Teeshirtsdirect.com
teeshirtsdirect.com is a UK based online clothing retailer launched in 2006 which specialises in custom printing garments to order. They carry over 800 STOCK designs as well as providing the option for customers to upload their own graphics and create their own text, which can then be applied to any of the 48 garments available on the site including T-Shirts and Hoodies. teeshirtsdirect.com is the sister company of wholesale merchandiser Genesis UK.com ltd established in 1973.
Advertising and Marketing
teeshirtsdirect.com makes significant use of social networking sites in their advertising, with facebook, Twitter and myspace playing extensive roles in this strategy. The company maintains profiles, groups, blogs and applications on these and other sites, sidelining conventional paid advertising in favour of these contemporary media. The slogan ‘Be Individual’ often features in their campaigns along with the T-shirt logo by which teeshirtsdirect is represented. The updates the company posts on social networking sites are usually colloquially written and often signed using the acronym ‘TSD’.
Site evolution
Initially the site operated a shop which only offered stock designs to customers but in 2007 it launched two more sub-pages of the shop area. These extensions enabled the customer to upload their own graphics for use as designs, and allowed them to add text to those uploaded designs, as well as adding text to a customisable selection of the already available stock designs. The freedom involved in designing the garments made for a complex site engine and the ‘shop’ seen on teeshirtsdirect.com uses flash technology to deliver this brief. The design process can be monitored at every stage of the garment’s creation, displayed in graphic illustration.
In 2008, teeshirtsdirect.com introduced a re-designed site. The ‘TSD’ t-shirt logo was retained in its branding but the homepage was completely restyled, and the shop, as well as being re-coloured also saw minor modifications to its layout.
The early part of 2009 saw another major redesign for teeshirtsdirect with an additional shop area being introduced to the site. The previous shop area has now been re-branded the ‘build’ area, where the customer assembles their chosen design onto their chosen garment, after first making garment and design choices in the new section of the site, designated the ‘browse’ area. These two distinct areas direct the customer flow through the site but still allow for the customer to go back and forth between the two areas, with their garment and design choices remembered in each place. As well as the introduction of the second shop area, the 2009 redesign also encompassed changes to the overall look of the site, with the new and existing areas being unified by the use of consistent visual themes throughout