Spreadshirt
Well, I say I moved on to Spreadshirt after Zazzle, but first came MySoti and Printfection, but neither of them have sold anything in years. In fact, when typing this up I checked on Printfection and they've deleted my account due to inactivity. Big loss, I guess. I'm still pretty happy with Spreadshirt, however. They don't have as many weird, random products as Zazzle but they do have one or two features that make them unique among the print on demand stores that I'm familiar with.
One of the biggest differences is the option for vector images. If you're not familiar with digital design, there are two ways to create images on the computer. The one most of us are familiar with is called "raster" and consists of an array of colored pixels side by side forming the end result. Digital photographs are raster images but any jpg, gif, or png file type that you'd use in the average print on demand website are as well. Vector images, however, don't use pixels. They're, well, blocks of color contained within mathematically defined curves . . . if that makes any sense at all. Think of it this way, if you zoom in on a circle in a raster image, the pixels just get bigger and bigger until it starts looking rough and jagged, but a vector circle stays a perfect circle no matter how close you get.
What's the big deal? Well, since a vector image is made of clearly defined shapes, rather than an array of pixels, Spreadshirt can customize the designs with different colors on the fly, rather than having to design, save, and upload a dozen different versions of the same image, each with their own color scheme. In fact, each vector image can have up to three different colors and I can mix and match each of them to create a unique combination that will fit best on any colored shirt they have available. They also have special printing methods that can use metallic, glitter, and even glow in the dark.
The other big advancement is that they provide me with two different ways of selling. First off, I can create shops just like with Zazzle and Cafepress, place my designs on select products, and sell them just like everywhere else. What makes Spreadshirt different is that I can also add the designs themselves to the Spreadshirt Marketplace where customers can search for designs and place them on whatever products they feel like. All you have to do is click that link, select "Choose Design" and search for whatever you like. Unfortunately, it's a bit inconsistent when it comes to finding MY designs. I've Added my online handle, WillLaPuerta in the tags, so if you copy and past that into the search field you should find them all, but at the moment there seems to be quite a few missing. At least my store still works.
After Spreadshirt I set up a store on Spoonflower, which doesn't have any shirts at all.
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