Updates: 2023-05-14 – increased to 87 colours, fixed some according to https://artistshopshelp.threadless.com/article/698-shirt-colors-hex-codes and created Illustrator version
***As at 2023-05-14 Threadless has 87 t-shirt colours available. Number subject to change
Introduction
When you complete an artwork you’ve spent dozens of hours on, it can be tempting to slap it onto print-on-demand sites like Threadless as fast as possible. But you could be setting yourself up for more trouble than you need to.
Choosing the right background colours for your design – especially on t-shirts – is a big chunk of making your products look awesome. Rush this, and you could end up picking a unappealing and clashing color scheme. Enable all colours, and you can overwhelm your audience with too many choices.
My solution? An easy-to-use template for Photoshop and Illustrator, to test your design against 87 Threadless shirt colours!
How To Use
- Tip: Click and drag up and down along the eyeball icons to quickly turn several layers on or off.
If you would rather create your own background texting file, here are the names of colours and their corresponding Hex codes.
- Wine #260D15
- Heather Purple #422F65
- Purple #5E3A8C
- Heather Heliconia #FF2F8E
- Berry #AF1971
- Fusica #F34976
- Light Pink #FDAEBD
- Pink #FFC2C4
- Soft Pink #FFEAE7
- Maroon #3F1924
- Scarlet Red #821D2B
- Athletic (Champion) #9D060B
- Heather Red #FF2420
- Bright Red #CC060B
- Red #B51717
- Redwood #A94857
- Nantucket Red #AD504C
- Chili Red #EF4848
- Orange Poppy #ef510d
- Bright Orange #FA6000
- Orange #ff7700
- Gold #F4A323
- Light Yellow #fdeb71
- Canary #FFF98A
- Lemon #FDF882
- Kelly Green #02642E
- Olive #645F3F
- Evergreen #007A53
- Military #636153
- Cypress Green #62736A
- Clover #437F2D
- Light Olive #767965
- Green #41A145
- Kelly (Champion) #00A25B
- Tri-Kelly #00B064
- Sea Green #40C1AC
- Irish Green #52905B
- Apple #569C21
- Grass #6FCF91
- Avocado #81AA5A
- Tri-Clover #76C59C
- Kiwi #8EC762
- Neon Green #C3F17A
- Midnight #1F2331
- Navy / Heather Navy #171C32
- Dark Navy #1F2331
- Anchor Slate #2C2B36
- Oxford #10223C
- Denim #353F4B
- Heather Navy Demin #424A55
- Heather Indigo #3B4559
- Heather Royal #2A4988
- Royal Blue #20419A
- Summer Sky #3F60A1
- Saltwater #4A4E67
- Blue Triblend #3D63B3
- Turquoise #046489
- Heather Sport Dark Navy #727791
- Cyan #0CA2BD
- Tri-Aqua #54C1E5
- Light Azure (Champion) #759DFB
- Steel Blue #6A9BBE
- Bimini Blue #8DB4E7
- Pacific Blue #27C1CA
- Light Blue #8AADC5
- Cancun #9CE6F1
- Powder Blue #B0D9ED
- Sky Blue #B7C4DD
- Baby Blue #C7DCE7
- Black #000000
- Smoke #373635
- New Railroad #2A2725
- Charcoal #333333
- Heather Charcoal #38353C
- Heavy Metal #525456
- Dark Grey Heather #5B5D61
- Asphalt #5E5E5E
- Concrete Grey #6F6B68
- Grey Triblend / Heather Graphite #7C7C7C
- Slate #939495
- Stone #EAE2DC
- Heather Grey #DEDEDE
- Heather Oatmeal #F9F5EA
- White #FFFFFF
- Pebble Grey #9B9988
- Tri-Coffee #483D3B
- Chocolate #281A12
Let’s put my artwork ‘Support Main Pixel Art‘ into the template and text out some background colours.
I can see that the design looks kinda dull and unfitting on the maroon background, but vibrant and cohesive on a tri-aqua background.
File Specifications
6.08MB Photoshop PSD file, and 206KB Illustrator AI file, compressed into a 162KB .zip file.
Terms of Use
These files can be used for creating personal and commerical projects. Do not resell, redistribute, or claim as your own.
Conclusion
I hope you find this template useful. If you have any questions or problems just leave a comment below and I’ll do my best to help. And for more useful Threadless tools and tutorials, check out this section of my blog.
Peace, love and sunshine,
