I recently visited the worldwide headquarters of Threadless in Chicago and took a boatload of pictures. I’ve been to the offices of many startups, but few compare to Threadless’s offices in coolness.
Walls covered with graffiti.
src=”http://files.guykawasaki.com/blog/img/Slide3_2.jpg” />
An “office” in an Airstream trailer for recording podcasts.
Inside the office recording a podcast.
Interior offices.
Multiple ways to kill/maim/amuse yourself with motor vehicles.
Many ways to amuse yourself when you need a break.
Various macabre things.
Lots of things lying around
.
Various parts of the human anatomy.
Even some shirts.
The world’s largest non-retailer collection of coffee flavors.
The Threadless sticker collection.
My debut as a model.
The shirt is called “Sacrifice,” and it was designed by David Habben
wow, that is crazy. Almost not a single working desk in the entire office…
You have a typo in the link to Threadless (ttp://…)
Guy Kawasaki bei Threadless
Guy Kawasaki war zu Besuch bei Threadless. Ein Startup, der ausgefallene und coole T-Shirts und co. ber das Internet verkauft. Scheint ein lustiger Haufen zu sein
Weitere Infos und mehr Bilder gibt es auf dem Blog von Guy Kawasaki…
What is this long thing above the sentence “Many ways to amuse yourself when you need a break”?
A very interesting office, indeed!
What’s most impressive about this post is that you are letting your hair grow—and it makes you look not much older than these Threadless kids. Vigor by Osmosis. You must be living right!
Hi Guy,
There’s a missing “h” in the threadless url: “ttp://…”.
Great photos, thanks!
Did anyone there (at Threadless) ever work at the Chiat/Day Venice office (the original one)? The Chiat guys had an Airstream meeting room and a Honda car that was also a meeting space. The vibe at Threadless seems very similar. Guy, you probably know Lee Clow – was he the design consultant?!
I’ve been buying their tshirts all this time and had no idea what their offices look like. I do remember a few things some of their designers mentioned (like Oliver Moss) but they never posted pictures. Kudos to you for doing so :)
Man, that is awesome, Guy. Now to go to Threadless and buy some more shirts!
This looks like an interesting place to work.
Guy Kawaksaki talks about the coolest office for the T-Shirt maker ‘Threadless’. I have worked in a startup where we had the cool office, masseuse, all the drinks/fancy coffee you could take etc. etc. It was very cool. But eventually
Seems a little too urban high school for me.
Maybe I am getting old, but then again I smashed my shoulder into a fence catching a fly ball last night.
There’s nothing wrong in having an office reflect culture and product. It just all seems like they’re trying too hard.
Thanks for the insider look!
How they ever get work done? who knows…much be all that coffee!
HA — you weren’t lying when you said you modeled a shirt. Neat to see your mug on their homepage :)
Thanks for this glimpse inside the walls of Threadless.
Guy,
Here’s a link to the original owner of that Airstream Bambi. He is located in Crawford, WA. News sure travels quickly.
Oops!! Forgot to include the link. Here it is:
http://www.airforums.com/forums/f161/airstream-podcast-studio-32680.html#post392547
I think Threadless could afford a better kart, the amount they are making ;)
Lookin’ good, Guy! I pink puffy heart Threadless. Tis nice to see they’re having exactly much fun as I suspected.
Guy,
Do they have their office set up like that to help them recruit Gen Y candidates, retain their Gen Y employees, both, or something else?
Seems to me that offices like that would be a pretty powerful recruiting and retention tool but hopefully they are also being mindful of the need to get their work done. Some people thrive on intense work demands and need the distractions to relieve the stress while others who trend more towards ADHD get so distracted by all that stuff that they can’t get anything done.
“Do they have their office set up like that to help them recruit Gen Y candidates, retain their Gen Y employees, both, or something else?”
We have our offices set up like this because that’s how we like it! That question makes it seem so contrived. We almost never hire (except for the warehouse) and almost never lose employees. Beyond that, we’ve never really had to attract anyone. 99% of our hires were people we already knew. Some comments on here make it seem like we have our office this way for a “reason” but the reason is really “why not?”. Our good friend is an amazing artist and we have tons of walls so we let him do his thing. The rest is a mix of crap we’ve bought over the 7 years we’ve been around. As far as getting work done – it takes a special type of person who can concentrate in chaos… but that’s the type of person who belongs at skinnyCorp :)
Guy, is that dog real????
Nice pics.
Very nice images… and a nice blog too! Stumble across your blog through googling.
Nice – makes up slightly for the lack of their own pics since the move!
i don’t really want to understand the essance of something so fun from a businuess perspective:) i just want to smile:)
This is sweet, just like truemors (or maybe the exact opposite).
I totally love it.
When I first saw the pictures, it seemed like the design was a very organic thing, not contrived, as some folks thought. The second that someone says “how can we design an office space that attracts Gen Y employees?” they are doomed.
And I agree, the hair makes you look 10 years younger. :)
What’s with the caption above the photos?
That is not very useful.
Hey, a husky, I got one too: one of the best dogs!
Wow – now THAT is a kick butt office! We’re from Southern California so all we’d be missing is a skate ramp.
Love the ink work as well. Did they inspire you to get a tattoo, Guy? ;-) A big hockey puck would seem fitting…
Thanks for posting your photos.
I vote on the t-shirt submissions
at Threadless’ website almost every
day, but I don’t get to see much of
what it looks like at headquarters.
Great pics, Guy. That looks like the dream place to work at. The only thing that I would think that could be added to their office is a Threadless company logo Wallhog.
-Scott at Wallhogs.com
Looks like one of the few places where they can laught at Office Space and not feel bad about it
The lack of computers and all the time spent on graffiti could explain why they never reply to emails about missing orders.
What a fantastic office and what an awesome blog. I will certainly be following.
Mark Bowness
Great post Guy! You have to hand it to Skinny Corp those guys have seriously got it figured out…
I am looking forward to the threadless label coming out with its own tee’s, I think they are currently using Gildan™ and the neck stretches out too easy!!!
“I am looking forward to the threadless label coming out with its own tee’s, I think they are currently using Gildan™ and the neck stretches out too easy!!!”
actually, we use fruit of the loom for guys and american apparel for girls. gildan makes terrible tees! anyway, check out the threadless site on monday for an announcement about the status of our proprietary brand of tees. :)
This is dope! I hope I can eventually get a job with a fun working environment like this :)
I love Threadless though I do not always get all the messages on their shirts. I sometimes put postings of shirts I like on my blog (via their affiliate program). I am glad to see that someone is enjoying their job. Obviousy, you had a fun tour.
Interesting pics.
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Express Lane for 5/29/2007
Threadless is an innovative apparel maker who has built a fantastic online community and delivered great products. Guy Kawasaki has visited their office and brought back some photos of their awesome pad.
Last week at Big Box Watch, I compiled a wrap …
I was worried about the dog too!!!!!
What a great environment to work in. I am afraid it won’t work in my environment of education though!!
Maybe in the staffrooms eh?
Munka, hely
Guy Kawasaki elment és megnézte a threadless pólógyárosok munkahelyét, majd egy nagy csomó fotóval körítve beszámolt róla. Érdemes végigpörgetni a képeket és ámuldozni, majd szívfájdítva összehasonlítani a saját munkahelyeddel.
…
Very cool pics, that looks like a fun place to work.
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