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As far as I’m aware Split the Atom was the first design contest site here in the UK. No doubt people were sceptical when it launched, that it wouldn’t offer enough value adds to switch from Threadless. When Split the Atom launched I was suprised at how good the site was, the design was slick and it had some nice features such as Submission Categories, Designer Says etc that were missing in sites like Threadless or La Fraise. I think it misses a trick or two in not including more Virtual Community functionality to encourage repeat visits, the brand has a lot of potential.
Now the site has been live for over three months I checked in with Ant, the sites creator to see how its going. The full post has an interview, store information and highlights from the Split The Atom T-shirt portfolio.
About Split the Atom
Contact: info@splittheatom.com
Shipping: Prices are reasonable and can be found here
Price: £15 a tee
Promotions: None at present that I know of, add a comment if I’m wrong.
Products: Just t-shirts
What led you to start up the site?
Like most people, I long ago came to the conclusion that: A. Commuting sucks B. Creeping to your boss sucks more. C. People telling you what to do sucks the most.
- So I wanted to start a business that I could run on my own. I wanted the flexibility to do what I want, when I wanted to. And to know that when I’m putting in the hard work – and the hard work pays off – it would be me getting the benefit.
As for T-shirts: they seemed as a good a thing to sell as anything else.
What do you think it offers over larger sites like Threadless?
If we’re talking about Threadless: Split the Atom offers its primary market (the UK) a better quality product at a seriously competitive price with a much faster delivery time. (If there are larger UK sites of a similar nature, then I am yet to come across them.)What do you say to those that label Split the Atom as a Threadless clone?
Well, I would certainly shy away from the phrase ‘clone’ (I think Split the Atom has a character and identity all of its own) but I do concede that this whole T-shirt-design competition concept originated with Threadless (or, at least, that’s how I understand it).
I want to sell T-shirts. And the ongoing T-shirt design competition format just seems to be the most exciting and novel way to carry it that out. I don’t expect to win kudos for originality, and I don’t claim to be an innovator. But, to be honest, I doubt if I would have invested money into a wholly original scheme. It would have been too daunting. I needed a reference point.
What did you envision it would become before you set it up, how has this differed from what the site has become?Woody Allen can’t watch his own movies. They’re so far removed from what he had envisioned that it makes him bilious. (He hated Manhattan so much, he asked his film studio Warner Bros. not to release it.)
But I can’t say that anything like this happened with Atom. (It’s all pretty much how I imagined it. Except maybe it’s a little more hard work than I had originally thought.)Do you plan to setup an affiliate scheme?
Yes. We do have a second phase for the website planned, and a grand affiliate scheme is on the cards.
We’re very keen to utilise the site user as an activist for the site – to abolish the sterile status quo of retail. And we’ll be making big strides in this direction.How many submissions have you received?
As of this moment: 363 Approx how many tee’s have you sold so far?
A lot.
There are a large number of design contest t-shirt sites now with Threadless, La Fraise, Limescreen, Sub Edition. Do you think the market is saturated?Well, there are a fair few out there – and some are better than others. But I like to look at this a different way: at its purest level, Split the Atom is a shop that sells T-shirts (same with Threadless and La Fraise). So, I believe, the question should be: is the market for T-shirt sites saturated?
This answer is probably ‘yes’, and I think it’s the sites that have embraced the Web 2.0 ethos, such as Split the Atom, that will have a better time of it (if only because they will have the finer T-shirts, better word of mouth, stronger SEO and greater customer loyalty).
Where do you think the format will go in the future?
I’ve no idea. But I hope I’ll be in the thick of it.
What do you think the site offers over the make your own sites like Spreadshirt?
To put it into bland patronising corporate speak: Split the Atom is a brand. And a brand is something that the customer puts faith and trust into. A brand inspires confidence. It acts as an arbiter of quality, and is thus reassuring to the customer.
The DIY (vanity publishing) sites are great, but they are a totally different, almost anarchic proposition. A customer knows they are going to have to do some serious rummaging to find quality. (It’s like trying to find great music on MySpace. OK, you might unearth another Artic Monkeys, but who’s got the time to wade through mediocrity?)
What plans do you have for the site in the future?
To print and sell a metric ton of T-shirts a day.
Thanks Ant for taking the time to do this interview and good luck with the site!
