Shirt.woot goes to great lengths to separate itself from other online T-shirt destinations such as its close rival, Threadless. Unlike its competitors, Shirt.woot features only one shirt per 24 hours, from midnight CST one night to midnight the next day. Each shirt is sold for $10 on the day of its debut but can be bought afterward for $15 until its discontinuation. Free standard shipping or $5 overnight shipping for all orders is just icing on the cake.
However, there is a caveat to Shirt.woot and a fairly obvious one at that: selling only one cheap shirt per day narrows the selection quite a bit. For those who are indecisive: beware. You may like a shirt on the site that day, but who’s to say you won’t like the next day’s shirt even more? Although the shirts are inexpensive, Shirt.woot’s strategy ensures profits. Consumers often snap up the shirt-of-the day, rationalizing that there may be a worse design the next day.

So you may be wondering how Shirt.woot can afford to feature new designs each day. The site hires designers whose shirts are sold Mondays through Thursdays, but the remaining three days of the week are devoted to the top designs of the site’s weekly Design Derby. The winners are decided by voting in the community forums, with anybody who has at least one “woot” eligible to vote. A “woot” is earned by purchasing a shirt on the site—another clever marketing tactic.

Each Derby has a specific theme to which designers must adhere, such as “Alternate History,” which featured designs such as the Mayflower running into an iceberg. The first, second and third place winners of each week’s contest not only have their shirts sold on Friday, Saturday and Sunday of the next week, but also receive a hefty $1,000 plus $2 for each shirt sold after the first day.

Shirt.woot has several other special events that add variety to their clockwork release of new shirts. Their weekly “Day of Reckoning” ranks a number of older shirts by sales, the least popular of which get discontinued to ensure that the site does not have to keep more than about 15 shirts in production at once. By far the most interesting are the days when the site sells random shirts for the low, albeit satanic price of $6.66.

While the T-shirt designs make Shirt.woot unique, the material and quality of the tops are also distinct. The shirts are printed on form-fitting American Apparel tees, which are quite trendy among college hipsters nowadays. To quote the Shirt.woot “About” section, “If you prefer the tentlike, billowing T-shirts so common these days, you’d better overestimate the hell out of your size.” Whatever style of shirt the designs are printed on, the fabric feels nice and soft just like a quality shirt should.

So if you’re looking for a one-of-a-kind shirt, look no further than Shirt.woot.com. With an inventory that changes daily, you’re sure to find something you like today. Or maybe tomorrow.