Company History

May

TeamShirts, brainchild of Spreadshirt, launches a new advertising campaign and expands their sports assortment.

March

Girls run the world! Spreadshirt celebrates the growing success of female Marketplace Designers and Shop Owners on the platform. Two out of our Top 3 Partners were women in 2018, and 7 of the Top 20. (In 2013, there was only 1 female in our Top 20!) Women’s commission income has risen by 157% in the last few years (and men’s by 19%). It may not be closing the pay gap for everyone, but we’re happy about this step in the right direction.

January

A SPOD is born! Drop-shipping service SPOD (Spreadshirt Print-On-Demand) is launched as a Shopify service.

November

Our new CCDO Hanne Dinkel arrives on the scene to help Spreadshirt strengthen customer focus.

August

Don’t panic, we’ve got organic! We’ve expanded our Spreadshirt collection to include a "Premium Organic Line" made from 100% certified organic cotton. Spreadshirt is proud to be the first print-on-demand platform with its own organic product line.

May

Record profits, US growth and new partners make 2017 a successful year: Spreadshirt looks back on a year of almost 15% growth. The Leipzig-based e-commerce company was able to increase its global turnover to over €100 million for the first time and achieved a record EBITDA of €8.2 million.

April

Spreadshirt expands its product range: Posters and wall art are now available on the marketplace and in partner shops. With the introduction of wall art, some 80,000 Spreadshirt partners have new opportunities to market their designs.

February

Spreadshirt expands its headquarters in Leipzig and creates 36 new jobs. What’s more, the e-commerce company is expanding the ground floor of its headquarters by an additional 734 sqm, 600 sqm of which will be offices. In 2017, 36 new jobs were created in Leipzig, and 60 new jobs were created worldwide thanks to healthy growth. Further recruiting is planned for 2018 with some additional 40 staff at the Leipzig location alone.

January

The e-commerce company Spreadshirt takes its TeamShirts brand to four new countries. The business spin-off is now available in Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden. Opening up to these Northern Europe markets is bound to strengthen the TeamShirts division within the Spreadshirt Group. In 2017, TeamShirts recorded a 60% when compared to the previous year.

December

Spreadshirt continues to invest in its marketplace and introduces the Showroom and watermark protection for designers. As part of the overall marketplace strategy, this is designed to help Spreadshirt’s community achieve greater visibility and better sales opportunities.

November

Spreadshirt expands its leading position in digital direct printing and invests 1.2 million in Brother's new GTX technology. With the acquisition of 45 GTX presses, the latest technology in Digital Direct Printing (DD) is now being used at all five production sites worldwide. By processing customer orders even faster and offering high-quality products, Spreadshirt aims to expand its position as the market leader in Europe in the long term.

September

Spreadshirt Manufacturing Polska sp.z.o.o. celebrates its anniversary: Spreadshirt has been producing in Legnica, Poland, for 10 years, thereby creating some 300 jobs in the country. A total of more than 13 million personalized products have already made their way from Legnica to countries all across Europe. A total of 50% of the European production volume is now printed in Legnica.

June

Spreadshirt unveils their latest and most innovative design tool. It was fully developed based on customer preferences; making it super intuitive and fun to create personalised clothing and accessories. The new web app is optimised for desktop and tablets and the layout has changed fundamentally, offering new features that were wished for by customers.

May

15 years Spreadshirt! As we celebrate our fifteenth year, we are reminded that the greatest of successes most often begins with the spark of an idea. Spreadshirt is the brainchild of founders Lukasz Gadowski und Matthias Spieß. What began as a two-man team working from a university basement, has grown into a booming international business with over 750 employees and more than 70,000 active partners.

February

Easy, enjoyable and simple user experience propels Spreadshirt on to Drapers Digital Festival 2017 awards shortlist. The awards thus recognise the new Partner Area, a command centre where Spreadshirt partners manage their ideas, products and shops. After the launch in October 2016 shop registrations are up 28% globally, the number of uploaded designs is up a noteworthy 36% and it has led to a rise in initial sales of over 25%.

January

Philip Rooke, CEO of Spreadshirt, has unveiled the grand plan for the self-expression global ecommerce company in 2017. The mission includes a hyper focused scale up in the U.S. as harnessed by significant and sustained growth in the U.S. partner business and an aggressive plan to consolidate market leadership in the EU.

July

Spreadshirt’s PixelCotton team proudly reveals the release of their new web app called StreamMerch, the first plug-in for Twitch to make gaming merchandise sales highly personalized and interactive. StreamMerch connects streamers and their fans at a whole new level.

December

The new Partner Area is Spreadshirt’s latest technological revolution. This is our Partners’ new creative center where they can launch new Shops and manage their products and ideas. Automated international selling is the most exciting new feature: US sellers automatically reach the Spreadshirt marketplaces in Canada and Australia, EU partners now have access to 15 marketplaces.

October

The free app ‘Spreadshirt Partner’ for Android and iPhone expands the service range for Partners by optimizing the product selection and marketing strategy. The app is available in three languages: English, German and French.

September

Pixel Cotton is Spreadshirt’s new global venture, created to fit the lifestyle needs of gamers. On the interactive website, gamers can find popular video game merch like clothing, accessories and other fan products.

August

Spreadshirt adds a valuable asset to its C-level boardroom by appointing Hugo Smoter Chief Commercial Officer (CCO). The newly-created position has been established to pool e-commerce competence and advance the process of innovation and decision making in order to facilitate sustainable growth.

July

TeamShirts- Spreadshirt’s brand for group orders - has been short-listed to win two prestigious awards: the 2016 Online Retail Awards have nominated TeamShirts in the category “Mobile Site of the Year”, and the 2016 Retail Week Tech & Ecomm Awards for “Innovation of the Year” and “The OpenMarket M-Commerce Retailer of the Year”.

May

Spreadshirt introduces a new commission model for Shop Partners. On top of a 20% Affiliate Commission, Shop Owners can now earn a up to 40% Volume Commission during a two-week sales period. This is a great sales incentive for Partners.

March

TeamShirts launches mobile-optimized Kit Creator in Germany, France and the UK. Spreadshirt’s brand for group orders is extending its services. Groups like sports clubs and school classes can now easily create and order their team products with the Smartphone Kit Creator.

February

Gold for Spreadshirt at the 2016 German Stevie Awards! In the “HR Team of the Year” category, Spreadshirt’s ten-person Human Resources department was honored for its integrated approach to strategic employer branding - from recruiting and employee loyalty to an esteemed company culture and communication.

November

Spreadshirt is meeting the demands of increasing orders by opening a new production site in Krupka (Czech Republic), thereby facilitating the potential for more growth in 2016.

October

Spreadshirt optimizes the social sharing functionality in its mobile Marketplace and in the mobile shop view. Users of mobile gadgets can now instantly share the products they create via social networks and email.

September

Our brand TeamShirts has set out for new conquests. Having been launched successfully in 2014, the group order service is now on the spot in the UK (www.teamshirts.co.uk) and France (www.teamshirts.fr).

August

In opening further stores on the US platform of the Japanese marketplace Rakuten, Spreadshirt furthers the expansion on external marketplaces.

July

Spreadshirt opens a shop on eBay Germany.The e-commerce company ups the number of its external marketplaces to 6. Next to eBay Germany, Spreadshirt is now selling its products through Amazon in the USA, France and the UK as well as on eBay in the USA.

June

One step closer to a complete mobile optimization: Spreadshirt launches a new and completely responsive Shop system called Spreadshop. Vital improvements include an intuitive and user-friendly layout, quick loading times and the possibility to easily integrate new features. In the open beta phase, Spreadshirt sellers were invited to provide feedback.

May

International T-Shirt Day on June 21st is the day to celebrate the world’s most popular article of clothing. Spreadshirt issues a call for a big design contest to #spreadstyle with funny, provocative and trendy T-shirt designs.

April

Feel Good Management at Spreadshirt is now officially global. Lisa from the Greensburg office will work closely with the German Feel Good Manager Stefanie. After relaunch the international Spreadshirt Blog is optimized for mobile as well.

March

The Internet World Business awards Spreadshirt with the second prize in the IWB Awards 2016. In the category “Best Mobile Shop“, the prize was awarded for Spreadshirt’s optimizations in the mobile Marketplace as well as the single page check-out.

What’s more, Spreadshirt was able to become the official license partner for Germany’s successful TV show “CIRCUS HALLIGALLI” on ProSiebenSat1.

February

Spreadshirt gets creative assistance from the Berlin consultant agency Jung von Matt/Spree. The main task for Jung von Matt was the profiling of Spreadshirt’s brand.

January

Gold for Spreadshirt: In cooperation with German newspaper DIE WELT, the consultant company ServiceValue examined 300 online shops and praised Spreadshirt’s customer orientation.

December

Spreadshirt notches the best holiday sales figures of the company’s history during the 2014 holiday season. Highest volume order day: December 15th with 19,200 orders.

November

Spreadshirt registered more than twice as many mobile visits by end customers. Along with the launch of the mobile Marketplace, a new checkout was created with vital elements to meet customers’ needs for using the platform on mobile devices. More information.

Launching the brand TeamShirts (www.teamshirts.com) further enhanced Spreadshirt’s diversification strategy on the German market. The new offer is geared towards a growing number of group orders, such as those placed by sports teams, bachelor and farewell parties or company runs.

October

Spreadshirt emerges victorious in the “personalised online clothing” sector of Germany’s ranking service. Considering all business sectors in Germany’s biggest service ranking, this had Spreadshirt’s e-commerce platform earn the silver medal. 1,500 companies from 189 sectors were scrutinized in terms of their quality of service.

September

Spreadshirt launches its first B2B TV advert to address current and future customers. The goal is to address responsible authorities in marketing, and to help foster merchandise gear for brands, bands and teams.

July

From Leipzig to Rio de Janeiro: Spreadshirt takes over Brazilian eCommerce enterprise Vitrinepix to reach out to South America. Another step in continuing the success of the platform on an international scale.

June

Spreadshirt is a sponsor of the new photo contest #tshirttheworld that shows T-shirts in unusual situations all around the world. The best of the 400 entries were chosen and awarded by a jury.

Leipzig’s millennial celebrations beckon: Registered association “Leipzig 2015 e.V.” is going to initiate a shop for ordering gifts and souvenirs all around the city of Leipzig. Torsten Bonew (chairman and mayor) favourite design is the slogan “Life outside of Leipzig is conceivable, but useless.”

May

May brings a variety of events: Next to in-house events such as the K5 Open House and the Open IT, Spreadshirt makes a first appearance as a sponsor and T-shirt vendor at the T-shirt festival in Dresden. Moreover, preparations for the next event - the International T-Shirt Day 2014 - are in full flow.

April

The new TV advertising goes pan-European. TV viewers in Germany, Great Britain, France and Sweden see 4 every-day situations showing how we offer products for every occasion and designs for every emotion. The ad can be seen here.

March

The introduction of our own Collection has its first anniversary. Almost 20 per cent of all products ordered have been articles from the Spreadshirt Collection. The Premium T-shirts are top-sellers for both men and women.

December

In 2013, Spreadshirt had a total of 72,000 sellers offering their designs and products in online shops, on the Spreadshirt Marketplace and other channels (e.g. Amazon).

Spreadshirt launches its own brand ‘Yink’ (www.yink.com) for custom textile printing and merchandise in bulk. More background information

October

Guido Laures is Spreadshirt’s new CTO. The qualified IT specialist succeeds Mathias Spiess, a co-founder of Spreadshirt who left the company in 2012 after having been in charge of Spreadshirt’s operational business for over 10 years.

Spreadshirt takes part in the Designer’s Open in Leipzig. Taking part in the Designer’s Open, the company opens its doors to the public for a total of six days. Next to the traditional T-shirt factory floor and viewing of the whole production circle, the visitors also get a chance to take a look at our Outlet Shop and take part in a design workshop.

September

Spreadshirt launches its first new collection and celebrates the motto „The T-Shirt Revolution“. For this new endeavour, our e-commerce platform has started a collaboration with the textile company Switcher. Here, transparency for our customers is particularly close to our heart. This is why every tag shows the so called DNA code. The code reveals the whole production process of every individual item (www.respect-code.org).

July

Spreadshirt launches a touch optimised T-Shirt Designer, and it fullfils the demands of a growing number of customers using mobile devices. The new T-Shirt Designer makes it possible to be used on tablets to design people’s new favorite tee.

June

Spreadshirt celebrates the motto “My T-shirt, my voice” on International T-Shirt Day on June 21st. For a sixth time running, the company celebrates the the iconic fashion item and means of personalized self-expression with a number of online activities and a party in the city of its headquarters in Leipzig, Germany.

April

A brushed up logo and improved corporate identity gave Spreadshirt a fresh start to the Spring season. The new and fresh look can be seen in our German TV Spot for the first time. A completely new look for our platform is to follow soon. More information

Spreadshirt reaps Red Herring Top 100 Europe Awards. For a second time after 2006, the company was honoured as Europe’s most promising private sector technology enterprise.

March

Spreadshirt launches its first own collection – true to the motto “Quality at Heart”. For this new endeavour, our e-commerce platform has started collaboration with the textile company Switcher. Here, transparency for our customers is particularly close to our heart. This is why every tag shows the so called DNA code. The code reveals the whole production process to every individual item: (www.respect-code.org).

February

Spreadshirt announces commercial figures for 2012: Our customers ordered a total of 3 million products in 2012. The e-commerce platform had a record breaking turnover of some €65M – that’s a 42 per cent increase compared to the previous year. Detailed figures

October

In 2012, Spreadshirt is also involved in the Designers‘ Open, and, as one of the hosts of this event, we opened the doors to our t-shirt workshop. Parallel to this, our first Partner Academy for designers and shop partners took place at our Leipzig headquarters. During this one-day workshop, participants were able to gain fresh insightful knowledge and were able to bounce ideas off of each other.

Spreadshirt opens a new production site in Henderson (Las Vegas, Nevada) to respond to record growth rates in the American market.

September

Picking up on the very successful clothing flea market in April, Spreadshirt hosted the second event of this kind on its premises in Leipzig. The 4-digit revenue was donated to a local children’s foundation.

August

Spreadshirt’s Berlin staff move into a new home. The company’s subsidiary in the German capital is now located on Oranienburger Strasse.

The current TrendReport reveals: only 1.9 % of Spreadshirt’s products are registered as complaints. This has Spreadshirt sit far beneath the average rate for online trading.

July

Asterix and Obelix conquer Spreadshirt. The e-commerce platform for clothing agrees on a licensing deal with French publishing house Albert René.

June

Of course T-Shirt Day is an important occasion at Spreadshirt. The fifth International T-Shirt Day was celebrated with an open house in Greensburg, USA, and a t-shirt market at our headquarters in Leipzig, Germany.

April

As every year, April was the month for environmental awareness. We planted a lot of plants on our roof and encouraged our staff to ride their bikes to work. We also organized a flea market for clothes. Many an unused t-shirt found a new owner, along the lines of “recycle, dear Michael”.

March

Spreadshirt published the turnover statistics for 2011. The clothing commerce platform increased their turnover by 43% compared to the previous year. Moreover, Spreadshirt announced the new opening of a production site in Las Vegas.

Football legend Lothar Matthäus graced our headquarters in Leipzig with a visit. He used the opportunity of launching his personal t-shirt collection. Lothar now ranks in an array of heroes who have their collection with us.

February

Finally. Logging in is no necessity anymore, if you want to order from Spreadshirt. Our new guest login makes it possible. What’s more, the platform has changed its outer appearance, and the new homepage is our virtual pride and joy.

January

The New Year starts with the introduction of new products. There now is a brand new workwear collection in Spreadshirt’s product line. Now customers can personalize their work gear with Spreadshirt as well.

December

Spreadshirt's record breaking month – we received more orders than ever. December also saw the best ever day in terms of orders. On a single day, we received a total of 12,000 orders. Our Spreadshirt staff did an incredibly great job in processing them all.

October

Our feel-good manager Stefanie Frenking has started a completely new trend. In Spreadshirt’s headquarters, she’s the one to take care of our staff’s well-being and to spread more fun. Many companies in Germany and beyond have picked up on this great example already.

The Designer’s Open sees its 3rd T-Shirt Workshop taking place at Spreadshirt’s headquarters. Ambitious designers as well as future talent are granted an insider’s look on how we design a shirt.

The T-Shirt Designer now offers a ‘Save & Share’ function. Finally, it is possible to save products, share them via Twitter and Facebook as well as to send them via email.

August

Spreadshirt is graced by an official visit of Saxony’s First Minister Mr. Stanislaw Tillich. The high-level politician comes to our headquarters in Leipzig to inspect Spreadshirt’s premises.

July

The Italo-Western legend Bud Spencer has licensed us to print his T-shirts, hoodies and more. Speadshirt is going to seize the opportunity to expand this business sector.

June

Spreadshirt celebrates International T-Shirt Day for a 4th time in Berlin and Boston. Moreover, t-shirt lovers all over Europe helped spanning a clothesline across the land enjoying our funny t-shirts and vintage t-shirts. Have a look at our pictures showing people in Vienna, Barcelona und Zwolle (Netherlands) indulging in the activity.

The winner of the first API competition is announced. Spreadshirt receives 15 submissions, but only the best 2 of them could win the contest. See the winners

May

Philip Rooke becomes Spreadshirt's new CEO in May. Philip joined us in 2009 and has been on the board of directors since 2010. The main focal points of his work are marketing and management. Having successfully launched the first Spreadshirt catalogue the previous winter, the new summer line is now put to print.

But that isn’t all. Spreadshirt also launches its first TV commercial, and at the center of the ad you can see that custom t-shirts are a means of expressing yourself creatively. See ad here

April

Spreadshirt sends a shout out for its first API contest. It envisages to seek out creative phone applications which further our users' possibilities to realize their t-shirt ideas.

For a third consecutive time, Spreadshirt went to the blog conference re:publica this year. There was quite a rush on the t-shirt printing press that we had brought, and they made our staff sweat quite a bit. See photographic evidence

February

Wikileaks opened an official Spreadshirt shop. Next to t-shirts there are also mugs and stickers with slogans available in their shop. See shop

Some 43% of all claims are due to an item being the wrong size. In order to make finding the right size easier, Spreadshirt now helps with product videos.

January

Spreadshirt held the first Open IT at its headquarters in Leipzig. Students and IT guys were offered the chance to participate in a one-day workshop to get an insight of the broad variety of activities at Spreadshirt.

Spreadshirt celebrated International Jogger's Day – of course! New to this event were Aze the sporty rabbit who gave a few bloggers a good run for their money online.

November

After 8 years in the business, Spreadshirt publish a mail order catalogue for the first time.

Jana Eggers bids her farewell after 4 years on the board and over 3 years as Spreadshirt's CEO. Vice-chairman and managing director Philip Rooke becomes new CMO on the board.

October

For a 2nd time, Spreadshirt opens the doors of its t-shirt shop floor at its Leipzig headquarters. The 6th Designers Open gave visitors a chance to be close to the action as they watched their t-shirts being printed.

Spreadshirt API enables shop partners and those who like tinkering to create their own Spreadshirt applications.

August

An open beta version of the new T-Shirt Designer is being tested and will be launched everywhere in 2011.

July

A pneumatic blonde and newly minted Spreadshirt shop partner graced our headquarters with her presence. Daniela Katzenberger presents her own cat range.

June

International T-Shirt Day was celebrated for the third time. This year, CafePress joined in on the festivities along with global labels and chain stores. In 2010 events took place in Berlin, Boston, New York, Thessaloniki, Jakarta and many other places around the world. More info

March

Steadily increasing trend for organic textiles: The proportion of organic clothing as a percentage of total sales overtook the market share held by Spreadshirt for the first time.

The supervisory board expands. Simon Guild, Kolja Hebenstreit and Magnus Graf Lambsdorff are new to the board.

February

More and more products are released for the recently introduced Digital Direct Printing.

January

Spreadshirt celebrates Sweatpants Day - and with gusto.

November

First Spreadshirt ad appears on TV.

October

As part of the Designers Open, Spreadshirt invited the public to the T-Shirt Workshop: visitors to the Spreadshirt HQ in Leipzig were able to watch t-shirts being produced and try their hand at producing their own shirts.

September

Almost all political parties involved in the 2009 German elections offered election shirts in their own Spreadshirt shop.

August

The number of fonts in the T-Shirt Designer, Spreadshirt's online tool allowing customers to create their won apparel, was expanded with 25 new fonts.

Three new top managers strengthen the Spreadshirt team.

July

laFraise, the ongoing t-shirt design contest and subsidiary of Spreadshirt, redesigned its website.

June

The International T-Shirt Day was celebrated in Berlin, Boston and locations like Oslo, Kiev and Prague.

April

Spreadshirt sponsored the blogger congress “re:publica“ and designed personalized t-shirts together with the participants.

Spreadshirt teams up with Earth Day e.V. for the third time and supported the organization's cleanup projects with more than €6,000.

March

The 7 millionth shirt design was approved by Spreadshirt's design verification.

February

Spreadshirt receives €10 Million financing from Kennet Partners and existing investor Accel.

October

The Spreadshirt Marketplace gets a makeover and Shop Partner products are now displayed on the homepage, allowing customers more variety and ease to find inspiration from all possible topics. Learn more on the blog

Spreadshirt supports the Designers Open in Leipzig and the Project Onetee.

We moved – Spreadshirt moved into a new, freshly renovated headquarters in Leipzig-Plagwitz, door to door with our production facility who were already awaiting us.

September

Digital Direct - Spreadshirt’s modern print method. From now on, Spreadshirt’s sellers and customers can print pixel graphic files with this new technology. In North America, we got off the marks a few weeks ago, and the response has been full of praise.

August

Spreadshirt actively commits itself to company responsibility. All users can read about our suppliers and our ethical guidelines on the new responsibility pages. Learn more

July

500,000 Shop Partners have registered with Spreadshirt: with 150,000 in North America and 350,000 in the EU.

Spreadshirt and the agency 12ender publish a book with shirt designs from international designers. (Edition: Zeixs)

Spreadshirt initiates the first International T-Shirt Day with online and offline events in Berlin and Boston.

June

Spreadshirt’s production facility is the first to move into the new headquarters in Leipzig-Plagwitz.

Spreadshirt donates €4,000 to the Earth Day e.V. group to support education projects.

May

Michael Petersen moves from the Spreadshirt Board of Directors to the Advisory Board.

April

Spreadshirt’s Test Lab is opened, a center of research for t-shirt printing and washing. Learn more on the Blog

After one year of testing and implementation, Spreadshirt releases its first NPS score of 42% (NPS = Net Promoter Score). Read more on the Blog

February

The “Lovetab” becomes the official new Spreadshirt logo.

Spreadshirt receives the “Great Place to Work“ award.

Spreadshirt founder Lukasz Gadowski leaves the Management Board to become Chairman of the Board of Supervisors.

October

Spreadshirt opens its first US headquarters in Boston, Massachusetts.

The Open Logo Project 1.6 finishes with two winners.

August

US CEO Jana Eggers becomes Spreadshirt global CEO, accepting the position from Spreadshirt founder Lukasz Gadowski.

Spreadshirt opens an office in Berlin (Hackescher Market) and closes the Derby Store.

Spreadshirt starts the second open logo project in the search for the new company logo. Learn more

June

Relaunch! The completely redesigned Spreadshirt website goes online. The Spreadshirt Marketplace is introduced, a platform for designers, shop partners and customers.

April

Spreadshirt expands its apparel assortment to include organically grown and certified cotton and supports the International Earth Day for the first time.

February

The new Spreadshirt Mission Statement is revealed. Company goal number one is: “We will become the world’s creative apparel platform.” Learn more

Spreadshirt acquires a minority stake in DaWanda, the online Marketplace for handmade products.

January

Jana Eggers (CEO, Spreadshirt Inc.) is appointed to the Management Board of sprd.net AG.

October

Spreadshirt founder Lukasz Gadowski receives the Online-Star special award as “Internet Entrepreneur of the Year 2006”.

Spreadshirt acquires Sozeug.net, a platform where anyone can sell homemade products making it easier to design your own shirt.

July

Spreadshirt is distinguished for the second time (since 2002) by the Saxony Business Plan Competition futureSAX.

Spreadshirt acquires laFraise, the most successful continuous European-wide t-shirt design competition.

Spreadshirt becomes the first European company in its branch to receive financing capital for further international expansion.

June

“The Derby Store” is opened in Berlin – the first Spreadshirt store which one can walk into.

Spreadshirt GmbH becomes sprd.net AG.

May

Spreadshirt is awarded the Red Herring 100 Europe Award 2006 in Paris.

April

Spreadshirt moves its headquarters from BIC (Business und Innovation Centre) to the Technology Center “Garage” to ensure space for growth.

Spreadshirt initiates the “Derby”: the first continuous t-shirt design contest in German on the Internet.

March

The new logo is unveiled: the winner of the Open Logo Project is the stylized fingerprint. Learn more

January

Spreadshirt founder Lukasz Gadowski is presented with the “Middle Germany Entrepreneur of the Year” award.

December

The Open Logo Project begins: Spreadshirt searches for its new company logo with an open design competition.

November

Spreadshirt is awarded the German Internet Prize 2005 by the State Ministry for Economic Affairs and Employment

October

Spreadshirt moves its logistics center to Taucha (near Leipzig) and triples its production and shipping capacity.

April

Lukasz Gadowski is chosen as the Founder Champion Saxony 2005.

Spreadshirt becomes available in Polish.

Spreadshirt delivers to Europe and North America

December

Spreadshirt Inc. opens business in Louisville, USA as 100% subsidiary of Spreadshirt GmbH.

November

The Spreadshirt Designer is released for the Spanish market as well as in Holland, Italy, Norway and Sweden.

October

Spreadshirt releases its Shirt Designer to the English- and French-speaking markets.

August

Spreadshirt receives the German HP Business Vision Award 2004

The HHL graduate Michael Petersen becomes a member of the Spreadshirt Management Board.

May

Spreadshirt opens a logistics center with an area of 130 square meters.

April

The Spreadshirt Designer – an interactive program which allows customers to put t-shirt designs on different products – is released under the name “Shirt-O-Mat”.

December

Spreadshirt GbR becomes Spreadshirt GmbH.

April

5,000 Spreadshirt Shops

March

Spreadshirt reacts to current political developments and opens the two successful shops “Recession 2003” and “Iraq War”.

October

Spreadshirt’s business plan receives an award from the State of Saxony’s business plan competition “FutureSAX”.

June

Spreadshirt wins its first key account Médecins Sans Frontières.

May

Spreadshirt is founded as GbR. Matthias C. Spieß becomes a shareholder. First fully automated version of Spreadshirt.de goes online.

February

Spreadshirt is claimed to be an “unrealistic business model” at the Cologne Business Plan Competition.

January

The 100th Shop Partner registers with Spreadshirt.

April

First prototype for the shop system goes online. First orders are processed.

March

Lukasz Gadowski, a student at HHL Leipzig, develops the basic concept for Spreadshirt.