The upcoming Earth Day got us thinking about the planet. Arbor Day has us thinking about trees. And the passing of tax day reminded us we need to make some money. It all comes together in this week's Derby theme. Not only are trees beautiful, fascinating, and necessary to life on Earth. Our bark-bound, leaf-bedecked friends also starred in some of the biggest early successes for Shirt.Woot. Nature's already done most your work for you - just put those trees into wearable form.

No text.

Close only counts in horseshoes, hand grenades, and this week's Derby. Is the human condition ever more poignant than when it falls just short? Sometimes almost is good enough. But you can't cross a chasm in two leaps; if you finish second in the presidential election, you don't get to work part-time at the White House; and the difference between a delicious steak dinner and a painful bacterial infection is just a question of follow-through. Ask the fourth-place vote-getter in any Derby how much almost is worth. We're looking for your nearly, not quite, just about, all but, purt near shirt designs, to capture the heartache of...almost.

But you'll have to do it with no text. Not almost no text. None at all.

Move over, pirates! There's a new meme mascot stalking the Internet...and it's a long way from being extinct. Have you seen our t-shirts depicting dinosaurs enjoying birthday cupcakes and playing meteor-ball and hiding in shirt pockets and thought "Jeez, I could do a better dinosaur t-shirt in my sleep"? Then put on your pajamas, because now's your chance. Hit us with your best dino-shot so we can jump on this whole dinosaur fad before it goes the way of the, uh, dinosaurs.

No text this week.

You've listened to the soundtrack...you've been served the summons...now wear the t-shirt! This week we're looking for visual depictions, investigations, commentaries, and triumphant riffs on music in all its permutations. Except a tree shaped like a guitar shaped like a tree. It's been done.

Obviously, avoid using the names and likenesses of any actual musicians, unless they're, like, some old composers or something who are too dead and European to sue us.

No text. Thank you! Good night!

The streamlined, futuristic glamour of the Art Deco movement inspired some of the 20th century's most iconic pieces of architecture and design, from the Chrysler Building to Miami's South Beach streetscape to the Gotham depicted in Tim Burton's Batman. Now it's your turn. Splash some stylized geometrical cool onto a t-shirt that embodies all the aerodynamic modernism of the '20s and '30s. The subject matter is up to you, but please keep in mind that Nintendo hadn't been invented yet.

No text this week.

We did it with song lyrics. We did it with movie titles. We even did it with book titles, although many of you didn't notice. Now turn your Bezier tools toward the boob tube for inspiration. Flip through your collection of TV Guides and visually depict, reinterpret, misinterpret, or remix the name of a TV show. As always, avoid copyright infringement, and keep it PG-13.

As in the past, your entry should be called something like "Inspired By Desperate Housewives." But without the Desperate Housewives part, and including the name of your chosen show. Which might be Desperate Housewives. But we've said enough.

Except for this: no text this week.

There was a time when every child wanted to run away and join the circus. Of course, back then, there was no such thing as video games. Or television. Or child endangerment laws. Or plumbing. In context, it isn't hard to understand why someone might be willing to shovel elephant crap in exchange for a free ticket outta Hicksville.

But today's circus isn't about a last chance Hail Mary attempt to create a life worth living. It's about balloons, and popcorn, and three hundred clowns crammed into a Volkswagen. It's about cannons, and the trapeze, and a whole bunch of French guys who dress like Orion slave girls and fold themselves into a giant wine glass while playing "The Best Of Seal". The circus is about fun! Unless maybe it's about a brand new type of confusion that captures the feeling of being a child and having no idea what is going on. Or maybe it's about lions on bicycles.

Rule One: No Text Allowed

Rule Two: If You Draw A Picture Of A Knight And Name Him "Cus" We Get Three Free Hits Even If You Don't Win

If we remember our grade-school geography lessons right, 143% of the Earth's surface is covered by water. And despite what you might think from looking at our past t-shirts, there's more going on there than pirates, squids, and crashing waves. You can shoot one of those fish in that tired old barrel. Or you can take us on a journey of undersea exploration with a creative design that doesn't feature the same subject matter as countless other t-shirts. Voters, are you listening?

No text this week.

Our moderators are going to be very strict about recycled ideas in this Derby. If, say, your pirate shirt uses a similar concept to one already seen here or elsewhere, it will probably be rejected. The safest course: originality.

Sorry about the slow update today, some real life plans jumped in the way and blocked me getting started on the derby on time. Anywho, on to the show.

Wait! Don't give up that resolution just yet. Every day you exercise brings you closer to firmer abs, more defined pecs, a shapelier posterior, a less intense wheeze. And we're here to prop up your sagging commitment with this week's theme. An inspiring stay-in-shape message, a cynical take on the fitness industry, a shirt you'd wear to the gym: work those creative muscles. But don't expect it to be easy. No hurt, no shirt.

Text is permitted this week.

We're announcing this Derby theme on the 200th birthdays of both Abraham Lincoln and Charles Darwin, so let's hear it for the freethinkers. Bucking the accepted notions of their day, Darwin explained how individuals develop in all their infinite variety; Lincoln affirmed their inherent value. If Abe 'n' Chuck had been timid, conventional herd-followers, who knows what benighted world of ignorance and slavery we'd be living in today? Show us your visual commentary on individualism this week. And don't copy off of the Derbyite sitting next to you.

No text.

Derby #81 starts tomorrow at noon! Be there!

We've all felt it. We've all embarrassed ourselves over it. We've all survived it. From lost loves to lost puppies, from spurned romantic advances to spurned romantic-comedy screenplays, everybody's heart has been broken sometime. With the heart-spangled holiday of St. Valentine looming, now's the time to pour all that heartbreak into a t-shirt design. But remember: all but three of you will get your hearts broken.

No text.

Everyone enjoy your week off, set back and root for you favorite near miss entries...

The shirts that wouldn't die are back, clamoring once again for the the attention you denied them before. Now's your chance to take show the Honorable Mentions from Derbies #67 through #78 that you really love them after all. Put down your pen, exit out of your graphics program, and just look at them...so hopeful...so trusting...what kind of a meanie would crush their spirits all over again?

Designers: if you sold or submitted your Honorable Mention design elsewhere, or opted out of including your design in the Double-Take Derby, email us at shirt@woot.com by noon tomorrow and let us know. Any design found for sale, having sold, or submitted to another site for voting will not be eligible for the Double-Take Derby and will be removed from consideration.

Hercules. Gilgamesh. King Arthur. Paul Bunyan. These figures are more than just guys with powerful beards, muscles, and body odors. They're mythological legends, or legendary myths, and they're the subject of this week's Derby. You don't need to go the proto-action-hero route - girlier myths about golden apples and enchanted flowers and stuff are cool, too. All cultures have them, stories and figures seemingly sprung from the collective consciousness of an entire society to express the way those people see the world. Now use these primal archetypes to affect how the world sees your t-shirt.

What do we mean by "myths and legends"? If your subject matter is known to originate with a single author, it probably doesn't qualify. Tarzan and Ichabod Crane are sorta legendary, but they're not what we have in mind here. Nor are we looking for references to Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, Zelda, Mario, or any other pop-cultural artifacts. If this makes it easier, think pre-1600 AD. Except...

The scriptural lore of the currently practiced major world religions is not acceptable subject matter, including Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, and Judaism. We know, we know, you could make a case for any religion being "mythology", but we're not interested in getting into a whole big religion thing for this Derby.

No "urban legends". That's a subject for another Derby.

Some say it boasts a stark beauty all its own. Some say it's a necessary nap for Mother Nature. And some say it's a depressing slushy slog that makes them want to cry as soon as they wake up in the morning. It's winter. And it's the theme of this week's Derby. Show us your best winter-themed design, and remember: it doesn't have to involve cartoon penguins.

No text this week.

No direct resubmissions from previous Derbies. Previously submitted entries must be substantially reworked and have significant new content to qualify. And we mean significant. If you have to ask whether your resubmission is OK, it probably isn't.

What if the confederacy had won WWII? What if Abraham Lincoln had lost the presidential election to Julius Caesar? What if the Wright Brothers had invented the Titanic? These and other ridiculous alternate history scenarios have kept history geeks amused or decades. Now it's time to put them in t-shirt form. Show us a scene from a world where history went differently, or make your t-shirt a relic from this alternate world.

No Nazi references, imagery or figures.

Incidental text is permitted, but no slogan shirts.

Slept in a bit today, first time in literally months! SO derby stats in starting off a little slow... Fear not estimates will smooth out in a few hours.

First things first. You gotta crawl before you can walk. The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. You wanna piece of my heart, you better start at the start. For this first Derby of 2009, we're thinking about beginning, commencement, genesis, embarcation, setting forth, curtain-raisings, kickoffs - the part that has to happen before all the other parts can happen. Put your ruminations on beginning into t-shirt form and it could be the start of something big.

No text.

You're penned in, cooped up, locked down. It's cold outside, it's boring inside. And there's a long winter stretching out before you. Maybe it's you and eighteen in-laws, maybe it's just you and your cats and your Lean Cuisines. Either way, cabin fever is setting in, and you're longing for release. Use this week's Derby as an outlet for your claustrophobe tendencies - or your claustrophile tendencies, if you're into that sort of thing.

No text this week.

This sounds like it could be an awesome derby. I'll be watching this one closely.

This week, you're not allowed to lift your metaphorical pen off your figurative paper. Show us what you can do with one unbroken line. The subject matter is entirely up to you (within our usual Derby rules), but you have to follow these rules:

Everything in your design should be part of the same continuous line. We should only be able to see two ends to your line. Any other line endings sticking out somewhere will be cause for rejection. And no autonomous little design elements away from the main one. Your continuous line should render everything on the shirt.

No retracing the same path. The line should always be distinct from itself, if that makes sense. Don't fill in a space and try to tell us it's just one line that overlaps itself. Don't try multiple line endings on the grounds that the line turns back on itself.

One color only. No changing the color mid-line or using gradients.

Text is permitted as long as the treatment meets all the rules above. If you can draw text with one unbroken line with no retracing, knock yourself out.

Moderating this Derby might involve some judgment calls on our part, so if your design even comes close to breaking any of these rules, back away or risk rejection.

Anybody who's spent ten minutes watching the news knows: we could all use some tidings of comfort and joy right about now. In the interest of starting 2009 on a positive note, we're looking for your cheeriest, twinkliest, upbeatest shirt designs. We want to see t-shirts that will make us feel like everything's gonna be swell, just swell. We want designs that fill us with the confidence to face all the challenges each new day presents. We're pessimistic that any t-shirt can turn us into cockeyed optimists, especially since we don't know what "cockeyed" means. But that doesn't mean you shouldn't try!

No text this week.

This one could be really good, the song and movie title ones were.

Hey, you know the drill from our previous song-lyric and movie-title Derbies: take the title of a well-known book and visually depict, reinterpret, misinterpret, or remix it for our apparel pleasure.

Your title should be something like "Inspired By (Book Title Here)".

And no text this week.

People are reacting to the current economic crisis in one of three ways. Some are cutting back their discretionary spending and socking a little more away in case of disaster. Some are breathing a sigh of relief that the recession hasn't hit them, and going on about their free-spending ways as usual. And some are exploring exciting new career fields like copper-pipe salvage, apple sales, and begging. This week, as America is encouraged to spend for the sake of God and country, we're looking for your screenprinted take on the new cheapness, the skinflint spirit that has seized our nation like an ill-fitting thrift-store trouser. We figure, if you're a Woot shopper, this is a subject you know a thing or two about.

Text is permitted. Use it freely, but wisely.

Oooo this should be a good one.

Hey, cardinal sins fans! Ready for a thrilling week of Lust, Gluttony, Greed, Sloth, Wrath, Envy, and Pride? No, we're not talking about the Madonna-Guy Ritchie divorce. Ba-dum-bum, thanks, I'll be here all week. We're talking about the theme for this week's Derby. Pick your favorite of the Seven Deadlies and bring it to life in (PG-13) t-shirt form. And let us know which one you have in mind in the title of your entry.

No text this week.

Now that Shirt.Woot's average shirt size has gotten smaller with the addition of kids' sizes, it's time to look at other things that are smaller than normal. This week, we want to see your look at a miniature world. Think back to when you were a kid and imagined being small enough to walk around under the fridge. Or that episode of The Twilight Zone where a guy wakes up in a doll house. Or Gary Larson's hat-wearing, TV-watching amoebas. Or ant construction workers driving backhoes and whistling at the ant ladies who walk by. Or the Earth as just one more piece of candy in a packet of cosmic Reese's Pieces. We're talking about huge contrasts of scale, about playing with our expectations of the relationship between tiny things and big things. You get the idea, right?

No text this week.

Starting tomorrow at Noon, head over and vote for your favorite shirts that 'just' missed the bar last go around!

Take a break, shirt designers. We're not accepting any submissions this week. It's time again to pick through the wreckage of Derbies past and unearth an overlooked gem or three. We've nominated our favorite losers from Derbies #52 through #66 for our periodic Double-Take Derby. (The pool includes, but is not limited to, the Honorable Mentions from each week.) Now it's up to you to administer t-shirt CPR to three lucky designs and bring them back from the brink of death. They'll be eternally grateful.

Wow this could be an awesome derby! Looking forwards to seeing the designs.

In our perusal of the world's artistic wealth, we notice a distinct lack of a certain subject matter that interests us and our associates greatly: video games. Oh, sure, they "weren't invented yet" or whatever, but aren't artists supposed to be visionaries? So it's up to you to correct their oversight by rendering video-game subject matter in the historical art style of your choosing. We're not necessarily looking for parodies of specific works as much as entire schools. From Impressionism to Greek sculpture, from cave paintings to Futurism, from Pop Art to Baroque, show us a masterpiece from the video-game world.

Include the art style in your title. "(shirt title) in the style of Giacometti" or "(shirt title) in a Cubist style" are examples of what we mean.

Stay away from copyright infringement. This is tricky, but 1986: The Legend Was Born is a good example of how you can suggest specific video games without getting us sued. The key is, don't just cut & paste - reinterpret.
Some text is allowed if it is essential to the style you're parodying. For instance, if you're doing a Dali melted-watch thing, or a Toulouse-Lautrec poster, or a medieval tapestry. But no slogan shirts, no speech bubbles (sorry, Pop Art fans), no captions, and no shirts where the main concept hinges on the text. Yes, this is subjective. We will be enforcing this one strictly. If you're at all confused about this, just don't use text.

With no text allowed this week, the design and artists will get to shine... Make us some good shirts people!

At a time when we're all caught up in the divisions and rancor of this election, it's helpful to take a moment and remind ourselves of all the other things that divide us. Where have you gone, boxers vs. briefs? Say it ain't so, faith vs. works. Come back to the five and dime, irresistible force vs. immovable object. This week, we're looking beyond the mercifully waning campaign season at other dualities in man, nature, and the universe. Show us two opposing entities locked in battle, standing in sharp contrast, or sitting on opposite sides of the fence. They can be as abstract and general or as concrete and specific as you want. I say yin, you say yang - let's call the whole thing Derby #66.

Your title should be "(one thing) vs. (another thing)", so we know what you're getting at. And both sides should be depicted on your shirt. If your title is "Being vs. Nothingness", there better be some prominent empty space in your design.

No depictions of politicians or other actual people allowed. We're expanding our usual "no celebrity likenesses" rule to include political figures, who are usually fair game. More general political statements are OK.

We're running low on both our enthusiasm for, and our stock of, olive and asphalt shirts, so no asphalt or olive shirts this week.

And finally, no text.

Ooooo this should be good... and just in time for my work's Halloween party.

Some people accomplish marvelous feats of engineering and artistry in the pursuit of an amazing Halloween costume: cinema-grade fake armor, extra arms that actually move, that whole shower-curtain apparatus. Well, good for them. This week's Derby is for the rest of us, the ones who don't need the hassle of some elaborate getup but also don't need the hassle of people calling them out at Halloween parties for being the only person in street clothes. Create a shirt that serves as an easy Halloween costume, one you can pull on in two seconds but that also gives you plausible deniability against charges of not being dressed up.

Incidental text only. A nametag or logo is fine. "This Shirt Is My Pirate Costume" is not.

Sorry for the delay, unless you have been under a rock all weekend you prob already know they Derby theme for this week...

Pets! Head over to Shirt.woot.com and get your Derby on!

Way back in Derby #36: Text as Art, we asked you to take words and make pictures out of them. This week, we're asking you to do the opposite: take pictures and make words out of them. Confused about the distinction? This week, think about the classic "animal alphabet"-type children's books, where an alligator's open mouth makes an "A", a slithering snake makes an "S", and a yak's horn's make a "Y". Think about what every kid in America does when they hear the song "YMCA". Think about those aerial photos where a crowd of people stand positioned in clusters to spell words. Illustrations that form text, get it?

No fonts. There are many fonts out there that do this kind of thing. None of them are allowed. You can't just type out some text and call it a Derby entry. Where's the skill in that? Please tattle if you notice someone else doing this, too.

Another week down, another derby down. See you tomorrow!

The banks are failing! The dollar is collapsing! The oil's running out! Now's not the time for luxuries like caution and thought - it's time to PANIC!

Or at least, to design a shirt about panic. You don't have to deal with the current financial crisis - your subject matter could include any moment of blind, unreasoning, fearful urgency. Maybe your boss just asked for that report you forgot to run. Maybe the water's rising outside your car window. Maybe your significant other is checking your web-browsing history. Maybe you're a chicken and your head has just been cut off. (Actually, panic is a pretty reasonable reaction to beheading.) Everybody PANIC!

Prohibited subject matter: Douglas Adams' "Don't Panic" bit, and the band Panic! At The Disco.

No text.

This one is going to be great! be sure to check Shirt.Woot tomorrow at noon.

Our Lyrics Illustrated Derby was such a creative (and, we'll admit, commercial) success that we're doing what any music-industry success would do: taking our act to the movies. Design a shirt that illustrates, re-interprets, or takes literally a movie title without using any distinctive visual elements from the movie in question. In other words, your "Star Wars" shirt can show two stars fighting, but not with light sabers. Your "Iron Man" shirt can show a dude ironing his shirt, but not his metal combat suit. That sort of thing.

Title your entry "Inspired by" followed by the movie title you're illustrating, the same way you did in the Lyrics Illustrated Derby.

Incidental text is allowed.

Another week, another derby! Good luck!

Trying to dig out your fall-themed Woot shirt from last year? Let us save you the trouble. It's time again to commemorate that most brisk of seasons, autumn. Sure, it's about leaves changing color and falling off - but it's also about the chill in the air, the brave but melancholy sunlight, harvests of apples and squash and corn. Looking beyond the trees might just lift your design above the leafy masses.

No resubmitted designs allowed, including those that have been altered enough to be acceptable in a typical Derby. We're looking for new designs. If so much as a single leaf is the same from your design last year, it will be rejected. We'll need your help on this one, tattlers. Here's the link to last year's fall Derby again.

No designs dealing with Halloween, Thanksgiving, Election Day, or other specific occasions.

And finally, no text.

Nothing conjures up the feeling of gentle ocean breezes and lush tropical mountains like the distinctive visual iconography of the Pacific islands. Tiki idols and thatched huts, grass skirts and hibiscus, wild pig roasting over an open fire, long wooden canoes carved into intricate works of art, moonlight on the waves: just thinking about it is almost enough to carry you out of your cubicle and whisk you away to the South Seas. There's a reason this exotic, bold, seductive visual style got so big in post-WWII America and remains a retro favorite today. We're not necessarily looking for anthropological accuracy - just designs that use this visual vocabulary. Aloha - and good luck!

No text this week.

Catch you tmrw! Same Derby Time, Same Derby Channel...

Hey, where are you right now? If you're at work, you're surrounded by inspiration for this week's theme. It's work, Morrissey's least favorite four-letter word, every bit as inevitable as death and taxes and sometimes even more humiliating. From the thrill of payday to the agony of mandatory meetings, from clock-in to clock out, from the deepest sewer to the highest skyscraper, work has a billion stories to tell. Find a good one and make a shirt out of it.

Text is allowed this week, but only if accompanied by graphics. In other words, no slogan-only shirts. But text can be a major element of your design.

Submissions open tomorrow at Noon CST, at shirt.Woot.com, see you then!

So I've decided to at least start posting the derby info here for those few that can't see Woot.com from their cubies...

Why, yes, we will be having dessert today. And every day. Be it cake or cookie, pudding or pie, dessert puts an exclamation mark at the end of any meal. When we ponder the question of dessert, an army of confections beckons, the sweet aromas grabbing us by the nose like in an old cartoon, enticing us away from any thoughts of weight-watching and into a world of sugary indulgence. Show us a shirt so delicious we'll eat it.

No text this week. Not some text, not incidental text, not cleverly-disguised text: no text.

Tune in Tomorrow at Noon, CST for the start of the derby!

Head over to BestLosers.com and participate in their badge contest.

They are giving away a $20 Visa Gift card to the best designer of a 'BestLosers' badge to be awarded each week by BestLosers.com and to be displayed here at, ShirtDerbyStats.

So head over and submit your entry!

I've made some adjustments to the estimate code, it will now reflect a little more accurate.

If an entry is not on the new hotness list, I will take the lowest count from the hotness and use that to factor into the estimate, instead of using the previous hotness value for determining the estimate.

This has lowered all the estimates of the fog'd entries, but should reflect a little more accurate.

As always keep the suggestions flowing, with the holidays I'm a little limited on spare time, but never fear, I look at and reply to all the emails I get.

cwarrington@shirtderbystats.com

Thanks for visiting!

As the title says, there are new features, and more on the way. I apologize for the slow pace, work and the upcoming holidays are taking more time out of my day than I would like.

Anywho, for now the newest feature is a Paged view of the 'All entries' list of the derbies.

Now you can easily and quickly view all entrants for the derby. No longer will those promising designs be pushed to the bottom of the list and forgotten.

Also all entry images are now being hosted from ShirtDerbyStats.com

This will speed up all pages.

And don't forget to keep the comments coming.
cwarrington@shirtderbystats.com

Many thanks to derby Two-time 1st Place winner, and shirt.woot forum community member Annie22

She's the one to thank for the fancy new header graphic. She sent along a few others so I'll be changing things up around here to keep things new and fancy.

Here's a look at her winning designs... If you like Zombie Season, click it and take one home for yourself.
(while you still can!)

 

Thanks again Annie!

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Welcome to ShirtDerbyStats.com!

The original shirt.woot stats tracking site. You may notice a lot of new things, as well as a lot of the old things you've come to expect.

Let's get into it with a quick tour.

Use the above Navigation to wander around the site.

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