Kingstrike, a new stock-art site dedicated to T-Shirt design, is offering a new approach to sourcing art for T-Shirt shops and retailers. Instead of commissioning an artist to design a T-Shirt or having a design competition KingStrike allows artist to submit T-Shirt appropriate artwork that clothing companies can license for their T-Shirts.
We chatted with Reilly Stroope, one of the founders of Kingstrike, and asked him a few questions about the project.
An Interview with Reilly Stroope of Kingstrike
Rumplo Thanks for the email about Kingstrike. You've got some great artists in your lineup already -- Ray Frenden, MAKI, and others -- how long have you been working on this?
Kingstrike Thanks! We're very proud of our artist roster. I'd say we've been working on this on and off for close to two years, and was nearly abandoned on several occasions. It wasn't easy but I'm extremely happy with the outcome.
Rumplo This is an interesting, new model for artists and, I image, for retail and clothing shops, too. Would it be inaccurate to categorize Kingstrike as a stock-art company dedicated to T-Shirt design?
Kingstrike That's a pretty good description. The main difference being a curated artist list and that designs can only be purchased once.
Rumplo I can't find any information about what percentage the respective artists receive for the sale of their artwork on your website -- care to give a ballpark field?
Kingstrike Currently the artists choose their own prices and Kingstrike takes a 20% commission.
Rumplo What problem in particular are you solving for the artists you represent?
Kingstrike We give our artists their own spot to put artwork in front of potential buyers that they may not come across naturally. We also provide all the legal contracts so only apparel rights are licensed. The artists keep everything else.
Rumplo What's your take on clothing shops that use design contests to source art, places like Threadless, DesignByHumans and W00t?
Kingstrike I've always been amazed at the amount of great designs created for voting sites. Most of which just end up sitting around and collecting dust. Hopefully we can help get some of those designs out into the wild.
Rumplo We're looking forward to seeing more great designs on Kingstrike and seeing if clothing companies buy into the idea. How do you hope to grow the site and make it successful and sustainable?
Kingstrike If everything goes to plan we'll be attending all the usual clothing exhibits, as well as spreading the word every way we can. We've had some great feedback from apparel companies so far.
Rumplo I know of some big shops like Urban Outfitters already license artwork or T-Shirt designs quite often -- is that the kind of thing you're trying to open up to more clothing shops, large and small?
Kingstrike Anyone and everyone is welcome. We'd also love to break into retail at some point, so if anyone out there is interested in working something out, feel free to contact us.
Rumplo Any fun stories about your correspondences with artists or clothing companies?
Kingstrike Ha ha, other than having the privilege to meet so many great new artists, nothing too juicy.
Rumplo Thanks!
Check out Kingstrike.com if you're an artists or apparel company, it may be just the thing you need!