Collarfree, a contest site in the same vein as Threadless or DBH, has been around for a while, but seems to be suffering from some obscurity. Even newer sites like Shirtfight and Teextile have been consistently grabbing more of the limelight, though we certainly couldn’t pinpoint why.

That said, if you really look at the folks behind Collarfree, you’ll discover that they’re doing some really interesting stuff.

Just recently I stumbled on artistic hub, which just happens to be part of the Collarfree empire.

A social platform, artistic hub is a turn-key solution that allows businesses and organizations to have a branded site where fans can create products for their company. Designs are then voted on by the community (ala Threadless) and can ultimately be produced. And this is all done without leaving the company’s website. (see Mashable for some more details on how it all works)

This is a really exciting idea for a couple of reasons. Everyone knows that t-shirts are becoming big business (not just for your local club or school team anymore!) and even bigger still are the vibrant communities that are springing up around sites like Design By Humans and Threadless.

But it feels like it’s still a marketplace that’s just barely been explored. What’s next? How is this social community going to be leveraged? What’s the “big thing” that’s going to change everything?

Where’s the t-shirt industry’s Twitter?

Collarfree certainly isn’t the first company that’s trying to turn the product contest model into a larger platform (think Cameesa, parent company Digital Stampede) and their crowd-funding model) but they are definitely at the forefront. And I think these are the companies who might just find the Next Big Thing.

Follow founder Jimmy Hendrick’s (yes, really) blog for sound advice and insights into social media, business and t-shirt stuff.