Threadless Tees is a predominantly online retailer but also has two locations in Chicago and Boulder, Colorado. Their specialty is graphic design apparel from baby onesies to men’s hoodies.
Threadless Tees
- 3011 N. Broadway St.
- Chicago, IL
- www.threadless.com
Online users are able to submit their very own graphic designs to be featured on their website, people are able to vote on their favorite design and there are even chances to win contest prizes.
Threadless Tees has recently come under fire for a string of t-shirt designs they offered featuring Ganesha, a Hindu deity. Ganesha is one of the most recognized deities in the Hindu religion and symbolizes the God of wisdom and remover of obstacles.
Threadless Tees depicted Ganesha in graphic designs that altered the image. Some of the portrayals showed Ganesha holding a tobacco pipe and a glass of wine and others were transformative depictions of Ganesha. One of the transformative versions of Ganesha was entitled, “Ganeshamadonna” where the Virgin Mary and Ganesha were merged together to form one character. There was also a “Ganesha Alien” and a “Nerdy Lord Ganesha.”
Rajan Zed, President of Universal Society of Hinduism, spearheaded a protest against the Ganesha designs and Threadless Tees for promoting them on their website and since then, all Ganesha depictions have been removed from their website.
Zed was quoted in India Blooms as saying, “Lord Ganesha was highly revered in Hinduism and was meant to be worshipped in temples or home shrines and not to be thrown around loosely in reimagined versions for dramatic effects for mercantile greed. Such absurd depiction of Lord Ganesha with no scriptural backing was hurtful to the devotees. Hinduism was the oldest and third largest religion of the world with about one billion adherents and a rich philosophical thought and it should not be taken lightly. Symbols of any faith, larger or smaller, should not be mishandled.”
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