Thread's Not Dead: The Designer's Guide to the Apparel Industry [Hardcover]

Jeff Finley (Author, Designer)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 19, 2011

What if the most prolific and influential people in the modern t-shirt design scene got together and discussed everything they wish they knew when they started?

That's exactly what we have here.

Thread's Not Dead is the essential strategy guide to the t-shirt design business. Written by successful graphic designer and diy entrepreneur Jeff Finley of the creative agency Go Media. Learn the secrets and strategies employed by the industry's most successful indie apparel designers and brands.

Whether you want to design merchandise for your favorite bands and indie clothing companies or start your own fashion brand, this book has it all. Its goal is to help you dominate the apparel industry. Key topics include design, freelancing, band merchandise, personal branding, marketing, sales, printing & production, retail, business strategy, and e-commerce. Featuring contributions from the people behind Threadless, Emptees, DesignByHümans, Big Cartel, I Am The Trend, Go Media, Jakprints, Glamour Kills, Paint the Stars, Cure Apparel, Fright-Rags, and more!

Editorial Reviews

Review

"The ESSENTIAL strategy Guide for dominating the t-shirt design business." - Jeffrey Kalmikoff, former CCO of Threadless.com

About the Author

Jeff Finley is a designer and co-owner of Go Media. An Ohio native, he has a background in illustration and cg animation and has a passion for business, marketing, social media, and building communities around brands. He's been designing professionally since 2004 and got his start working with punk rock bands and indie clothing brands. Jeff was one of the original members of the t-shirt design community Emptees and won t-shirt of the year in 2007. In addition to designing shirts for major label bands like Red Hot Chili Peppers, Nirvana, and even Britney Spears, he has designed and consulted with several indie apparel brands like Declaration, Disciple, Cure Apparel, Paint the Stars and more. He's also founder of Weapons of Mass Creation Fest, a grassroots art, design, and music event in Cleveland.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 244 pages
• Publisher: Go Media (August 19, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0615523471
• ISBN-13: 978-0615523477
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 0.8 x 11 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #285,151 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Jeff Finley is a designer and co-owner of Go Media. An Ohio native, he has a background in illustration and cg animation and has a passion for business, marketing, social media, and building communities around brands. He's been designing professionally since 2004 and got his start working with punk rock bands and indie clothing brands. Jeff was one of the original members of the t-shirt design community Emptees and won t-shirt of the year in 2007. In addition to designing shirts for major label bands like Red Hot Chili Peppers, Nirvana, and even Britney Spears, he has designed and consulted with several indie apparel brands like Declaration, Disciple, Cure Apparel, Paint the Stars and more. He's also founder of Weapons of Mass Creation Fest, a grassroots art, design, and music event in Cleveland.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A must have for anyone looking to get into the apparel industry! October 5, 2011

By Mackenzie Child

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

So I got this book a couple days ago, and I must say that I am very impressed with Jeff Finely's work. First off, the quality of the print is simply exceptional. But secondly, and more importantly, the content in this book is unmatched for people looking to break into the apparel industry, or even for people already in it looking to grow.

Threads Not Dead goes in depth about many subjects including;

The background of Jeff Finley,

Freelancing,

Designing for Tees,

Design Techniques & Tutorials,

Printing & Production,

Branding & Marketing,

Sales & Fulfillment,

Going Big-Time,

Conclusions & Next Actions

& (My Favorite) Case Studies & Interviews.

Each category or chapter, has many sub-chapters and goes into great detail of each subject. There really isn't many questions (if any) that will go unanswered in this book if your looking to start your own line (but even if there is, in my dealings with Jeff, he will help you out).

The case studies is my favorite chapter. This section goes into the stories and personal thoughts of some of the greats in the apparel industry. Contributors of this fantastic book including the great people from Threadless, Emptees, DesignByHumans, Big Cartel, I Am The Trend, Go Media, Jakprints, Glamour Kills, Paint the Stars, Cure Apparel, Fright-Rags, & more.

So all in all, I highly recommend this book if your looking to break into the Apparel Industry. There is no need to do it trial by error if you can already learn from the mistakes the best in the industry have already made. If your interested in buying it, you can buy the hardcover here on amazon, or the ebook comes with lots of goodies like an audio book, and over 60MB of vectors, textures, etc on threadsnotdead.com.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars The Holy Bible of T-shirt design September 26, 2011

By Patrick Moerland

Format:Hardcover

Ever thought about starting your own T-shirt brand? Jeff Finley, partner at Go Media US, took some serious effort to create the perfect road map for you. In a nutshell, Thread's Not Dead shows both the creative and technical aspects of designing your first T-shirt, how to prepare it for production and make sure the whole wide world knows about it.

Building a strong brand, it's not an easy task, but this book shows how to make it happen, step by step it goes into depth on probably everything there is to know about building a successful clothing company. The book is well illustrated, as we might expect and written in such a way that you just want to absorb it. From creating a strong online portfolio, gathering an audience, reaching out to new clients and building a strong relationship with them, as well as dealing with the legal and creative aspects of the job. It's all there. It will teach you lots about design and illustration techniques as well as how to get them on a t-shirt with all the different possibilities. If that's not enough, throughout the book you will find countless links to useful blogs and websites and lots of contributions from well respected designers and business entrepreneurs. This book is by designers for designers, it chops down all barriers, tells you not to wait another minute and put your ideas to work right now. Yes, you will want this!

My only suggestion is to buy this book first. It's worth the money and probably the Holy Bible of t-shirt branding for generations to come. Great job Mr. Finley.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars VERY helpful May 17, 2012

By Zombie Jake

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

This book was stab in the dark for me. I purchased with little exposure to the author, his blog, or his work. Ultimately it was very helpful in setting up my shirt company. There were sections that didn't apply directly to my company or target audience but I read them anyway for the information. Highly recommend this book.

Only negative for me was the amount of time the author spend espousing participation in the indie clothing scene. This was only a negative because, as I found when attempting to follow the advice, not all target audiences and the associated aesthetics are appropriate on nearly all of the forums he suggested. Reviews were luke warm at best on these sites for my work but were received extremely well on forums that specifically apply to my target audience. My target audience was the hotrod/gearhead community which generally has very different aesthetics and ideas on things like brands.

-Zombie Jake