Emptees - my new bible

I can't even recall how I came across this site, but man I'm glad I did. Emptees is a site for t-shirt lovers/designers to share their work, whether it is a finished piece, work in progress, up for vote or up for sale.

"Emptees is a place where the world’s best designers and tee enthusiasts can come together on common ground to show off, talk about, and love tees."

So, if you're a big fan of the old T and want to know more (or you're a little curious, go on - take a look) - then here is a run down of what Emptees is all about (and my favorite bits)...



TEES

Ok, so this is the main reason most of us would meander over here - any excuse to show off your work is always popular. What I like about this set up is the great format, a nice big rectangle to show off your design up close and a photo of it on a model, whatever.

The site is clean and easy to browse which is always an important thing - too busy and unclear and I don't want to bother looking quite frankly. This has just the right balance/number of thumbnails and filter options - I don't feel like I'm endlessly clicking hoping to see enough or that there is too much to wade through, and the filter options are the same.

I've started flicking through here when I need inspiration and to research what's out there at the moment. Because you can see designs from all points of production it gives you a great cross section of current trends and what's selling.


PEOPLE

A round of up of all the designers on the network. You can search here for other designers by how many tees they've designed, how popular their tees are, who gets the most views or comments, and who writes the most blog posts (plus the usual recent and alphabetical options).

Which may see irrelevant at first, but by using this you can find out who is the most successful, what their designs are like and subsequently why they are a success (ask them if you can't figure it out!). Very handy.


RESOURCES

This is another favorite section - and a great one if you want to fly in quickly to get some ideas and advice to aid your pondering and scheming. Read articles on the tee industry, how to get started, common pitfalls, how to produce tees...there is a wealth of free advice and information here.

There are also resources to download, such as t-shirt templates, HTML layout codes, legal documents and photoshop brushes. Plus there are links to anything of interest that's t-shirt related.


TALK

Everyone loves a forum. This is where to head for discussion about tee - divided into Chat, Hype, Exchange and News. There is a summary of latest and popular topics on the homepage (alongside recent articles and new members).

I am also impressed by the types of advertisers on this site and the unobtrusive nature that have on your interaction with the site. Advertisers tends to be printers, distributors, online store set-up partners etc - things that are actually relevant and interesting to a t-shirt designer.

So this is going to be my big reference tool from now on. It's already helped me to do some research and get the imagination flowing. It's also good to know there is somewhere easy to reference and get advice if and when I should need it.

www.emptees.com

Do you know any good tee sites for designers? Wanna share the link?