What Happened to Threadless?
Threadless announced Artist Shops in 2015 and rolled them out to Threadless’s general community in early 2016. Artist Shops, still in existence, allow designers to sell items printed with any design (allowed by Threadless’s terms and conditions) directly to customers and receive royalties on each sale....The shift to a more equitable royalties and rights model removed the gamification elements of Threadless that made the site so addictive to some designers and users... many designers said that the windfall $2,500 prize for winning the weekly design competition was preferable to them and they lost the motivation to submit designs due to the change. That's a pretty dark lesson in human nature.  If you give somebody nothing, they'll judge you by the big payoff you gave to someone else.  If you give them a little more than nothing, they'll judge you by that.  Better to give a few people a lot and give the rest nothing but dreams so everyone will always see you in a positive light.