FL MORRIS / FMORRIS@STARBULLETIN.COM Raven Crum, co-owner of Stylus Honolulu in University Square shows some of the "Threadless" brand T-shirt designs sold at the shop: "Come back at night," "Pillow fight" and "Mourning girl."

Hip-hop store has popular T-shirts from Threadless

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RAVEN CRUM, clothing buyer for the hip-hop underground storefront Stylus, brings in the popular Threadless line, which selects T-shirt styles based on Internet polling.

"I like the style of business of Threadless," Crum said. "It was put together by a couple guys in Chicago who call themselves SkinnyCorp. A lot of it is done online at its Web site, where they leave it up to customers to choose submitted designs made by independent artists."

While the designers can win up to a thousand dollars if their boldly irreverent work is chosen, Threadless' hip reputation is such that it can open doors for the illustrators and artists to get more design work.

FL MORRIS / FMORRIS@STARBULLETIN.COM Raven Crum shows more of the shop's designs.

Because of the store's small budget, Crum makes only one or two bulk orders monthly -- an average of 50 to 60 shirts. "It's not quite impulsive," she said, "but based on what I think will sell to our clientele."