Society6 and Threadless Partner to Create New Opportunities for Artists around the World

What happens when you bring together two of the most active artist communities in the world?  We’re not sure, but we think it’s going to be pretty awesome!

Society6 (www.society6.com), an online community where artists connect with unique opportunities and sell their work, has partnered with Threadless (www.threadless.com), an online community-based design company.  The companies are joining forces to create more opportunities for artists around the world to profit from the sale of their work as a variety of products.

The deal includes Threadless purchasing a significant stake in Society6. The two companies will continue to be managed independently and there are no plans to merge at this time.

“This is the first time in our ten-year history that we have formed a partnership of this kind” said Tom Ryan, CEO of Threadless.  “The Society6 guys are a like-minded, entrepreneurial team that shares our obsession with providing new opportunities for artists. We see massive potential in Society6′s approach to connecting a global community of artists to a network of leading retailers to sell products in a risk-free, on-demand way.  We’re excited to accelerate their already impressive growth.”

“Threadless is a company founded on a passion for artists and their designs. It is an honour and a powerful endorsement of our model that Threadless would choose to invest in and partner with Society6,” said Justin Cooper, co-founder of Society6.  ”Through this partnership, we will further expand our retail network, and collectively create as many opportunities for artists as possible.”

The companies will collaborate to empower artists to get their work into the hands of people from more than 150 countries worldwide.

“Today we are announcing our first of many collaborations: the Threadless Artist Shoppe (artistshoppe.threadless.com),” said Jake Nickell, founder of Threadless. “Artists can post their work on Society6 to be considered for this curated line of products available from the Shoppe and promoted by Threadless. Our current design challenge model only allows us to recognise a handful of artists each week. I’m stoked that the Threadless Artist Shoppe increases the number of artists Threadless can recognise, helping those artists earn some cash and reach a wider audience.”

The Threadless Artist Shoppe is just the beginning, and both companies will be looking to their respective communities to help shape future collaborations that support artists.