Design your own swim shorts, earn up to $1,000

From jeans to bicycles, fabrics to sleeping bags, we’ve seen a wide array of products consumers can design themselves. Lest swim shorts aficionados feel left out, however, there’s now a design-your-own site for those too—and it even rewards creators with cold, hard cash. Aiming to do for swim shorts what Threadless has done for t-shirts, Shortomatic is a California-based company that invites consumers to upload their own art for a truly customised swim. All they need do is indicate their waist size and then upload the graphics they have in mind. They then position and size the art, choose their colours and add text for use on the waistband. Next, voilà! A unique pair of California-made boardshorts that’s customised for them. Those feeling less creative can also browse Shortomatic’s curated gallery of existing designs—currently, there are close to 700 exhibited there. Consumers feeling really artistic, on the other hand, can submit their designs in Shortomatic’s Artist’s Program. Designs accepted by the gallery curator are produced in limited editions of 200. Their creators receive USD 5 for every pair sold, while a further 5 percent goes to support Global Green. Either way, every pair of shorts is printed with the artist’s name, image title and edition number. Pricing begins at USD 99 per pair. Shortomatic is the sister company of Yogamatic which lets consumers design their own yoga mats. The verdict is in, it seems safe to say, and consumers clearly like to have it their own way. Perhaps even more, however, they like to be paid for what they create. Help make that happen, and you’ll see some sweet rewards yourself! 😉