This article was published on January 8, 2013

Kids clothing club Wittlebee offers exclusive designs to its customers with new Threadless partnership


Kids clothing club Wittlebee offers exclusive designs to its customers with new Threadless partnership

Kids clothing club Wittlebee has announced that it has partnered with online t-shirt design company Threadless. In a Facebook post, Wittlebee founder and CEO, Sean Percival, said that his company will start shipping exclusive designs to its members all year long. Additionally, they’ll be able to vote on what designs are created next.

Backed by Science Inc., the Los Angeles-based technology incubator, Wittlebee has been quite busy since it rolled out the gate. It operates as a subscription-based children clothing service aimed at relieving the stress parents often have when they need to find new things for their young ones to wear. For $39.99 per month and no contract, customers will get a shipment delivered to their homes with several articles of clothing that they can either keep or return.

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Last summer, the company announced its first acquisition, picking up baby clothesmaker Cottonseed Clothing Company. Through this deal, Wittlebee became the exclusive distributor of Cottonseed’s clothing.

With the Threadless partnership, Percival tells us in a statement: “It’s such a massive honor to work with Threadless and we’re thrilled to access their global community of over 200,000 designers.”

This isn’t the first foray into the children’s scene for Threadless. In fact, it’s website lists custom design t-shirts and clothing for any age range, including babies, toddlers, young boys and girls. However, the partnership with Wittlebee helps to extend its reach into this market. Soon, exclusive Threadless designs will be made available to Wittlebee customers. And to help find the right designs that kids would actually wear and in sticking with the Threadless model, Percival says that in the coming months, customers will vote on which design they think should be produced next.

Threadless has been expanding its reach and designs to other areas besides its website. It has orchestrated deals with Thermos, Dell, and Griffin, to name a few. It has also expanded into other retail companies as well, including Gap, where it is offering 16 mens’ and 10 women’s styles at select stores.

This isn’t the first partnership Wittlebee has made. Percival tells us that the company has been approached by other brands who are finding interest in its growing membership as a new distribution channel that is “superior to retail.”

Wittlebee has raised $2.5 million in seed funding from Google Ventures, Crosslink Capital, Rincon Venture Partners, and others.

Photo credit: Alexandra Beier/Getty Images

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