CollarFree.com Promotes Positive Politics

Nov 1, 2008

Aaron Gilmore and Derrick Castle each won $250 and will receive a 10% commission on the sales of their designs for these two pro-candidate T-shirts.

In terms of politics, it's hard to find a candidate, government official or everyday citizen — regardless of party affiliation — who can keep a positive perspective during election season.

But one San Diego-based T-shirt design and business Web site wants to change that. Roughly two months prior to Election Day, Collarfree.com launched a design competition called "Keeping Politics Positive," which was aimed at sparking political involvement among artists and inspiring them to stay positive when crafting political T-shirt designs. "We wanted a way to promote the election but stay true to our company values," says Jimmy Hendricks, company co-founder. "Our company slogan is 'Fashion for independent people,' and one of our core values is positivity."

Collarfree.com instructed participants to submit stylish T-shirt designs — pro-candidate for either Republican presidential nominee John McCain or Democratic hopeful Barack Obama — to its online voting system. Anyone could vote on the entries, and the T-shirts were ranked and displayed based on their win percentage, which was calculated by adding the positive votes for each design. Voting ended Oct. 6 and a winner for each candidate was announced later that day. Aaron Gilmore won for his Obama-inspired "Words of Hope" typography design, and Derrick Castle came out on top among the McCain submissions with his "Country First" design. Both received $250 plus a 10% commission on the sales of their designs.

Collarfree.com often hosts competitions for designers worldwide, and more than 5,000 users are included in its design community. Find out more about submitting designs at collarfree.com. — S.M.

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