If a T-shirt is the staple garment in everyone’s wardrobe, then it makes sense for local and international designers to use it as a platform to not only express themselves, but to brand themselves for the creative public. Founded in 2008 by life-long friends, Eran Eyal and Eric Edelstein, Springleap.com is a crowd-sourcing design platform that hosts its own bi-weekly T-shirt design competition. The public chooses the winner of the competition and their design gets printed and sold at retail stores such as Big Blue, SKA, Kapow and Crazy T-shirts. Springleap.com has tapped into a community of 3 000 artists worldwide with 25 000 registered users on the website.
The 2010 Design Indaba Expo was the first for Springleap.com and they already have plans to come back next year. Not only did they have the fortune of selling hundreds of their custom designed T-shirts, but they met with some of their existing designers as well as new designers who were introduced to this growing design venture. They also met with buyers from Dubai and Japan seeking to source their top-class design ware.
“Springleap has been a major success story on many fronts,” Eyal asserts. “We are in discussions with some of SA’s biggest reseller groups on finding a way to take the community to the public in a bigger and bolder manner than ever before. This year is going to be catalytic for those already involved as well as those who will soon be.”
To view more designs by Springleap visit our online shop.
