MERCH MERCH MERCH (Patreon)

I think I am just about ready to roll out my little gift shop, so I wanted to give you some details on what you can expect.

*A very quick word of warning before I bore you with the details. There will technically be spoilers in the gift shop! There is art and references to material in Chapter 7. I have pushed these items to the very end of the shop, but the website still likes to refer products to you, and I have no control over that. I recommend being caught up before browsing if this matters to you!*

First off, I am using a company called Fourthwall. They offer a wide variety of products, so if you have an item in mind that isn’t already offered, please let me know, and I’ll see what I can do. We’re starting out with some basics:  prints of the ROs (headshots & full portraits), stickers, magnets, button pins (2 sizes featuring Oswin, Zahn, Duri, Rune, & Aster), t-shirts, and hoodies. This company ships from all over, depending on the product. I believe all or most of the products I chose ship from the US, CA, UK, and EU. That said, the shipping (I feel) is a tad pricey depending on what you’re getting (at least here in the US). Though everything I ordered shipped with care. The prints were carefully nested into cardboard sleeves and everything.

I purchased samples (as many as I could afford) to test quality. The posters, stickers, magnets, and pins are radiant. The posters, especially, I was so pleased with (nice thick paper and the colors come through so richly). The shirts and hoodies we’ve tested have been great. There was some trial and error on my end since I had never done this before, and I needed to make some edits to the images.

So let’s break down the clothing options a bit more. Please excuse some of the prattle. I need to whine about some of this process because it drove me insane.

Fourthwall offers several clothing brands for printing. I wanted to keep prices as reasonable as possible while still offering the widest range of sizes, qualities, and colors. I found a t-shirt brand (Bella+Canvas) that I favored pretty easily — lots of sizes and colors, and a pretty fair sticker price. The shirts are incredibly soft (a new favorite of mine for sleeping in). They have washed well and easily withstood trips through the dryer without shrinking.

Hoodies proved to be a bigger challenge, and I now have a permanent eye twitch.

Again, there are several brands and price ranges. I considered and tested three main brands (I even made a graph to help me pick).

Gildan, which I found overall to be pretty okay. I think it’s a well-known brand that offers the lowest price point and the widest range of sizes and colors. The quality is a bit off, but it’s not horrible. I already owned a Gildan merch hoodie, and I wear it regularly. The material isn’t as soft as the other two brands (and feels a tad bulky), and the sleeves are unusually floppy (I think). I don’t like clothing touching my neck, and for me, the neck on these is a bit too close. But they still wash and dry well, with minimal shrinkage. I decided to use this brand so I can offer more size-inclusive options, though I’ll note that stock availability limits color choices depending on what’s sold out. It also has the perk of being the lowest cost among the hoodies.

Cotton Heritage, which was my favorite hoodie right off the bat. I didn’t find the price too outrageous, and the quality was quite good (especially for the price). I found this brand to be very soft, with a decent range of colors and sizes. They’re not too heavy, the neck isn’t too close, and the length was great. The problem was that this one had massive technical issues when I was creating designs for it. I was able to make one sample, and then nothing worked for months! More on that below.

Bella+Canvas is what I turned to when Cotton Heritage issues made it impossible to make the hoodies. They offered an “oversized” variety that is super soft, had decent color choices, and an okay range of sizes. I found this one to be comfortable and very relaxed, though the lining sheds a little. It also washed well and did not shrink. The fit was okay, but it has quirks. The bottom hem billows out, and there are no strings for the hood (though the hood is quite deep and heavy). Not deal-breakers, but not my favorites. I did enjoy lounging in it, though.

So, to continue the Cotton Heritage saga, there was a lot of back and forth on my end. I thought it was my designs, but literally every hoodie on the website worked with them, and just this one didn’t. Sometimes it would accept the design, and I would continue making the product, only to get an error when saving it. The sample I managed to get was so nice that I was extremely bummed that I couldn’t get this to work. So, I contacted support, which was AI, and it blamed me (even though literally every hoodie on the site still worked). I got nowhere after days and days, so I moved on fully to Bella+Canvas as my second choice.

Fast-forward through weeks of work, and I tried Cotton Heritage hoodies again out of curiosity...and they worked. Just like that.

So... I did another batch of all the hoodies for the Cotton Heritage brand too.

I’m paralyzed by choice so easily. So now, we have 3 hoodie options for you to pick from, depending on your needs!

This was a huge undertaking, bigger than I anticipated. I did enjoy parts of it, though. I got to be creative in a way that I don’t usually get to be. I’m open to creating new designs or taking product requests. As long as I’m not inundated with them, if you have something specific you’d like on a product, let me know, and I will see if I can make it for you and add it to the shop. It’s not too difficult for me to whip up the design itself as long as the resources already exist. I have all of the designs made and on file.

So, with that out of the way, another word of caution — ensure that you check the clothing listings thoroughly. This includes the provided size chart for each item. The measurements vary by brand and product. If you are unsure, measure a shirt or hoodie you currently wear. The sizing has been accurate on the samples I received. The renders are also quite accurate to the actual product you will get.

Keep in mind that printing on fabric will look different than other mediums. Colors tend to dull a bit, and the renders do a decent job of showing it.

FOURTHWALL DOES NOT DO RETURNS/EXCHANGES. The only reason they will do this is if they have botched a print or sent you the wrong thing, etc. This part of their business is completely out of my hands. I can’t issue refunds or anything of that nature.

I will open the shop first for Subscribers. I plan to do this on the 20th when I roll out the public update for GC. I will wait a bit before sharing the link publicly, but it’s not like a big secret if you want to share it with friends and whatnot. Just please do warn anyone you share it with that there are spoilers for Chapter 7. Once the kerfuffle with the public release dies down, I will share the shop publicly and start a new kerfuffle.

Okay, now the fun stuff...

T-Shirts Offered

Curse Mark tees featuring your mark on the front in either black or white with the GC Logo down the back.

RO tees featuring their silhouette and a quote from them on the front and the GC logo on the back.

RO-themed tees feature the MC's term of endearment on the front and graphics on the front and back that allude to their character development. (You’ll be getting a preview of what Zahn and Rune will be calling MC once their romance kicks up a little more.)

Hoodies Offered

Curse Mark hoodies feature the mark on the front and the GC logo either down the sleeve or across the back. Only the gildan hoodies have the print down the sleeve currenly.

RO-themed hoodies feature the MC's term of endearment on the front and graphics on the front and back that allude to their character development.

Prints:  matte posters of the headshots and full-portraits available in two sizes for all characters (who have artwork already).

Stickers:  both regular and vinyl varieties featuring the ROs (headshots and portraits) and the curse marks. Regular stickers for other characters.

Magnets: headshot and full-portrait magnets available in multiple sizes for all characters.

Pins:  two sizes of button pins featuring the RO headshots.

Bundles:  Three different types of bundles for each RO — one for portraits and the others featuring clothing items. Bundles grant you a 5% discount.

One candle: An experiment I did, and now Oswin has his own soy candle. If you want more, I’ll make them for each RO!

Anyway, sorry for the ramble! If you have questions, let me know! ^_^