Guy Is Nude No More

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.

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

Comments

[Dave]

Very cool pics, that looks like a fun place to work.

[工控展览网]

I now know where I should be working.

[Las Vegas Shows]

Doesn't this company have a store in Las Vegas? If not, the shirts are still cool stuff.

[James from rainy Wales (UK)!]

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?

[Karen is Thrifty]

Interesting pics.

[thebluestbutterfly]

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.

[Jennifer Lee]

This is dope! I hope I can eventually get a job with a fun working environment like this :)

[GordonGraham]

I've always enjoyed your blog Guy from day one! Great photos! The one with you sitting with the red top and the slightly longer hair has a definite '70s look to it! No kidding! You look pretty youthful in it! So, why don't you give us a "Guy Kawasaki's Top Ten Nutrition Tips for Entrepreneurs?"

[jeffrey]

"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. :)

[Chad / Cleanup Crew]

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!!!

[Mark Bowness]

What a fantastic office and what an awesome blog. I will certainly be following.

Mark Bowness

[Leeps]

The lack of computers and all the time spent on graffiti could explain why they never reply to emails about missing orders.

[Steven C.]

Looks like one of the few places where they can laught at Office Space and not feel bad about it

[BIG scott]

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

[helo]

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.

[Johnny Chan]

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...

[Travis]

One of the most creatively inspirational companies out there.

Guy,
Pick up a copy of the latest Business 2.0. They feature a three page article on Threadless.

[milo317]

Hey, a husky, I got one too: one of the best dogs!

[huphtur]

What's with the caption above the photos?
That is not very useful.

[Pamela Slim]

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. :)

[Team Tutorials]

This is sweet, just like truemors (or maybe the exact opposite).

[i carnt spel]

i don't really want to understand the essance of something so fun from a businuess perspective:) i just want to smile:)

[Andy]

Nice - makes up slightly for the lack of their own pics since the move!

[BMW_ORG]

Very nice images... and a nice blog too! Stumble across your blog through googling.

[Adrian]

Guy, is that dog real????

Nice pics.

[Jeffrey]

"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 :)

[SPAX]

Very cool post.

Very interesting pictures.

Peter :-)

[shaz]

lol great pics really wake me up on a sunny morning

__________________________________________
http://www.islam4me.co.uk
A journey of a young, UK based, Muslim

[Steven Rothberg, CollegeRecruiter.com]

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.

[Michael A. Banks]

Nice! Reminds me of visiting Procomm back in the 1990s--a whole section of the first floor packed with F1 racecars. Were you ever there?
--Mike Banks

[Mir]

Lookin' good, Guy! I pink puffy heart Threadless. Tis nice to see they're having exactly much fun as I suspected.

[Emad Hassan kenona]

The comments made the nations culture became close and the knowledge is very important for human being

[Mary-Ann]

I think Threadless could afford a better kart, the amount they are making ;)

[Mike Young]

Oops!! Forgot to include the link. Here it is:

http://www.airforums.com/forums/f161/airstream-podcast-studio-32680.html#post392547

[Mike Young]

Guy,

Here's a link to the original owner of that Airstream Bambi. He is located in Crawford, WA. News sure travels quickly.

[Brian Lash]

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.

[RC of strangeculture]

Thanks for the insider look!

How they ever get work done? who knows...much be all that coffee!

[Craig Gibbs]

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.

[James]

Man, that is awesome, Guy. Now to go to Threadless and buy some more shirts!

[Andrea]

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 :)

[Mike]

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?!

[Paulo]

Hi Guy,

There's a missing "h" in the threadless url: "ttp://...".

Great photos, thanks!

[Cornwall SEO]

I now know where I should be working.

[David Bach]

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!

[anty]

What is this long thing above the sentence "Many ways to amuse yourself when you need a break"?

A very interesting office, indeed!

[Thomas Schimana]

You have a typo in the link to Threadless (ttp://...)

[Niklas]

wow, that is crazy. Almost not a single working desk in the entire office...