a great post from Anthony Marsh of  http://www.popularthreadz.com and  http://www.teebiz.com about getting started with a blog for your t-shirt shop.  Check out his post -  Get your designs seen by creating a blog for some great tips on getting started.

I also wanted to point out this great video that Glenda Watson Hyatt put together.  I think I first found this video from a tweet on twitter.  But lots of other people have blogged about it in the past week too.   The video is less than 3 minutes long and does a great job showing the power of blogging.

Ever since I saw the post on Fashionista called Street Walker - where they stop people on the street and take pictures of their outfits I have been trying to get up the nerve to stop people on the street and take pictures of their t-shirts. Jana beat me to it. She posted this great picture and story in our fantastic Spreadshirt Flickr Group (Everyone is welcome to post pictures to the flickr group - we want to see your shirts!!!)

One good thing that came out of being forced to check my (mostly legally sized) carry on last week with evil United was meeting this lovely couple. They are just married and happily on their way to Hawaii for their honeymoon. They were a bit surprised when I asked her if she got her bag on Spreadshirt. (It is our eco-tote in black with hot pink flex!) Her husband was bummed he wasn’t wearing his shirt… I let him in the picture anyway. His shirt also says “Marriage is sexy”. Fun font she chose. And thanks to them for indulging me with a pic! I hope Hawaii was all you dreamed!

Congratulations to the Happy Couple!

Shirt Walker: See a great shirt on the street? Take a picture, ask permission first, and send it over to me to post as our next Shirt Walker!

Woo Hoo! I may have mentioned this before but I love free t-shirt. Well I love t-shirts and my job as Spreadshirt’s t-shirt blogger has turned me into a t-shirt loving machine. I am even thinking about a t-shirt walker post, kind of like Fashionista’s Streetwalker but just about finding cool t-shirts on the streets. Let me know if you think that would be a good read.

Anyhow, my new favorite t-shirt blog TeeCycle is sponsoring EarthFirst’s Caption Contest.

Click here to visit Earth First and leave your caption. So far there are only 12 entries so you have a good chance to win.

Thank you to Chris Brogan for reminding me that yesterday was Blog Day. August 31st marked the 4th Annual Blog Day.

What is Blog Day?

BlogDay was created with the belief that bloggers should have one day dedicated to getting to know other bloggers from other countries and areas of interest. On that day Bloggers will recommend other blogs to their blog visitors.
With the goal in mind, on this day every blogger will post a recommendation of 5 new blogs. This way, all blog readers will find themselves leaping around and discovering new, previously unknown blogs.

Here are my 5 blogs that I think are worth a read:

• Militant Geek - lots of t-shirt info and a great Spreadshirt shop. Also has a post with even more info about the Hypercolor shirts.
• Training with Tim - Tim is the guy behind TeeCycle - this is his blog about training - he has some great and informative stories.
• Old Man Neill - I just like this blog and I got to meet John at last weeks Pittsburgh Blog fest. He even blogs about t-shirts - maybe I should send him one.
• Beach Walks with Rox - I think I first learned of this blog from Chris Brogan, but I have been visiting more often. I think Rox is one of the folks behind PodCamp Hawaii too. She has lots of great video walks around Hawaii - check out this post on the skateboarding dog.
• Null Space - Chris Briem is a Pittsburgh blogger and regional economist at the Center for Social and Urban Research at the University of Pittsburgh. He has great posts about different issues - I really like that he uses maps and graphs in his posts.

One of the easiest ways to make a really good looking shirt at Spreadshirt.com is to use text.  There are lots of things you can do with text and no design skills are needed.  One of the blogs I enjoy following on a daily basis is TeeCycle (see my other post on TeeCycle here).  I have even ordered some TeeCycled shirts for my sisters (One sister loves the Strand and the other is a Ski Nut).

Today’s TeeCycle shirt does a great job of using color and text and I think it is worth sharing. This shirt definity makes me want to get off of the couch and move.

I learned about this little contest from the PA League of Young Voters new blog and it seemed like it would be a good fit for anyone who has been designing some t-shirts around election day or as we like to call it “Spreading the Vote.”

VoteHipHop.org is looking for people to talk about “why hip-hop is important to any political change, and what issues are important to you and your community.” T-shirt designs are accepted as entries to this contest!

So just get to designing a shirt for your shop (or the marketplace) and head on over to VoteHipHop.org and enter your submission. You have to be between the age of 18-30.

Prizes:

One winner will be chosen from each category. Winners each get $500, a free trip to a nationally televised awards ceremony, get featured on The Nation Magazine online, WireTap Magazine, Future5000.com and dozens of other syndicated websites.

The Judges Include:

• Talib Kweli - a rapper and poet
• Jamilah King - editor of WiretapMag.org
• Adriel Luis - Founder of iLL-Literacy
• Favianna Rodriguez - Co-founder of EastSide Arts
• Monifa Akinwole Bandele - Executive Director of Change the Game

Check out how some of our great shop partners and a some t-shirt blogs are spreading the word about the back to school sale.

• TrollhattanSaab.net has a great post with lots of pictures of their shirts
• Lolcode.com has a post on their blog - Welcome to Spreadshirt!
• ObeySaget.com serves up the back to school info with a humorous reflection on the end of summer and back to school reading.
• BuyTees.net is showing off some of our new products for fall.
• TeeJunkie highlights a shirt from Teach the Controversy and spreads the word about back to school savings
• That Other T-shirt Blog has a post too.

I found this blog through a link on Hide Your Arms. Congrats to Hide Your Arms on their mention in the Guardian. One of the other blogs that this Guardian Article linked to is the Banned T-shirt Blog - Banshirts.com. (PLEASE NOTE - some of the t-shirts on Banshirts.com are graphic and contain nudity and language that is not family friendly - probably not a good site to check out if the kiddies are around). This is an entire blog about t-shirts that have been banned, since we like to follow t-shirts in the news I thought this would be worth a look.

As I have mentioned here frequently - t-shirts are a form of self expression - I think the idea of banning t-shirts supports the idea that people are using these shirts to express something. There are some really interesting articles posted on Banshirts.com.

• Transformers t-shirt banned at airport
• Iraqi Death Toll T-shirt Banned at Mall
• I Need a Man or a Date T-shirt Banned at Gym

I can maybe see why some of the schools would ban some of these t-shirts. Some of these other shirts don’t seem that offensive and I am surprised they created such a controversy.